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Once recovered from his wounds, Wilhelm travels to Serlo's home. There, he finds out that his friend isn't very happy with him; if you remember, Wilhelm have sent Melina and his company to him but Serlo thinks they are a bad amateur group. At first, he does not even want to hear about signing them up, but little by little, Philine and Wilhelm persuade him that being him their director, the actors will improve. Moreover, his own actors are asking for higher wages and Melina's company would work for less. Eventually, Serlo agrees to stage a theater play with them and asks Wilhelm to stay as an actor too. Wilhelm hesitates; he should return home, he has been away for a long time, but he likes the idea of becoming an actor and this way, he stays by Mignon and the harpist. If you're thinking that's a déjà-vu, you are right.- Details
"Barbara" is a short story by Joseph Roth whose main character is a young widow with a baby. She devotes herself, body and soul, to bring up her child. She sacrifices the love of her life, Peter; she also sacrifices her health, she literally works herself to death. All in vain, because the child becomes a selfish, lazy young man, unable to show her the slightest affection. When Barbara dies, he's in the room but still, she dies alone, only accompanied by Peter's memory. I'm telling you this because while I was reading this story, it came to mind the last verse of a song by Hanns Eisler "verfehlte Liebe, verfehltes Leben" which could be translated as "wasted love, wasted life."
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Dear all, this week we're celebrating the 3rd anniversary of Liederabend. Three years is a long time on the blogosphere! I don't often post (blogging gurus recommend posting, at least, twice or three times a week), but I always manage to do it on time and I am glad to say that I have established a bond with my readers. A longtime friend who lives far from Barcelona (so we don't often meet) recently told me that finding my post every week was a way to hear from me. I like it.
During last year, we moved from the blog’s first "home", the platform Blogger; it was useful for a while but it became too small. On June 5th, I published the first post on this new home; it was a big job to change [...]
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[...] Some texts of this Travelbook by Krenek refer to trivial issues such as those related to the inconveniences of tourism that make the listener smile for being so familiar. Criticism, irony or forwardness, comments about the weather, praises to drink, mood swings, philosophical reflections, customs can also be found. There is even a premonition of what was about to come to Germany at the Lied entitled Politik (Politics), in which Krenek makes a tragic appeal: "Ihr Bruder, schickt den blutigen Hanswurst endlich heim, beendet die Todesmaskerade, denn es ist genug jetzt!" (Brothers, send home once and for all the bloody clown, end this deadly masquerade, because enough is enough!). It seems pretty clear who was the "Bloody Clown" Krenek referred to when he composed this cycle in 1929, a few years before his exile in the US escaping from the Nazis.- Details
The bicentenary of Gretchen am Spinnrade, regarded as the first romantic Lied, was celebrated not long ago; Schubert composed it on 19th of October in 1814 that symbolizes the birth of the genre. A year and a half later, in April 1816, Beethoven wrote what is considered the first relevant song cycle, An die ferne Geliebte. Beethoven's songs, such as those of Haydn and Mozart, are usually viewed as classical. Does that mean that any important work of a romantic genre becomes classical? I don't think we should worry about this apparent contradiction; cultural movements know no calendars, their boundaries are blurred and bordered artists come and go between styles. If I'm mentioning this it's because I've noticed that some people feel too lazy to listen to Beethoven's Lieder, as if not being clearly romantic, would diminish its merit or beauty. So, please don't miss this week's [...]
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