E. T. A. Hoffmann, Cosmopolitanism, and the Struggle for German Opera
Published on 6. November 2015
Book
Hardback
496 pages
978-90-04-30956-2 (ISBN)
Description
In this first monograph on E. T. A. Hoffmann and opera, Francien Markx examines Hoffmann's writings on opera and the challenges they pose to established narratives of aesthetic autonomy, the search for a national opera, and Hoffmann's biography. Markx discusses Hoffmann's lifelong fascination with opera against the backdrop of eighteenth-century theater reform, the creation of national identity, contemporary performance practices and musical and aesthetic discourses as voiced by C. M. von Weber, A. W. Schlegel, Heine, and Wagner, among others. The book reconsiders the traditional view that German opera followed a deterministic trajectory toward Wagner's Gesamtkunstwerk and reveals a cosmopolitan spirit in Hoffmann's operatic vision, most notably exemplified by his controversial advocacy for Spontini in Berlin.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Leiden
Netherlands
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
Illustrations
8 farbige Abbildungen
8 Illustrations, color
Dimensions
Height: 241 mm
Width: 159 mm
Thickness: 32 mm
Weight
826 gr
ISBN-13
978-90-04-30956-2 (9789004309562)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Francien Markx, Ph.D. (2003), University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, is Associate Professor of German at George Mason University. Her primary area of expertise is in the intersections of eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century German literature, music, and theater, particularly opera and the lied.
Content
Acknowledgments
Prelude
Prologue: German Musical Drama and the Emerging Public Sphere
Hamburg - Leipzig - Weimar and Gotha - The National Theater Projects - Mannheim - Vienna - Berlin - E. T. A. Hoffmann's Theatrical and
Operatic Experiences - Evaluating Hoffmann's Contribution(s) to Opera
ACT I. NARRATING OPERA (CRITICISM) FOR THE ALLGEMEINE MUSIKALISCHE ZEITUNG (Berlin, Bamberg, Leipzig/Dresden, 1808-1814)
Chapter One
Ritter Gluck: On The Art of Judging Opera
The Power of Anecdotes - Querelle des Gluckistes et des Piccinnistes. Christoph Willibald Gluck in the French Press - Gluck in the German Press - E. T. A. Hoffmann's Views on Gluck - Ritter Gluck: A Response to Forkel - Narrating Gluck's Public Image - Berlin: An Operatic Backwater - A Tale Illuminated by Music - Ritter Gluck: Towards a New Aesthetics of Opera
Chapter Two
Don Juan: Reflections on (Performing) Mozart's Don Giovanni
E. T. A. Hoffmann's Don Juan and Lorenzo Da Ponte's Don Giovanni - Contemporary Performance Practices - E. T. A. Hoffmann and Mozart's Don Giovanni - Restaging Don Giovanni - Approaches to Mozart - Mozart's Score and Donna Anna's Secret - Reflections on Donna Anna's Role - A Tale Inspired by Music
Chapter Three
Poet and Composer: Operatic Insights of an Insider
Turbulent Times - The Dialogue Der Dichter und der Komponist - Theoretical Discourse: The Poet (A. W. Schlegel) and the Composer (E. T. A. Hoffmann) - How Not to Write a Libretto: Der Opern-Almanach des H[er]rn A. v[on] Kotzebue - Musical Practice - Der Dichter und der Komponist: A Program for Romantic Opera? - A Word to the Composer: UEber einen Ausspruch Sachini's - Der Dichter und der Komponist and the Future of German Opera - The Poet and the Composer: Hoffmann's Own Creative Production
ACT II. BACK IN BERLIN: BALANCING ACTS AS ARTIST AND CRITIC (1814-1822)
Prelude: Bruehl and the Berlin Theater
Chapter Four
'Patriotic Acts': Undine on the Berlin Stage ossia Accomplishments of a Trio (Fouque, Hoffmann, and Schinkel)
Preparing the Stage - Fouque's Undine - The Staging of Hoffmann's Undine - Voices of the Critics - Carl Maria von Weber's Review of Undine for the AMZ - Weber and the German Ideal - Romantic Ideal versus Reality - Denouement
Chapter Five
Berlin Reviews I: Dramaturgisches Wochenblatt and Vossische Zeitung
Reviews of 1815 - Reviews of 1816 - Envisioning the Future: Visions of a Realist - Contributions for the Vossische Zeitung: Reviewing a Befriended Reviewer - Hoffmann's Final DW Contribution: Die Kunstverwandten or the Joys and Sorrows of Producing an Opera - Art Beyond Boundaries: Towards a Universal Operatic Style
Chapter Six
Berlin Reviews II: Standing up for Spontini
A Parisian in Berlin - Hoffmann's Warm Welcome - Briefe ueber Tonkunst in Berlin. Erster Brief - Hoffmann's Remaining Berlin Reviews - Zufaellige
Gedanken or Ritter Gluck Revisited - Spontini's Opera Olimpie - Hoffmann's Translation of Olimpie - Hoffmann's Last Review: Nachtraegliche Bemerkungen ueber Spontinis Oper Olympia - Further Observations on Hoffmann's Last Review
Chapter Seven
Falling Silent: The Freischuetz Controversy
A Tumultuous Premiere - Contemporary Letters and Comments - 'Made in Germany' or An Opera's Success Story - Reflections on Hoffmann's Silence
Postlude
Bibliography
Index
Prelude
Prologue: German Musical Drama and the Emerging Public Sphere
Hamburg - Leipzig - Weimar and Gotha - The National Theater Projects - Mannheim - Vienna - Berlin - E. T. A. Hoffmann's Theatrical and
Operatic Experiences - Evaluating Hoffmann's Contribution(s) to Opera
ACT I. NARRATING OPERA (CRITICISM) FOR THE ALLGEMEINE MUSIKALISCHE ZEITUNG (Berlin, Bamberg, Leipzig/Dresden, 1808-1814)
Chapter One
Ritter Gluck: On The Art of Judging Opera
The Power of Anecdotes - Querelle des Gluckistes et des Piccinnistes. Christoph Willibald Gluck in the French Press - Gluck in the German Press - E. T. A. Hoffmann's Views on Gluck - Ritter Gluck: A Response to Forkel - Narrating Gluck's Public Image - Berlin: An Operatic Backwater - A Tale Illuminated by Music - Ritter Gluck: Towards a New Aesthetics of Opera
Chapter Two
Don Juan: Reflections on (Performing) Mozart's Don Giovanni
E. T. A. Hoffmann's Don Juan and Lorenzo Da Ponte's Don Giovanni - Contemporary Performance Practices - E. T. A. Hoffmann and Mozart's Don Giovanni - Restaging Don Giovanni - Approaches to Mozart - Mozart's Score and Donna Anna's Secret - Reflections on Donna Anna's Role - A Tale Inspired by Music
Chapter Three
Poet and Composer: Operatic Insights of an Insider
Turbulent Times - The Dialogue Der Dichter und der Komponist - Theoretical Discourse: The Poet (A. W. Schlegel) and the Composer (E. T. A. Hoffmann) - How Not to Write a Libretto: Der Opern-Almanach des H[er]rn A. v[on] Kotzebue - Musical Practice - Der Dichter und der Komponist: A Program for Romantic Opera? - A Word to the Composer: UEber einen Ausspruch Sachini's - Der Dichter und der Komponist and the Future of German Opera - The Poet and the Composer: Hoffmann's Own Creative Production
ACT II. BACK IN BERLIN: BALANCING ACTS AS ARTIST AND CRITIC (1814-1822)
Prelude: Bruehl and the Berlin Theater
Chapter Four
'Patriotic Acts': Undine on the Berlin Stage ossia Accomplishments of a Trio (Fouque, Hoffmann, and Schinkel)
Preparing the Stage - Fouque's Undine - The Staging of Hoffmann's Undine - Voices of the Critics - Carl Maria von Weber's Review of Undine for the AMZ - Weber and the German Ideal - Romantic Ideal versus Reality - Denouement
Chapter Five
Berlin Reviews I: Dramaturgisches Wochenblatt and Vossische Zeitung
Reviews of 1815 - Reviews of 1816 - Envisioning the Future: Visions of a Realist - Contributions for the Vossische Zeitung: Reviewing a Befriended Reviewer - Hoffmann's Final DW Contribution: Die Kunstverwandten or the Joys and Sorrows of Producing an Opera - Art Beyond Boundaries: Towards a Universal Operatic Style
Chapter Six
Berlin Reviews II: Standing up for Spontini
A Parisian in Berlin - Hoffmann's Warm Welcome - Briefe ueber Tonkunst in Berlin. Erster Brief - Hoffmann's Remaining Berlin Reviews - Zufaellige
Gedanken or Ritter Gluck Revisited - Spontini's Opera Olimpie - Hoffmann's Translation of Olimpie - Hoffmann's Last Review: Nachtraegliche Bemerkungen ueber Spontinis Oper Olympia - Further Observations on Hoffmann's Last Review
Chapter Seven
Falling Silent: The Freischuetz Controversy
A Tumultuous Premiere - Contemporary Letters and Comments - 'Made in Germany' or An Opera's Success Story - Reflections on Hoffmann's Silence
Postlude
Bibliography
Index