HERMANN HESSE AND THE DIALECTICS OF TIME Salvatore C. P. ...

In einem Netzwerk von Interdependenzen und Analogien zu Goethe und der
Theorie der Romantik, C. G. Jung und Freud, Buddhismus und Daoismus
konstituiert sich Hesses dynamisches Polaritatskonzept. (20)
I would also claim that a further source should be taken into account: music or, more
specifically, the counterpoint technique and the sonata form. Although counterpoint
originated and developed in the Baroque period, and the sonata form reached its
pinnacle during Romanticism, both forms are relevant to the classical and Romantic
periods, which are amongst Hesse's most praised periods of German music (see 2.5). 9
The counterpoint technique, built on the sequential interplay of Voices' on a given
theme (subject), often accompanied by a second (countersubject), and the sonata
form, which revolves around the polar tension between its (usually two) themes,
were internalized through the medium of music and contributed towards shaping
Hesse's idea of polarization as argued in 2.5. The aforementioned scholars mostly fail
to pick up on this connection. A passage from Kurgast cited and commented on at
length by critics in connection with Hesse's interest in music clearly expresses the
underlying relation between polar opposites and the musical forms mentioned
above:
ware ich Musiker, so konnte ich ohne Schwierigkeit eine zweistimmige
Melodie schreiben, eine Melodie, welche aus zwei Linien besteht, aus zwei
Ton- und Notenreihen, die einander entsprechen, einander erganzen, einander
bekampfen, einander bedingen, jedenfalls aber in jedem Augenblick, auf
jedem Punkt der Reihe in der innigsten, lebendigsten Wechselwirkung und
gegenseitigen Beziehung stehen. 10 (SW 11,125)
9 Henceforth, we will distinguish between 'Classic', 'classical' (lower initial), and 'Classical' (capital initial)
music. 'Classic' refers to the music of the period that encompasses the lives and works of Haydn, Mozart and
Beethoven (before his Romantic turn in the early 19th century), while 'classical' will here be employed as an
equivalent of what Hesse calls 'klassisch' in music, which contrasts with 'romantisch'. The term 'classical'
therefore describes 'music that is considered to be part of a long especially formal tradition and to be of lasting
value' ( , Cambridge Advanced Learner's
Dictionary [accessed 22 August 2010]) and includes the works of Bach and the Baroque period. Finally,
'Classical' refers to the musical genre, as opposed to jazz, rock, etc.
10 A similar concept is expressed in Das Glasperlenspiel in relation to the dynamics of the 'Bead Game':
'Beliebt war bei einer gewissen Spielerschule lange Zeit namentlich das Nebeneinanderstellen,
Gegeneinanderfuhren und endliche harmonische Zusammenfuhren zweier feindlicher Themen oder Ideen, wie
Gesetz und Freiheit, Individuum und Gemeinschaft, und man legte groBen Wert darauf, in einem solchen Spiel
beide Themata oder Thesen vollkommen gleichwertig und parteilos durchzufuhren, aus These und Antithese
moglichist rein die Synthese zu entwickeln' (SW 5, 35). See section 2.5 for further elaboration on this excerpt.
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