| | The Marble Statue is an 1818 novella by the German romantic poet Joseph von Eichendorff (1788–1857). Significantly, its protagonist has to choose between art and a pious life. |
| | Heinrich Schütz (1585–1672) did not actually write for the organ. When TM became aware of this, he substituted the name of Michael Praetorius (1571–1621). This change is reflected in the GKFA, but not in the GW or the Woods translation. |
| our community had no use for lectures | In the years prior to the composition of DF, TM made his money as an itinerant lecturer in the United States and was continuously amazed by the eagerness and patience of his American audiences. |
| | Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor, Op. 111 was written in 1821 or 1822. Kretzschmar’s lecture was heavily influenced by Theodor Adorno’s 1937 essay “Late Style in Beethoven.” Adorno, a neighbor of TM in Pacific Palisades, also provided feedback on the entire chapter. |
| | An assistant, especially one working for a scholar or magician. In the Chapbook, both Faust’s servant Wagner and Mephistopheles are referred to by this term. The “famulus” in question here is Anton Schindler (1795–1864), an acquaintance of Beethoven’s who wrote a salacious biography of him that became another major source for this chapter. Z. is to some extent modeled on Schindler. |
| | Beethoven’s life is often divided into “early,” “middle,” and “late” periods, with the late period frequently said to begin around 1812, after the composition of the Eighth Symphony. The late period is characterized by increasingly forceful attacks on classical forms and conventions—a development that we now recognize as the beginning of musical Romanticism, but which disturbed many of Beethoven’s contemporaries. |
| | Kretzschmar’s theory that Beethoven was at his most “subjective” during the middle period, and that the musical works of the late period pivot back to a new “objectivity” in which musical conventions are invoked at arm’s length, as if in parody, was heavily influenced by Adorno’s dialectical approach to music history. |
| harmonic subjectivity […] polyphonic detachment | “Polyphony” refers to a musical texture in which two or more independent melodies occur simultaneously; “harmony” refers to the way in which multiple pitches combine to form a chordal structure. While polyphony and harmony are not mutually exclusive, Kretzschmar’s reference to a “radical will to harmonic expression” associates Beethoven’s middle period with homophony—i.e., with musical textures in which chordal structures supersede the independent musical lines of polyphony. |
| | Kretzschmar’s comments on the second movement draw heavily on detailed written feedback that Adorno provided in response to questions TM had submitted to him. |
| | Wiesengrund in the original, a sly reference to Adorno’s birth name. |
| | Relationship between two or more musical lines that are harmonically (vertically) interdependent, but rhythmically and melodically (horizontally) independent. Rounds and fugues are forms of counterpoint. |
| weight of the chord’s joints | TM copied this phrase from a letter by Adorno, who had written to him about the Eigengewicht der Akkorde (inherent weight of the chords). However, because of TM’s musical ignorance and Adorno’s bad handwriting, TM initially read the phrase as Fugengewicht der Akkorde (fugal weight of the chords), a construction that makes no technical sense but has a certain metaphorical charm given what follows. The error was quickly pointed out to TM, though the mistake remained in all versions printed during his lifetime. Both Woods and the GKFA opt to silently “correct” the phrasing. |
| | The listeners have literally been enchanted by the music, drawing a connection to the black magic of the Faustus myth. |
| | A “fugue” is a compositional technique in which two or more voices repeat the same theme at different pitches. It represents a formal evolution of the round, with which L. began his apprenticeship in music. |
| | Nikolaus II, Prince Esterházy (1765–1833) was a Hungarian prince and a patron of Beethoven’s. His Hungarian origin moves him into the vicinity of L.’s own later benefactress, Frau von Tolna. |
| | Compositional style of the eighteenth century, characterized among other things by the prevalence of polyphonic textures. L. will later (204/279) adopt this name to describe his invention of the twelve-tone technique. |
| | The following anecdote, like so much else in this chapter, is taken from Schindler’s Beethoven biography, although TM rewrote it to stress the Christological parallels to Christ’s agonies in the Garden of Gethsemane. |
| could ye not watch with me | Words taken from Matthew 26:40, thus emphasizing the Christological parallel. |
| deaf man sang, howled, and stomped | An allusion to chapter 68 of the Chapbook, in which Faust’s students overhear their master’s final struggle with the devil through the closed door of his study. |
| | TM excised the next three paragraphs following the publication of the 1947 first edition, as he did many other passages, especially in chapters VIII and IX. For concision, I have not flagged subsequent elisions in this commentary. |
| “Monster of all Quartets” | Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 13 (1826). |
| | German original has im freien Stil in italics, marking it as a technical term to be contrasted with the “strict style” mentioned on 61/87. |
| | The Well-Tempered Clavier by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) was finished in 1722 and not only represents a milestone of classical music but also led to the eventual codification of the even temperament so central to the aesthetic discussions in DF. |
| | The opposition between cultic/liturgical and cultural/profane epochs is of central importance to the debates about history between L. and Z. and should be seen also as a metonym for larger debates about pre-modernity and enlightenment. |
| | Wagner’s Parsifal carries the subtitle Ein Bühnenweihfestspiel (A Stage Consecration Play); it thus mixes cultic and cultural elements. |
| | Italian for “in the church style” (meaning “without instrumental accompaniment”). The linkage between cultic and vocal music was extremely important to Paul Bekker (1882–1937), whose The Story of Music (1927) greatly influenced Kretzschmar’s second lecture as well as DF as a whole |
| art’s apparently imminent retreat | A probable allusion to the ways in which art was put to use by the Nazis in their assemblies and cultic celebrations. |
| | The idea articulated here can be traced back all the way to TM’s essay “Thoughts in Time of War” (1914), but it also alludes to the central thesis of Dialectic of Enlightenment (1944) by Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer. |
| | “Homophony” refers to a musical texture in which a primary voice is supported by one or more other voices that are subordinated to it and provide the harmony. In “polyphony,” multiple voices act independently. See also the contrast on 57/81. |
| | Pythagoras (sixth century BCE) held that numbers structure the cosmos. His thinking is a central influence on L. and alluded to at various points throughout the book. |
| | The central female character of Wagner’s Parsifal, tied to themes of the cultic and of redemption, but also to incantation. |
| | A cycle consisting of the operas Das Rheingold, Die Walküre, Siegfried, and Götterdämmerung by Richard Wagner; the complete cycle premiered in 1876 and was later hugely influential on TM both through its content and its formal innovations. The equation of “the basic elements of music” with “those of the world itself” is especially apropos to the opening bars of Das Rheingold. |
| | “Monody” is a musical texture consisting of a single vocal line with instrumental accompaniment. TM is more specifically referring to “monophony,” a musical texture in which there is a vocal line with no (or only percussive) accompaniment. |
| | TM learned about Beissel (1691–1768) and the Solitary Brothers and Sisters through an article in The American-German Review by Hans Theodore David, from which he quotes extensively in the following paragraphs. He later had the opportunity to examine Beissel’s manuscripts in the Library of Congress. Beissel will provide L. with an obvious model in his strivings to overcome the modern “cultural” epoch and return music to a “cultic” condition. |
| Music […] his spiritual kingdom | A likely allusion to the ways in which art and popular entertainment were harnessed for propagandistic purposes by the Nazis. In the German original, the word for “kingdom” is Reich. |
| froze out the singing teacher | The German kaltstellen is more drastic and carries connotations of “to eliminate, to kill.” |
| driven by an irresistible longing | Another instance of music being connected to incantation. |
| even a foolish order is better | A dictum that, though its literal referent is musical composition, has significant allegorical implications for the political realm. |
| | Another example of the theme of bodily heat already raised on 51/74. The term “bovine warmth” (Stallwärme or “stable warmth” in the original) links this passage to the encounter with Hanne in chapter IV. |
| | Z. is older of course, though his relationship with L. rarely conveys this. |
| | The German Interesse has a somewhat stronger association with intellectual interest than its English equivalent. L. is talking about intellectual curiosity rather than romantic or sexual interest. |