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).
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