Brahms's Elegies
The Poetics of Loss in Nineteenth-Century German Culture
£90.00
Part of Music in Context
- Author: Nicole Grimes, University of California, Irvine
- Date Published: January 2019
- availability: Available
- format: Hardback
- isbn: 9781108474498
£
90.00
Hardback
Other available formats:
Paperback, eBook
Looking for an inspection copy?
This title is not currently available on inspection
-
Nicole Grimes provides a compellingly fresh perspective on a series of Brahms's elegiac works by bringing together the disciplines of historical musicology, German studies, and cultural history. Her exploration of the expressive potential of Schicksalslied, Nänie, Gesang der Parzen, and the Vier ernste Gesänge reveals the philosophical weight of this music. She considers the German tradition of the poetics of loss that extends from the late-eighteenth-century texts by Hölderlin, Schiller and Goethe set by Brahms, and includes other philosophical and poetic works present in his library, to the mid-twentieth-century aesthetics of Adorno, who was preoccupied as much by Brahms as by their shared literary heritage. Her multifaceted focus on endings - the end of tonality, the end of the nineteenth century, and themes of loss in the music - illuminates our understanding of Brahms and lateness, and the place of Brahms in the fabric of modernist culture.
Read more- Investigates Brahms's literary preoccupations and incorporates much information gleaned from the composer's library, to establish his cultural context
- Explores the philosophical dimensions of Brahms's music and will appeal to those interested in the intersection of music and philosophy
- A significant amount of source material is translated into English for the first time which will benefit those interested in the cultural context of Brahms's music but are unable to read the original German texts
Awards
- Honorable Mention, 2022 Danijela Kulezic-Wilson Book Prize, Society for Musicology in Ireland
Reviews & endorsements
Advance praise: 'Deftly weaving musical commentary into an elegant exploration of the broader cultural fabric of late nineteenth-century Germany, Grimes demonstrates how some of Brahms's greatest but least understood vocal compositions intersected with the intellectual, literary, and philosophical currents of his time. This compelling study represents contextual musicology at its best.' Walter Frisch, Columbia University
See more reviews'In Brahms's Elegies: The Poetics of Loss in Nineteenth-Century German Culture, a bold and imaginative book, Nicole Grimes takes the idea of Brahms's obsession with mortality and probes it from new and, at times, unexpected angles. The volume reveals an author who reads unusually widely and who uses her learning to challenge well-established interpretations … Brahms's Elegies is built on strong foundations, and one comes away from it educated, challenged and, , Martin Ennis, Musicological Austriaca
'a disciplined and imaginative piece of scholarship which thematically draws together a selection of Brahms's elegiac works using an interdisciplinary analytical framework. Grimes investigates the deep relationship between the musical works and their contemporaneous worlds in literature, visual art, and philosophy. This book examines a relatively unknown collection of works within Brahms's catalogue, both from musical/analytical and literary perspectives. The focus and breadth are notable in this regard, and the author's examination of Brahms's own literary proclivities and knowledge are particularly significant.' Society for Musicology in Ireland
Customer reviews
Not yet reviewed
Be the first to review
Review was not posted due to profanity
×Product details
- Date Published: January 2019
- format: Hardback
- isbn: 9781108474498
- length: 292 pages
- dimensions: 254 x 180 x 18 mm
- weight: 0.75kg
- contains: 16 b/w illus. 12 tables 25 music examples
- availability: Available
Table of Contents
Introduction
1. Brahms's ascending circle: Hölderlin and Schicksalslied
2. The ennoblement of mourning: Nänie and the death of beauty
3. A disembodied head for mythic justice: Gesang der Parzen
4. The last great cultural harvest: Nietzsche and the Vier ernste Gesänge
5. The sense of an ending: music's return to the land of childhood
Epilogue.
Sorry, this resource is locked
Please register or sign in to request access. If you are having problems accessing these resources please email [email protected]
Register Sign in» Proceed
You are now leaving the Cambridge University Press website. Your eBook purchase and download will be completed by our partner www.ebooks.com. Please see the permission section of the www.ebooks.com catalogue page for details of the print & copy limits on our eBooks.
Continue ×Are you sure you want to delete your account?
This cannot be undone.
Thank you for your feedback which will help us improve our service.
If you requested a response, we will make sure to get back to you shortly.
×