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Shows how poetic recitation and the interweaving of music and poetry contributed to the advent of a German identity in late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century Europe.The art of reciting a text out loud, known as
Vortragskunst, be it in a private circle or in a concert hall, originated in German-speaking countries in the 1760s, and by the nineteenth century had become a well-established practice subjected to an artistic blossoming unparalleled in the rest of Europe.
In this book Jacqueline Waeber explains and examines how and why this happened, focusing on the origins of poetic recitation and its development during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, a period essential to the development of modern German literature and theatre, bookended by the two main figures who contributed to the theoretical and aesthetical tenets of poetic recitation, the poet Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock (1724-1803) and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832).
Poetic recitation quickly gained attraction for the Lied and the musical melodrama, both musical genres that were driven by a search for new declamatory styles. As a result, poetic recitation became increasingly 'musicalized' by the frequent addition of a musical accompaniment. As the book shows, this intertwining of music and poetry made a huge contribution to the advent of German identity through the reappraisal of its language.
List of contents
Introduction
PART I 1. Re-evaluating German from Lessing to Klopstock
2. 'Germany's greatest bard'
3. On
Wohlklang PART II 4. Italian poetic improvisation and the German tradition of occasional poetry
5.
Pygmalion: Before and after
6. German versus French melodrama
7. Goethe's
Proserpina PART III 8. From poetic recitation to Lied: The declamatorium as a missing link
9. Zumsteeg, Schubart, and the ballad: Poetic recitation and the demands of
Sangbarkeit 10. J. F. Reichardt's
Deklamationsstücke PART IV11. Theorising declamation c. 1800
12. Unearthing
Sprachmelodie 13. Epilogue: Reconciling
Ton and
Rhythmus Bibliography
Index
About the author
Jacqueline Waeber
