howe - schubert final barrier - long...

SCHUBERT AT THE “FINAL BARRIER”

Blake Howe [[email protected]] Louisiana State University

Music Finished and Unfinished: A Symposium in Honor of Richard Kramer CUNY Graduate Center – 18 May 2012

1. Schubert’s choral triptych (1826): three works for male chorus, setting the poetry of J. G. Seidl. “Widerspruch” (D. 865) -‐‑ male chorus + piano -‐‑ autograph dated 1826 -‐‑ poem from vol. 1, p. 191 of Seidl’s Dichtungen (1826) -‐‑ poem ends with sunset -‐‑ tonic: D major excerpts from poem: “Outdoors, my heart longs for infinity.” “…But how restricted I feel in the outdoor air…; my heart instead longs to be indoors.”

“Nachthelle” (D. 892) -‐‑ male chorus + tenor solo + piano -‐‑ autograph dated September 1826 -‐‑ poem from vol. 2, p. 35 of Seidl’s Dichtungen (1826) -‐‑ poem takes place at night -‐‑ tonic: B-‐‑flat major excerpt from poem: “In me it is so wondrously bright, so full and overfull. In the house of my heart, I cannot contain all of this rich light. It wants out, it must out—the final barrier breaks.”

“Grab und Mond” (D. 893) -‐‑ male chorus (a cappella) -‐‑ autograph dated September 1826 -‐‑ from vol. 2, p. 41 of Seidl’s Dichtungen (1826) -‐‑ poem takes place at night -‐‑ tonic: A major/minor excerpt from poem: “Moonlight sinks into the grave. Moon, tell me, does light or darkness dwell in the grave? The moon is silent, [but the grave responds]: come and see!”

2. J. G. Seidl, “Widerspruch” (“Contradiction”), with abbreviated second stanza.

Wenn ich durch Busch und Zweig Brech auf beschränktem Steig, Wird mir so weit, so frei, Will mir das Herz entzwei. Rings dann im Waldeshaus Rücken die Wänd’ hinaus, Wölbt sich das Laubgemach Hoch mir zum Schwindeldach, Webt sich der Blätter schier Jedes zur Schwinge mir, Dass sich mein Herz, so weit, Sehnt nach Unendlichkeit. […] Ach! wie beschränkt, wie eng Wird mir’s im Luftgedräng; […] Und in ein Kämmerlein Sehnt sich mein Herz hinein!

When I break through bush and branch on the constrictive path, I become so expansive, so free, my heart wants to break. Then, in the forest house, the walls all around recede, the chamber of foliage arches up high above me, forming a vertiginous roof. Nearly every leaf weaves itself into a wing for me, so that my expansive heart longs for infinity. […] But oh, how restricted, how cramped I become in the thick outdoor air. […] [Instead,] my heart longs to be inside a little room.

Howe / “Schubert at the ‘Final Barrier’” / 2

3. Schubert, “Widerspruch” (D. 865), mm. 9–54: breaking past confinement into infinity.

I

V

IV bVI

m. 18

m. 26


m. 43

(bVI) ⇒ I (V 6/4)

chromatic-mediant shift “confines” ⇒ “infinity”

m. 35

(restriction ⇒ release)


4. J. G. Seidl, “Nachthelle” (“Night Brightness”), as found in Seidl’s Dichtungen (1826). (Note the altered final line in Schubert’s song.) Die Nacht ist heiter und ist rein, Im allerhellsten Glanz: Die Häuser schaun verwundert drein, Stehn übersilbert ganz. In mir ist’s hell so wunderbar, So voll und übervoll, Und waltet drinnen frei und klar, Ganz ohne Leid und Groll. Ich fass’ in meinem Herzenshaus Nicht all das reiche Licht: Es will hinaus, es muss hinaus, Ich halt’ es länger nicht! * * in Schubert’s song, the final line reads: “Die letzte Schranke bricht.”

The night is bright and clear in the most brilliant luminousness. The houses look astonished, covered completely in silver. In me it is so wondrously bright, so full and overfull, and inside it prevails freely and clearly, entirely without sorrow or spite. In the house of my heart, I cannot contain all of this rich light. It wants out, it must out— I cannot hold it any longer! * The final barrier breaks.

5. Schubert, “Nachthelle,” mm. 71–77. The autograph (now at the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek) shows the deletion of Seidl’s published final line (“Ich halt’ es länger nicht”) and its replacement (“Die letzte Schranke bricht”).

6. J. G. Seidl, “Widmung” (“Dedication”), final quatrain only. This is the first poem of the Lieder der Nacht section of Seidl’s Dichtungen (1826), in which both “Nachthelle” and “Grab und Mond” appear. Begeistert ruf’ ich gegen’s Sternenreich: “Ja meine Freunde müßten auch so fühlen!” – Zuerst rief Euch die Seel’ – ich weih’ sie Euch: Ich kenn’ Euch ja, -‐‑-‐‑ Ihr müßtet auch so fühlen! –

Ardently I cried to the realm of stars: “My friends, you must feel what I do!” My soul first cried to you, I dedicate it to you: I know you – you must feel the same!


7. Schubert, “Nachthelle,” mm. 40–54: depicting “freedom” (and echoing “Widerspruch,” mm. 35–36).

F Db

(Db) ⇒

⇒ A (V of D)

m. 45

m. 50


8. The “final barrier breaks”: Schubert, “Nachthelle,” voice-‐‑leading reduction, mm. 55–79. Gb and Cb act as “barrier” pitches that “break open” in m. 67, on the words “die letzte Schranke bricht” (!).

9. The “final barrier breaks”: Schubert, “Nachthelle,” mm. 55–79.

m. 60

the Ger. +6th … is prolonged by a neighbor 6/4, leading to…


m. 65

m. 70

m. 75

!

!!

… bVI; and it resolves on its second try.

!!!


10. Schubert, original version of “Nachthelle” (mm. 49–64), subsequently crossed out and revised. Transcribed from the autograph score, now at the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek.


11. Schubert, “Nachthelle,” mm. 117–46: two final chromatic expansions suggest a porous division between finite and infinite spaces.

m. 122

m. 127

penultimate expansion:


m. 132

m. 137

m. 142

final expansion:

… followed by fourteen “transcendental” bars of B-‐‑flat major …


12. J. G. Seidl, “Grab und Mond” (“Grave and Moon”), text and translation. (In Seidl’s Dichtungen [1826], the words “relata referre!” [“as told by another!”] are printed beneath the title.) Silbergrauer Mondenschein Fällt herab; Senkt so manchen Strahl hinein In das Grab. Freund des Schlummers, lieber Mond, Schweige nicht, Ob im Grabe Dunkel wohnt, Oder Licht! Alles stumm?! Nun stilles Grab, Rede du! Zogst so manchen Strahl hinab In die Ruh; Birgst gar manchen Mondenblick, Silberblau; Gib nur einen Strahl zurück: – “Komm und schau!!”

Silver-‐‑gray moonlight descends, sinking many a beam into the grave. Friend of sleep, dear moon, do not be silent on whether light or darkness lives on in the grave. All quiet?! Now then, silent grave, you speak! You have drawn so many a beam into rest. You hide so many a moon’s glance, silvery-‐‑blue— give back just one beam! [The grave replies:] “Come and see!”

Selected Bibliography Hatten, Robert. Musical Meaning in Beethoven: Markedness, Correlation, and Interpretation. Bloomington and

Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1994. Howe, Blake. “The Allure of Dissolution: Bodies, Forces, and Cyclicity in Schubert’s Final Mayrhofer

Settings.” Journal of the American Musicological Society 62 (2009): 271–322. Kramer, Richard. Distant Cycles: Schubert and the Conceiving of Song. Chicago and London: University of

Chicago Press, 1994. Said, Edward W. On Late Style: Music and Literature against the Grain. New York: Pantheon, 2006. Seidl, Johann Gabriel. Dichtungen. 2 vols. Vienna: J. P. Sollinger, 1826. Schubert, Franz. Franz Schuberts Werke: Revisionsbericht. Edited by Eusebius Mandyczewski. Leipzig:

Breitkopf & Härtel, 1897. Reprinted as Editors’ Commentary on the Critical Edition, vol. 19 of Franz Schubert: Complete Works. New York: Dover, 1969.

Straus, Joseph N. “Disability and ‘Late Style’ in Music.” The Journal of Musicology 25 (2008): 3–45. Youens, Susan. Schubert’s Late Lieder: Beyond the Song Cycles. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,

2002. Discography Utrecht Vocal Soloists, with Ronald Brautigam, piano. Franz Schubert: Part Songs. Globe CD 5021 (2006,

recorded 1989). Orphei Dränger, directed by Robert Sund, with Jonas Degerfeldt, tenor, and Folke Alin, piano. Schubert:

Male Choruses. Bis CD 1033 (2000).

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