Robert Schumann : : The Book of Songs / / Jon W. Finson.

• VerfasserIn: Finson, Jon W.,
• Place / Publishing House: Cambridge, MA : : Harvard University Press, , [2008]; ©2008
• Year of Publication: 2008
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (336 p.)

Arguably no other nineteenth-century German composer was as literate or as finely attuned to setting verse as Robert Schumann. Jon W. Finson challenges long-standing assumptions about Schumann's Lieder, engaging traditionally held interpretations. He argues against the belief that the "Year of Song" simply reflects Schumann's personal life. Finson also devotes attention to the form and metric structure of German poetry that is almost entirely new to the discussion of Schumann's songs. Arranged in part thematically, rather than merely by strict compositional chronology, this book speaks to the heart of Schumann's music. Finson's sustained attention to performance, such as questions of whether two singers might divide performance of cycles or whether miscellanies form coherent entities, allows the reader to engage Schumann's songs in novel ways. Finson brings original research and the most recent scholarship to the musically literate public and the expert alike. This represents the definitive work on Schumann's songs and the standard reference for any Schumann enthusiast.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Preface -- PART I Schumann’s Early Songs and the Lieder of His First Maturity -- Introduction: Schumann’s Criticism and Early Lieder -- 1 Songs of Marriage -- 2 Irony and the Heine Cycles -- 3 Cycles of Wandering -- 4 Romances, Ballads, and the Via Media -- 5 Lyrical Schemes: Collections of Earlier Lieder und Gesänge -- PART II Schumann’s Later Songs -- 6 The Advent of the “New Style” and the Later Cycles -- 7 Poets in Review during the Later Years -- 8 Collections in the New Style -- Epilogue: Reception of the Late Style -- Abbreviations -- Notes -- Editions of Music Consulted and Selected Bibliography -- Index of Song Titles and Text Incipits -- General Index