HERMANN HESSE AND THE DIALECTICS OF TIME Salvatore C. P. ...
HERMANN HESSE AND THE DIALECTICS OF TIME Salvatore C. P. ... HERMANN HESSE AND THE DIALECTICS OF TIME Salvatore C. P. ...
Chapter 2 Writing 'musically' Words move, music moves Only in time} As noted in the Introduction, the essence of music is time to Hesse; time is also the domain of writing, and the three elements (time, music, and writing) are fused in Hesse's poetic world: Hermann Hesse ist in seinem Schaffen der Musik verhaftet wie kein anderer Dichter seit der Romantik. Seine Sprache und sein Werk sind wie sein Denken und Empfinden im Dichterischen und Kiinstlerischen zu weittragenden und oft ungeahnten musikalischen Offenbarungen bereit 2 (Diirr, 5) Hesse regularly refers to or comments on concerts and pieces of music in his correspondence with friends (many of them professional musicians), thoughts on the biography and output of various composers appear throughout his works, and music is fundamental to many of his metaphors and images. 3 As Diirr stresses, music can influence the creative process of a writer at different levels, especially linguistically: Die Musik vermag sich im Dichter auf verschiedene Art zu spiegeln: Sie kann in dessen personlicher Sprache liegen und somit im kunstlerisch-musischen Wesen des Dichtermenschen. (Diirr, 10) Hesse's complex and multifaceted relationship with music, which dates back to his childhood, has often intrigued his readership and has been extensively investigated by scholars who, either in dedicated studies (Diirr, Liegens, Gianino) or in passing (Freedman, Hollis, Rose), have identified connections to music in his life and resonances in his works. 1 T. S. Eliot, Four Quartets ('Burnt Norton' V). 2 'Music is form in time; its "shapes" are an object of meditation' (Boulby, 281). 3 With regard to the influence Hesse's friends involved in music exerted on his understanding and appreciation of music, Schneider notes: 'A detailed analysis would be required to differentiate Hesse's own ideas about music from those of the professional musicians and friends with musical interests with whom he associated' (374). On the other hand, Hesse's commentary on composers and their output forms an interesting corpus of observations valuable from a musicological perspective. His pithy remarks give fascinating insights into the works of major composers ('Mendelssohn: Musik fur viele, fur Alle, man kann sich zu ihr nichts wie eine Gemeinde denken'; Musik, 127) as well as minor ones such as his friends Ferruccio Busoni and Othmar Schoeck ('Als Liederkomponist ist Schoeck gewifi der erste unserer Zeit'; Musik, 156). 37
This chapter, which is the necessary premise to Chapter 3, constitutes a continuum with the latter. In this context, our aims are as follows: i) to underline the ties between Hesse's conceptual framework and the dialectic nature of both the sonata form (especially during the Romantic period) and the counterpoint technique (an essential element of the Baroque and Classic epochs), the emphasis being on the antagonistic opposition of two themes in the former and on the reciprocity and interplay of the voices in the latter (see 2.4);* ii) to point out the emergence of positions close to existentialism (see the parallel with Wagner in 3.2), despite the prominence of Classical and Romantic elements in Hesse's cultural background; iii) to investigate the extent to which Hesse's dialectics informs his discourse on music (see the contrast between Classical music and jazz in 3.4 or the contradictory statements on the nature of music in 2.4.1, 'Ungestaltbare Gestalt'); and iv) to highlight the symbolic value of music, which Hesse connects to ethics and to an atemporal dimension, of which the compositions of Bach and Mozart are ideal harbingers (see 3.3, Music: 'Das bedeutet: die Welt hat einen Sinn'). For our purposes, Schneider's overview (2009) of Hesse's ties with music as well as his up-to-date references to critical studies on the subject were a valuable source of information for this chapter. Moritz's monograph (2005) provided excellent insights into the 'musicality' of Hesse's prose, especially in Siddharta. Ziolkowski's analysis of Der Steppenwolf (1965) became an important point of departure for investigating on correspondences between Hesse's work and musical forms, especially the sonata form and the counterpoint technique. 5 Valentin (1998) prompted the elaboration on the ethical dimension of music in Hesse. Finally, the contributions of Fumagalli 4 As mentioned in Chapter 1 (note 9) employ the term 'Classic' to indicate the period spanning from the early decades of the eighteenth century to the early nineteenth century. As indicated by Grout: 'Classic has been applied most narrowly to the mature styles of Haydn and Mozart and more broadly to music of a period that extends from the 1720s to around 1800' (426; original emphasis). 5 Taking his cue from Ziolkowski, Gianino (1999) identifies excerpts in Gertrud that can be linked to the dynamics of the sonata form. His acute observation on Hesse's reference to Reger in 'Eine Senate' proved invaluable to our argument in 2.2. 38
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Chapter 2 Writing 'musically'<br />
Words move, music moves<br />
Only in time}<br />
As noted in the Introduction, the essence of music is time to Hesse; time is also the<br />
domain of writing, and the three elements (time, music, and writing) are fused in<br />
Hesse's poetic world:<br />
Hermann Hesse ist in seinem Schaffen der Musik verhaftet wie kein anderer<br />
Dichter seit der Romantik. Seine Sprache und sein Werk sind wie sein Denken<br />
und Empfinden im Dichterischen und Kiinstlerischen zu weittragenden und<br />
oft ungeahnten musikalischen Offenbarungen bereit 2 (Diirr, 5)<br />
Hesse regularly refers to or comments on concerts and pieces of music in his<br />
correspondence with friends (many of them professional musicians), thoughts on the<br />
biography and output of various composers appear throughout his works, and music<br />
is fundamental to many of his metaphors and images. 3 As Diirr stresses, music can<br />
influence the creative process of a writer at different levels, especially linguistically:<br />
Die Musik vermag sich im Dichter auf verschiedene Art zu spiegeln: Sie kann<br />
in dessen personlicher Sprache liegen und somit im kunstlerisch-musischen<br />
Wesen des Dichtermenschen. (Diirr, 10)<br />
Hesse's complex and multifaceted relationship with music, which dates back to his<br />
childhood, has often intrigued his readership and has been extensively investigated<br />
by scholars who, either in dedicated studies (Diirr, Liegens, Gianino) or in passing<br />
(Freedman, Hollis, Rose), have identified connections to music in his life and<br />
resonances in his works.<br />
1 T. S. Eliot, Four Quartets ('Burnt Norton' V).<br />
2 'Music is form in time; its "shapes" are an object of meditation' (Boulby, 281).<br />
3 With regard to the influence Hesse's friends involved in music exerted on his understanding and appreciation<br />
of music, Schneider notes: 'A detailed analysis would be required to differentiate Hesse's own ideas about music<br />
from those of the professional musicians and friends with musical interests with whom he associated' (374). On<br />
the other hand, Hesse's commentary on composers and their output forms an interesting corpus of<br />
observations valuable from a musicological perspective. His pithy remarks give fascinating insights into the<br />
works of major composers ('Mendelssohn: Musik fur viele, fur Alle, man kann sich zu ihr nichts wie eine<br />
Gemeinde denken'; Musik, 127) as well as minor ones such as his friends Ferruccio Busoni and Othmar Schoeck<br />
('Als Liederkomponist ist Schoeck gewifi der erste unserer Zeit'; Musik, 156).<br />
37