Speaking of Schubert's "An die Musik," Strauss's "Zueignung," and the "Ariadne" Prologue, a few (eventually) final questions, Part 1

"There is a realm where all is pure"

Funny business on the island of Naxos: Ernst Stern's design for the original (prologue-less) 1912 Ariadne auf Naxos

R. STRAUSS: From the Prologue to Ariadne auf Naxos:
The Composer, "Musik ist eine heilige Kunst"

THE COMPOSER: Music is a sacred art, which brings together all men of courage, like cherubim around a shining throne, and for this reason it is the most holy of the arts. Holy music!


From a performance at Buenos Aires's Teatro Colón conducted by Lovro von Matačić, October 1964

by Ken

From last week's post ("We have more 'An die Musik,' 'Zueignung,' and 'Musik ist eine heilige Kunst' -- but remember, this only sounds like a "good news" post"):

Just to touch quickly again on what I shorthanded as the "Reverse-Strauss" that's driving this series of posts: What's so wonderful about this excerpt, and indeed the entire comically, over-the-toply-serious character of the Composer, is that our real composer, Richard Strauss, mostly meant all of the things that come out of our over-the-top young Composer's mouth, but he would almost surely never have dared utter them "straight." Instead, as he and librettist Hugo von Hofmannsthal conceived the character, he can make these things not only resonantly beautiful but borderline hilarious.

I mean only to suggest here: What if it's the exact opposite? What if the sentiments truly are preposterous, and we only kid ourselves that they have some real-world applicability? Wouldn't that be a kick in the head?

By hook or by crook we're going to finish up with "An die Musik," "Zueignung," "Musik ist eine heilige Kunst," and the perspective I've been calling a Reverse-Strauss -- in last week's post and the previous week's ("Today's sacred word is 'heilig' ('holy' or 'sacred'), chez Schubert and R. Strauss -- make of it what you will"). I'm afraid, though, that the finishing up isn't going to happen today; I'm reckoning it'll take us another two posts.

And along this twisty way, we're going to be fielding some questions, starting with this one:

Q1: Who says that Strauss "mostly meant all of the things that come out of our over-the-top young Composer's mouth"?

Obviously I said it, but it occurs to me that I've been asking you to take this on faith. So let's dip back into the 2015-16 series of Ariadne and (more or less) Ariadne-related posts I've already referenced, starting with the second one, "Why won't everyone just let poor abandoned Ariadne die in peace?," where we spent a fair amount of time with the monologue sung by Ariadne when she wakes up on the island of Naxos, abandoned by Theseus, the love of her life, wishing only to die. Let's just listen to the two "meaty" chunks of the monologue, in a performance that by chance took place the very same year as the one from which we just heard "Musik ist eine heilige Kunst" (though I'm going to hold off momentarily identifying the singers).

Part 1: "Ein schönes war, hiess Theseus-Ariadne"

ARIADNE [to herself, as in a monologue]
There was a thing of beauty, called Theseus-Ariadne,
that walked in light and rejoiced in life,
that walked in light and rejoiced in life.
A thing of beauty was: Ariadne. Theseus.
Theseus! That walked in light and rejoiced in life.
Ariadne. Theseus.
Why do I know of it? I want to forget!
[Another idea occurs to her poor deranged mind.]
This one thing I have still to find: It is shameful
to be as confused as I am.
I must try to rouse myself: Yes, this I still must find:
the maiden that once I used to be!
Now I have it -- the gods grant that I hold on to it!
Not the name -- the name has grown together
with another name, one thing grows
so easily into another, alas!
NAJADE, DRYADE, and ECHO [trying to awaken her]:
Ariadne!
ARIADNE [motioning them away]:
No, not again! She lives here quite alone.
Lightly she breathes, lightly she moves,
not a blade stirs where she treads,
her sleep is chaste, her mind serene,
her heart as pure as a spring;
she keeps herself undefiled, for the day is soon to come
when she can wind herself in her mantle,
cover herself with a cloth
and lie there,
among the dead.

From a Salzburg Festival performance conducted by Karl Böhm, July 26, 1964

Part 2: "Es gibt ein Reich, wo alles rein ist"

ARIADNE There is a realm where all is pure:
it has a name too: Realm of Death.
[Rises from the ground.]
Here nothing is pure.
All is finished here.

[She pulls her robe close around her.]
But soon a messenger will draw nigh,
Hermes they call him.
With his staff
he rules all souls:
Like birds on the wing,
like dry leaves,
he drives them before him.
Thou beautiful, serene god!
See! Ariadne awaits!

Oh, my heart must be cleansed
of all wild grief,
then your presence will call me,
your footsteps will approach my cave,
darkness will cover my eyes,
your hand will touch my heart.
In the beautiful festal robes
that my mother bequeathed me
my body will remain;
the silent cave will be my tomb.
But mutely my soul
will follow its new lord,
as a light leaf in the wind
flutters downward, gladly falling.
Darkness will cover my eyes
and fill my heart;
this body will remain,
richly adorned and all alone.

You will set me free,
give me to myself,
this burdensome life,
take it from me.
I will lose myself entirely in you;
with you Ariadne will abide.
[She stands lost in thought.]

-- English translations by Peggie Cochrane

From the same Salzburg Festival performance conducted by Karl Böhm, July 26, 1964


OKAY, THERE'S A TRICK HERE -- SO OBVIOUS
THAT I'M EMBARRASSED TO OWN UP TO IT

However, it'll have some significance when we finally hear the promised expanded chunk of the Ariadne Prologue which puts the Composer's "Musik ist eine heilige Kunst" in better context. While we're on the subject of blinding obviousness, though, let's throw out another question:

Q: Do our songs, Schubert's "An die Musik" and Strauss's "Zueignung," possibly have some overriding element in common?

Here's an idea: Why don't we listen again? And since both these songs are, as I've been saying, such simple pieces of construction, we can even look at them as well; they each fit comfortably on two pages. Alas, this path, although I hope it may prove highly fruitful, is going to take us farther from the destination before it brings us closer -- and so it's going to have to wait till next time.

THE ARIADNE POSTS

Sunday Classics snapshots: Meet the composer, Richard Strauss-style (10/11/2015)
Why won't everyone just let poor abandoned Ariadne die in peace? (11/1/2015)
Richard Strauss: "Music is a holy art," sings Strauss's Composer -- plus Two (out of Four) Last Songs, part 1 (11/8/2015)
Richard Strauss: "Music is a holy art," sings Strauss's Composer -- plus Two (out of Four) Last Songs, part 2 (11/15/2015)
Richard Strauss in the twilight (12/6/2015)
Ariadne is "the symbol of human solitude" -- which is "just why she needs company" (says the Dance Master) (12/13/2015)
Ariadne and Fiordiligi: Real people and feelings vs. ideas about people and feelings (12/20/2015)
We continue our detour through "Così fan tutte" on the road back to poor Ariadne, abandoned -- only now with company! -- on the isle of Naxos (12/27/2015)
Is Ariadne waiting for death, or for another lover? (1/24/2016)
"The secret of life is revealed to them in it," says the Composer of his Ariadne auf Naxos (2/7/2016)

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