Scenen aus Goethes Faust: A performer's analysis. Page: 32
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CHAPTER 5
DR. MARIANUS'S ARIA
As in Wagner's Tannhauser, the character Tannhaiuser is saved by the love of Elizabeth
just as Faust is ultimately redeemed through the unselfish love of Gretchen. "Faust's salvation is
hardly the logical outcome because Goethe like Dante admits to neither logic nor meaning: the
ultimate mystery of transcendence - Schumann captures this mystery in musical terms."33 Dr.
Marianus's (Faust's purified soul) aria demonstrates Schumann's gift for composing beautiful
melodies with lyrical expression. The role of the orchestra in Dr. Marianus's aria is in complete
contrast to the role of the orchestra in the previously discussed scenes. The role of the orchestra
is to enhance the atmosphere of the text and to accompany the singer, thus allowing the gorgeous
melodic line to become the focal point. The luxurious orchestration; strings, harp and solo oboe,
depicts the ethereal landscape of the afterlife "bathed in ineffable peace."34 The aria begins with
an accompanied recitative introducing a poignant melodic motive in the vocal line "schwebend
nach oben" (soaring high above) in measures 7 and 8 that appears later in the oboe part in
measures 18 and 19, and is repeated several times throughout the aria as a countermelody to the
vocal soloist's melodic line (see Figures 20 and 21).32
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Paoletti Jr., Karl. Scenen aus Goethes Faust: A performer's analysis., dissertation, August 2008; Denton, Texas. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc9053/m1/38/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; .