This thesis studies the problem of combining a poem with music in nineteenth-century Lieder so that the music enhances the poetry rather than detracting from it. Eight settings of Goethe's poem "Kennst du das Land," from his novel Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahr, are compared. Settings by Johann Friedrich Reichardt, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Liszt, Tchaikowsky, and Wolf are analyzed, after initial treatment of the literary aspects of the poem. The degree of musico-poetic synthesis varies in these settings, and it becomes evident that total fusion of poetry and music is not possible. However, the settings by Schumann and Wolf achieve strong balance …
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This thesis studies the problem of combining a poem with music in nineteenth-century Lieder so that the music enhances the poetry rather than detracting from it. Eight settings of Goethe's poem "Kennst du das Land," from his novel Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahr, are compared. Settings by Johann Friedrich Reichardt, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Liszt, Tchaikowsky, and Wolf are analyzed, after initial treatment of the literary aspects of the poem. The degree of musico-poetic synthesis varies in these settings, and it becomes evident that total fusion of poetry and music is not possible. However, the settings by Schumann and Wolf achieve strong balance of word and tone.
This thesis is part of the following collection of related materials.
UNT Theses and Dissertations
Theses and dissertations represent a wealth of scholarly and artistic content created by masters and doctoral students in the degree-seeking process. Some ETDs in this collection are restricted to use by the UNT community.
