GERM 206(S) Music and Literature: The German Connection

This course examines the relationship between music and German literature from the late-eighteenth to early-twentieth century. We will consider literary works which thematize music, poetry set to music, and operas. Special attention will be given to the tension between text and music in Lieder and operas, the question of linguistic crisis among writers, philosophical understandings of music, and the ways in which language and music have consistently vied to be the privileged medium of expression in German culture. Works under discussion will include those of Wackenroder/Tieck, E. T. A. Hoffmann, Schopenhauer, Wagner, Hofmannsthal and R. Strauss. Conducted in English; no knowledge of German required. Requirements: active participation in class discussions, one oral presentation, two papers, one final exercise.

Hour: LIN