It’s our pleasure to invite you to the third workshop of the quarter, wherein Meredith Moretz will give a presentation based on her proposal, titled “Schubert Ruins: Memory and Fantasy in Postwar Music.”
The event will take place Wednesday, November 7 at 4:30pm in Logan 802 (note that this is next door to the last workshop’s location). In lieu of pre-circulated reading, Meredith has provided scores for your perusal, available here (if you need the password, contact Marcy at mcpierson@uchicago.edu). See below for an abstract and information on how to access recordings.
All best, and safe travels home from AMSSMTSEM,
-marcy and dan
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Schubert Ruins: Memory and Fantasy in Postwar Music
In this paper, I investigate Schubert’s allure for post-1945 composers using Helmut Lachenmann’s Fünf Variationen über ein Thema von Franz Schubert for piano (1956) and Friedhelm Döhl’s Bruchstücke zur Winterreise for piano (1985) as case studies. To begin, I consider how Schubert’s music “remembers” itself. Recently, John Daverio and Walter Frisch have analyzed Schubert’s music as memory in light of Robert Schumann’s 1830s writings, in which Schubert’s memory-rich music becomes Romantic ruins (fragments Schumann imbues with meaning). I suggest that Lachenmann and Döhl are drawn to Schubert for his ability to remember. They tear fragments from a melancholy German dance and the 1827 song cycle, respectively, and suture them into new configurations. Rather than Romantic ruins, I see their works as what Pierre Nora terms lieux de mèmoire, memory sites pregnant with history—in this case postwar lieux that harbor stories of man-made ruins and reconstruction. Ultimately, Schubert’s music becomes a canvas for Döhl’s and Lachenmann’s fantasies of distant musical pasts and points to a future not of perfect wholeness but of reconciliation with one’s broken yet strangely beautiful humanity.
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My paper is derived from my dissertation proposal of the same title. Since many of you have been at the New Orleans conference all weekend, I’m sending out scores in lieu of a lengthy draft. Recordings of both pieces can be accessed in Naxos Music Library (login via the library website http://lens.lib.uchicago.edu/?q=naxos%20music ). And you may also watch YouTube videos of live performances:
Lachenmann (not the best sound quality, but the 14 year-old pianist is worth watching)- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZWOdpL5TnY
Döhl- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-z6B-QGv-w
After the 30-minute paper presentation, we will have the rest of the workshop for questions, discussion, and possibly show-and-tell of some film clips (i.e. drunk Schubert!) and other Schubert-related works I plan to engage with in my dissertation. I look forward to hearing your insights and suggestions on Wednesday!
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Those needing additional assistance to attend or participate in this event should contact one of the student coordinators, Marcy Pierson (mcpierson@uchicago.edu) or Dan Wang (dyw@uchicago.edu).
If you require the password for the pre-circulated material, or if you would like to be added to the listhost, please contact Marcy or Dan. Alternatively, you may add yourself to the listhost here.