Metaphors of Depth in German Musical Thought
From E. T. A. Hoffmann to Arnold Schoenberg

Watkins presents a cultural history of metaphors of musical depth in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century German criticism and analysis.

Holly Watkins (Author)

9781107460980, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 30 October 2014

350 pages, 6 b/w illus. 40 music examples
24.4 x 17 x 1.9 cm, 0.56 kg

What does it mean to say that music is deeply moving? Or that music's aesthetic value derives from its deep structure? This study traces the widely employed trope of musical depth to its origins in German-language music criticism and analysis. From the Romantic aesthetics of E. T. A. Hoffmann to the modernist theories of Arnold Schoenberg, metaphors of depth attest to the cross-pollination of music with discourses ranging from theology, geology and poetics to psychology, philosophy and economics. The book demonstrates that the persistence of depth metaphors in musicology and music theory today is an outgrowth of their essential role in articulating and transmitting Germanic cultural values. While musical depth metaphors have historically served to communicate German nationalist sentiments, Watkins shows that an appreciation for the broad connotations of those metaphors opens up exciting new avenues for interpretation.

Introduction
1. From the mine to the shrine: the critical origins of musical depth
2. Adolf Bernhard Marx and the inner life of music
3. Robert Schumann and poetic depth
4. Richard Wagner and the depths of time
5. Heinrich Schenker and the apotheosis of musical depth
6. Schoenberg's interior designs
Bibliography.

Subject Areas: 20th century & contemporary classical music [AVGC6], Romantic music [c 1830 to c 1900 AVGC5], Music reviews & criticism [AVC]