Music And Literature In German Romanticism

Sharply focused essays on the most significant aspects of German Romanticism.

During the Romantic era, many in Germany believed music to be the highest art form, representing the quintessence of Romanticism and able to express what could not be expressed in words. This book studies the work of composers during this period and examines the cross-over between music and literature.

A stimulating new approach to understanding the relationship between music and culture in the long nineteenth century.

Explains the development of Romantic arts and culture in Germany, with both individual artists and key themes covered in detail.

The early 19th century was a period in German art in which painting played a significant part in the cultural resurgence commonly known as the Romantic Movement. This Movement and some of its chief exponents are examined against a background of German literature, philosophy and music.

Literature and Music in the Romantic Movementóthe twenty-four literary historians, musicologists, and philosophers who have contributed to this book have taken the conjunction "and" seriously. The eminently Romantic goal of unifying these two arts is scrutinized from several different angles in the attempt to break new critical ground both on aesthetic principles and in re-approaching some well-known works in "mixed genres" typical of the movement. Hans Schulte reminds us in his retrospect that what was a longed-for goal for the Romantics had once been a given, a fait accompli, to the ancient Greeks. But the book is not backward looking; on the contrary, it reveals both the aesthetic revolution at the beginning of the nineteenth century and its far reaching impact - as the title indicates - through the nineteenth and into the twentieth century. The editors from the "Preface". Co-published with McMaster University.