“A History of Man and His Desire”: Ferruccio Busoni and Faust

2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 151-179
Author(s):  
Erinn Knyt
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Detailed Analysis ◽  
Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe ◽  
Christopher Marlowe ◽  
Dark Side ◽  
Ferruccio Busoni ◽  
Dance Suite ◽  
History Of ◽  
Alter Ego ◽  
The Devil

Relying on knowledge of Karl Engel's edition of the Volksschauspiel, Karl Simrock's version of the puppet play, Gotthold Lessing's Faust fragments, and versions of the Faust legend by Christopher Marlowe and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, among others, Ferruccio Busoni crafted his own hybrid libretto that depicts a mystical and broadminded Faust. Busoni's music reflects the richness of Faust's mind, combining heterogeneous timbres, forms, and styles. Busoni juxtaposes a Gregorian Credo, Palestrina-style choral settings, a reformation hymn, a Baroque instrumental dance suite, an organ fantasia, recitatives, a lyrical ballad, and orchestral variations, with impressionistic symphonic writing, and experimental passages. While stylistic heterogeneity can be heard throughout many of his mature instrumental and vocal works, Busoni also used this heterogeneity in a descriptive way in Doktor Faust to characterize Faust. At the same time, Busoni sought to write “a history of man and his desire” rather than of a man and the devil. It is Faust's own dark side, rather than the devil, that distracts him and prevents him from completing his greatest work. With Kaspar removed from the plot, Mephistopheles, who as spirit is not always distinct from Faust the man, becomes Faust's alter ego. This duality is expressed musically when Faust assumes Mephistopheles's characteristic intervals. Although Busoni's incomplete Doktor Faust, BV 303, has already been studied by several scholars, including Antony Beaumont, Nancy Chamness, and Susan Fontaine, there is still no detailed analysis of Busoni's treatment of Faust. Through analyses of autobiographical connections, Busoni's early settings of Faustian characters, and the text and music in Doktor Faust, with special attention on the Wittenberg Tavern Scene that has no precedent among the versions of the Faust legend, this article reveals Busoni's vision of Faust as a broadminded, and yet conflicted character, shaped idiosyncratically to convey Busoni's personal artistic ideals. In so doing, the article not only contributes to ongoing discourse about Doktor Faust, but also expands knowledge about ways the Faust legend was interpreted and set musically in the early twentieth century through intertextual comparisons.

Anthology of Goethe Songs

10.31022/n023 ◽  
1994 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe ◽  
Art Music ◽  
Ferruccio Busoni ◽  
Late Eighteenth Century ◽  
Late Eighteenth ◽  
German Art ◽  
History Of ◽  
Voice And Piano

Few poets have had so profound an influence on the history of German art music as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Since the late eighteenth century, over seven hundred of his poems have been set by nearly six hundred composers as lieder for voice and piano. This anthology gathers twenty-two such settings, in a wide variety of styles, by composers ranging from Goethe's friend Carl Zelter to Hans von Bülow, Ferruccio Busoni, and Othmar Schoeck.

Towards a Fourth Reich? The History of National Bolshevism in Germany

1951 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 191-210
Author(s):  
Klemens von Klemperer
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
First World War ◽  
Human Relations ◽  
World War ◽  
Modern Psychology ◽  
The First World War ◽  
History Of ◽  
Alter Ego ◽  
Political Opinions ◽  
First World

National Bolshevism represents a chapter in German-Russian relations since the First World War. As a policy advocating an Eastern orientation for Germany it is a most puzzling and at this day a very acute phenomenon. To those educated to observe the spectrum of political opinions in terms of Right and Left, with the extreme Right at the opposite end from the extreme Left, National Bolshevism seems a paradox. It suggests the meeting of extremes. More concretely the term stands for a rapprochement between German nationalism and Russian Communism. The story of National Bolshevism is the story of two “strange bedfellows.”In the effort to comprehend this upsetting pattern it might be recalled that modern psychology has in many ways succeeded in breaking down our traditional thinking about human relations. Love, for example, has lost its meaning apart from hate, which has become its alter ego. We might be tempted to translate this finding into political terms, and National Bolshevism would appear as an example of a political love-hate relationship. It might also be suggested that the further we get from the origins and die more insight we gain into die workings of die two twentieth century extremes — Fascism and Communism — the more we are struck by dieir affinities. We grant diat Fascism is nodiing more dian “doctrineless dynamism,” whereas Communism goes back to die solid doctrinaire structure of Marxism. And even through European history since 1917 often threatened to lead up to an ultimate conflict between Fascism and Communism, die “transmutation” through which Marxism has gone in modern Russia has brought it ironically close to Fascism. It has become increasingly evident that die fight between die two was a mere sham battle.

Introduction

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-147
Author(s):  
Stephen Menn ◽  
Justin E. H. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
Detailed Analysis ◽  
The Political ◽  
Medical Philosophy ◽  
Archival Documents ◽  
History Of ◽  
Intellectual Context ◽  
Academic Dissertations

The life of Anton Wilhelm Amo is summarized, with close attention to the archival documents that establish key moments in his biography. Next the history of Amo’s reception is considered, from the first summaries of his work in German periodicals during his lifetime, through his legacy in African nationalist thought in the twentieth century. Then the political and intellectual context at Halle is addressed, considering the likely influence on Amo’s work of Halle Pietism, of the local currents of medical philosophy as represented by Friedrich Hoffmann, and of legal thought as represented by Christian Thomasius. The legacy of major early modern philosophers, such as René Descartes and G. W. Leibniz, is also considered, in the aim of understanding how Amo himself might have understood them and how they might have shaped his work. Next a detailed analysis of the conventions of academic dissertations and disputations in early eighteenth-century Germany is provided, in order to better understand how these conventions give shape to Amo’s published works. Finally, ancient and modern debates on action and passion and on sensation are investigated, providing key context for the summary of the principal arguments of Amo’s two treatises, which are summarized in the final section of the introduction.

scholarly journals Review of the Monograph: Sizov S.G. The White Capital of Russia: Everyday Life of Omsk (June 1918 – November 1919). Omsk, SibADI Publ., 2018. 240 p

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (3 (27)) ◽  
pp. 159-162
Author(s):  
Mikhail V. Shilovsky
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Everyday Life ◽  
Detailed Analysis ◽  
Large Volume ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
Valuable Contribution ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
The City ◽  
Detailed Picture

The review provides a detailed analysis of the research of doctor of science S.G. Sizov, dedicated to the daily life of Omsk during the Civil war. It is noted that the author, using archival materials and a large volume of various periodicals, was able to give a detailed picture of everyday life in Omsk during one of the most difficult periods in the history of Russia in the twentieth century, when the city became the White capital of Russia. Despite some omissions, according to the reviewer, the monograph makes a valuable contribution to the study of everyday life not only in Omsk, but throughout Russia during the social cataclysm of 1917-1920.

Introduction

2019 ◽  
pp. xxxiv-16
Author(s):  
Charles McKnight ◽  
Lorna Fitzsimmons
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Musical Theater ◽  
Turning Point ◽  
Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe ◽  
Richard Wagner ◽  
Modern Culture ◽  
Ferruccio Busoni ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
History Of ◽  
Doctor Faustus

The Introduction to The Oxford Handbook of Faust in Music overviews the theme of the magician Faust and the history of the theme’s musical adaptation. The publication of the Spies Faust Book in 1587, a turning point in early modern culture, lay the ground for generations of adaptations of the Faust theme, including Christopher Marlowe’s tragedy, Doctor Faustus, and the Faust puppet plays that would prove inspirational to the work of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe but also composers such as Richard Wagner, Ferruccio Busoni, Hanns Eisler, Josef Berg, and Henri Pousseur. At the center of most of the compositions discussed in this book is Goethe’s Faust, a masterwork at once comic and tragic that has inspired a wide range of music. The music discussed here falls into three categories: symphonic, choral, chamber, and solo Faust works; Faust in opera; and Faust in ballet and musical theater.

A Footnote to the Composition History of Maqālāt al-islāmiyyīn: The Internal Parallels in al-Ashʿarī’s Material on the Shia

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 142-186
Author(s):  
James Weaver
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Detailed Analysis ◽  
Single Source ◽  
History Of ◽  
Single Integral ◽  
Composition History ◽  
Source Of Information ◽  
Different Parts ◽  
Formal Features

AbstractAbū l-Ḥasan al-Ashʿarī’s (d. 324/935-6)Maqālāt al-islāmiyyīn wa-khtilāf al-muṣallīnis our largest single source of information on earlykalām. Since the mid-twentieth century, scholars have proposed various composition histories for the work, all of which involve the claim that the presentMaqālātwas not originally conceived as a single, integral text. These composition histories are intended to account for formal features, such as the presentMaqālāt’s structural unevenness and large amounts of internal repetition, and for certain features of content, such as the apparent commitment, or absence thereof, of its different parts to the theological positions of the Traditionalists. The chronology of its composition also has a bearing on the nature of its relationship to the slightly earlierMaqālāt firaq ahl al-qiblaof Abū l-Qāsim al-Balkhī al-Kaʿbī (d. 319/931). This article, based on a detailed analysis of the internal parallels within al-Ashʿarī’s material on the Shia, examines some previously overlooked evidence relevant to theMaqālāt’s composition history.

scholarly journals Epilogue and Conclusion

2019 ◽  
pp. 170-182
Author(s):  
David Brydan
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
International Cooperation ◽  
International System ◽  
Dark Side ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
International Networks ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
Post War ◽  
New Generation

Integrating the history of Franco’s Spain into the history of twentieth-century internationalism sheds new light on both subjects. The importance of international cooperation, international organizations, and international networks for Francoist elites reflects the extent to which Spanish nationalism during the early Franco era was framed and shaped by the history of internationalism. And examining the perspective of experts from an authoritarian nationalist regime serves to broaden and deepen our understanding of the fascist, right-wing, and conservative ‘dark side’ of internationalism. The Epilogue explores how the international activities of Spanish social experts developed after 1959. A new generation increasingly accepted the immutability of the post-war international system, seeking to adapt Spain to the world rather than adapting the world to Spain. They were even more internationally active than the previous generation, but were no longer necessarily ‘Franco’s internationalists’.

Microtonal Restraint

2020 ◽  
Vol 145 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-118
Author(s):  
ANNIKA FORKERT
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
First Generation ◽  
Charles Ives ◽  
Ferruccio Busoni ◽  
International Group ◽  
Early Twentieth Century ◽  
Microtonal Music ◽  
History Of ◽  
Karol Szymanowski

AbstractThis article proposes that the beginnings of twentieth-century microtonal music and thinking were shaped more by restraint in composers’ thinking than by a full embrace of the principle of ‘progress for progress’s sake’. Pioneering microtonal composers such as Ferruccio Busoni, Julián Carrillo, John Foulds, Alois Hába, Charles Ives and Richard Stein constitute an international group of breakaway modernists, whose music and writings suggest four tropes characterizing this first-generation microtonal music: the rediscovery of a microtonal past, the preservation of tonality, the refinement of tonality and the exercise of restraint. The article traces these tropes of early twentieth-century microtonal experiment in works by Carrillo, Foulds, Hába, Ives and Stein with reference to writings and music by Busoni, Nikolay Kul′bin, Harry Partch, Karol Szymanowski and Ivan Vyschnegradsky. It adds to the growing scholarship about early twentieth-century tonally based aesthetics and techniques, and broadens perspectives on the history of twentieth-century microtonal music.

scholarly journals Relations Between the Russian Orthodox and Anglican Churches in the First Decade of the XX Century

2021 ◽  
pp. 88-101
Author(s):  
Ярослав Очканов
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Great Britain ◽  
Detailed Analysis ◽  
Entire Range ◽  
Russian Orthodox ◽  
Orthodox Church ◽  
Anglican Church ◽  
Public Figures ◽  
Special Commission ◽  
History Of

Статья посвящена наиболее продуктивному периоду в истории взаимосвязей между Англиканской и Русской Православной Церквами. С начала ХХ в. к межконфессиональному диалогу подключились высшие иерархи обеих Церквей, отношениями с англиканами занялась специальная Комиссия при Священном Синоде, а в Великобритании был основан Англикано-Восточно-Православный Союз. Участились взаимные визиты богословов, высших церковных и общественных деятелей обеих стран, активизировалось обсуждение вопросов возможного сближения двух Церквей на всех уровнях. Все эти действия привели к более глубокому осмыслению проблемы христианского единения, в частности, к более детальному анализу возможности воссоединения Англиканской Церкви с Православной. Были созданы условия для широкого обсуждения всего комплекса вопросов, связанных с данной проблематикой. В данной статье анализируются результаты усилий обеих Церквей по разрешению имеющихся противоречий в ходе первого десятилетия ХХ в. В дальнейшем дискуссии по поискам путей сближения были продолжены вплоть до революционных событий в России в 1917 г. The article is devoted to the most productive period in the history of relations between the Anglican and Russian Orthodox Churches. Since the beginning of the twentieth century, when the highest hierarchs of both Churches have joined the inter-confessional dialogue, a special Commission of the Holy Synod has been engaged in relations with Anglicans, and the AnglicanEastern Orthodox Union was founded in Great Britain. Mutual visits of theologians, senior Church and public figures from both countries have become more frequent, and discussions on possible rapprochement between the two Churches at all levels have intensified. All these actions led to a deeper understanding of the problem of Christian unity, in particular to a more detailed analysis of the possibility of the reunification of the Anglican Church with the Orthodox Church. There were created conditions for a broad discussion of the entire range of questions related to this issue. This article analyzes the results of the efforts of both Churches to resolve the existing contradictions during the first decade of the twentieth century. Further discussions on the search of ways of rapprochement were continued until the revolutionary events in Russia in 1917.

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