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. ...
cannot achieve his individual goal without the help of Narcisuss and, of course, Narcissus needs his friend to round out his own life. Each is far from being ideal by himself (Rose, 99). Although Narzifi and Goldmund have distinct individual features, each character is almost inconceivable without the presence of the other.52 As seen above (2.2), 'Ein Satz iiber die Kadenz' (SW 10, 573-74) is deliberately imitative of the musical pattern of the cadenza. The poem Dreistimmige Musik (Musik, 38), on the other hand, is a conspicuous example of Hesse's attempt to reproduce a form of the Baroque and Classic periods: the fugue. 53 Dreistimmige Musik Eine Stimme singt in der Nacht, Nacht, die ihr bange macht, Singt ihre Angst, ihren Mut Singen bezwingt die Nacht, Singen ist gut. Eine zweite hebt an und geht mit, Halt mit der andern Schritt, Gibt ihr Antwort und lacht, Weil zu zwein in der Nacht Singen ihr Freude macht. Dritte Stimme fallt ein, Tanzt und schreitet im Reihn Mit in der Nacht. Und die drei Werden zu Sternenschein Und Zauberei. Fangen sich, lassen sich, Meiden sich, fassen sich, Weil Singen in der Nacht Liebe weckt, Freude macht, Zaubern ein Sternenzelt, 52 Similarly, Siddhartha needs the other voices of the narrative polyphony (Govinda, Gothama, and Vasudeva) to attain significance. 53 The fugue is a 'type of contrapuntal composition for a particular number of parts or "voices" [...] The point of fugue is that the voices enter successively in imitation of each other, the first voice entering with a short melody or phrase known as the subject [...] When all the voices have entered, the exposition is over. Then (normally) there comes an episode or passage of connective tissue [...] leading to another entry or series of entries of the subject [...] until the end of the piece, entries and episodes alternating [...] In addition to the subject there is often a counter subject appearing in the exposition and probably later in the fugue' (The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music). 'Sometimes after the exposition the composer creates excitement by bringing the entries of the subject nearer to each other so that they overlap. This device is called "stretto'"(The Oxford Companion to Music). 61
Drin eins das andre halt, Zeigen sich, verstecken sich, Trosten sich, necken sich... Nacht war und Angst die Welt Ohne dich, ohne mich, ohne dich. The first voice (first stanza) introduces the subject, which can be defined as 'singing at night'. The subject is then restated in sequence by the entry of the second and third voices, corresponding to the second and third stanzas respectively. The two subsequent lines, 'fangen sich, lassen sich, I Meiden sich, fassen sich', express the alternating of entries and episodes. Hesse then effectively reproduces a 'stretto'. Each of next three lines, in turn, reshapes (or modulates) 'melodic' material from the first three stanzas (voices): 'Weil Singen in der Nacht' (first stanza); 'Liebe weckt, Freude macht' (second stanza); 'Zaubern ein Sternzelt' (third stanza). These three lines (or melodic fragments), juxtaposed, produce the idea of voices overlapping with each other as if, at each statement of the subject by the three voices, these were progressively brought forward. Before the end of the piece (the last couplet), three lines convey again the idea of entries and episodes in sequence along with the playful exchange between the three voices: 'Drin eins das andre halt, I Zeigen sich, verstecken sich'. Although contrasts of keys are central to both the fugue (counterpoint) and the sonata form, the former weaves together its voices which support and respond to each other ('necken sich'), while the latter leads to a confrontation ('Kampf; see Hesse's description of the sonata form cited above) of the themes. A final example, where 'klassisch' and 'romantisch', as well as the essence of the counterpoint technique and the sonata form, merge is the excerpt from Kurgast, that we have hinted at in connection with the origins of Hesse's dialectics (see Chapter 1, section 1): 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 62
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Drin eins das andre halt,<br />
Zeigen sich, verstecken sich,<br />
Trosten sich, necken sich...<br />
Nacht war und Angst die Welt<br />
Ohne dich, ohne mich, ohne dich.<br />
The first voice (first stanza) introduces the subject, which can be defined as 'singing<br />
at night'. The subject is then restated in sequence by the entry of the second and third<br />
voices, corresponding to the second and third stanzas respectively. The two<br />
subsequent lines, 'fangen sich, lassen sich, I Meiden sich, fassen sich', express the<br />
alternating of entries and episodes. Hesse then effectively reproduces a 'stretto'. Each<br />
of next three lines, in turn, reshapes (or modulates) 'melodic' material from the first<br />
three stanzas (voices): 'Weil Singen in der Nacht' (first stanza); 'Liebe weckt, Freude<br />
macht' (second stanza); 'Zaubern ein Sternzelt' (third stanza). These three lines (or<br />
melodic fragments), juxtaposed, produce the idea of voices overlapping with each<br />
other as if, at each statement of the subject by the three voices, these were<br />
progressively brought forward. Before the end of the piece (the last couplet), three<br />
lines convey again the idea of entries and episodes in sequence along with the<br />
playful exchange between the three voices: 'Drin eins das andre halt, I Zeigen sich,<br />
verstecken sich'. Although contrasts of keys are central to both the fugue<br />
(counterpoint) and the sonata form, the former weaves together its voices which<br />
support and respond to each other ('necken sich'), while the latter leads to a<br />
confrontation ('Kampf; see Hesse's description of the sonata form cited above) of the<br />
themes.<br />
A final example, where 'klassisch' and 'romantisch', as well as the essence of<br />
the counterpoint technique and the sonata form, merge is the excerpt from Kurgast,<br />
that we have hinted at in connection with the origins of Hesse's dialectics (see<br />
Chapter 1, section 1):<br />
ware ich Musiker, so konnte ich ohne Schwierigkeit eine zweistimmige<br />
Melodie schreiben, eine Melodie, welche aus zwei Linien besteht, aus zwei<br />
Ton- und Notenreihen, die einander entsprechen, einander erganzen, einander<br />
bekampfen, einander bedingen, jedenfalls aber in jedem Augenblick, auf<br />
62
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