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Rufus Hallmark interprets Schumann's famously controversial song cycle in the social, literary, and musical contexts of contemporary German society.
List of contents
Introduction; 1. Women in early nineteenth-century Germany: societal conventions, ideology, relationships; Part I. The Poetry: 2. Adelbert von Chamisso: a sketch of his life and works; 3. Chamisso's poems about women: a literary context for Frauenliebe und Leben; Part II. The Music: 4. The musical reception of Frauenliebe und Leben; 5. Schumann at work on his songs; 6. Schumann's cycle: analysis and comparative interpretation; Afterword; Appendix 1. Chronological listing of nineteenth-century Frauenliebe und Leben settings; Appendix 2. Poetry in the original German and in English translation.
About the author
Rufus Hallmark is a Professor in the Department of Music at Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University, New Jersey. He is the editor of Schumann's song cycles Dichterliebe and Frauenleibe und Leben for the new critical edition of the composer's works. He is also the author of The Genesis of Dichterliebe: A Source Study (1976), German Lieder in the Nineteenth Century (1996, revised 2010), and numerous articles on the songs of Schumann, Schubert, and Vaughan Williams, published in journals and international conference reports. In 2011 he won the American Musicological Society's Thomas Hampson Prize for work on classic song. A member of the American Musicological Society, the Schumann, Rückert, and Chamisso Gesellschäfte, he was Secretary of the Board of the American Musicological Society from 2001 to 2007.
Summary
Rufus Hallmark sets Schumann's famous song cycle in the context of the challenges and social expectations faced by women in early nineteenth-century Germany. His study offers insights on Schumann's composing materials, reception of the song cycle, other contemporary poems about women, and comparisons with other musical settings of the poems.
