This project examines rare songs for voice and guitar by German theorist and composer Gottfried Weber (1779-1839). Of particular interest is the extent to which Weber’s theories of music composition, aesthetics and cognition are evident in these compositions. As theorist, Weber was a pioneer of music cognition studies, posing principles by which harmonic progressions are understood by ‘the ear’, and he defined the concept of ‘multiple meaning’, in which harmonic entities can be defined in more than one way in certain tonal contexts. Weber viewed these concepts as fertile sources for compositional richness and variety; in turn his concepts have played a significant role in shaping modern approaches to music theory and composition. As composer, Weber and his contemporaries played a vital role in establishing the genre of German art song, or Lied (pl. Lieder); study of these early songs are essential to achieving a comprehensive understanding of the genre. Weber’s Lieder are unique in the extent in which they feature the guitar as accompanying instrument (the piano is more typical), a subgenre known as Gitarrenlieder. Today, Weber’s forty or more Gitarrenlieder are largely neglected. The purpose of this project is to remedy the fact that, to date, no studies have been published discussing the importance of Weber’s Gitarrenlieder or revealing the extent to which Weber’s theories are evidenced in his music.
So, could you say that Weber was a pioneer of something like polysemy in music? And doesn’t that suggest a referentiality beyond music-in-itself, kind of? I think that’s particularly interesting in relation to the Lieder, which were so important in bringing art music into domestic spaces and creating respectable opportunities for women to be artistic performers (vs. the scandalous divas of public performance!) This is all before the now best-known lieder were composed, right–? eg Schubert, Schumann….
As a matter of fact, Abbé Georg Vogler, the immediate theoretical predecessor of Weber who originated the term Mehrdeutigkeit (‘Multiple Meaning’), developed his concepts of multiple meaning in music by drawing analogies from Rhetoric. Weber in his own study examines the multiple meanings inherent in chords that can be spelled more than one way (ex. the chords B – D#- F# and Cb – Eb- Gb sound exactly the same but may perform different harmonic functions). In terms of referentiality beyond music–in-itself, early Lieder provided the means to accompany poetry with attractive, simple musical accompaniment and vocal melody. It’s well documented that beginning with Schubert, Lieder began evolving into an art form that was a synthesis of music and poetry greater than its separate parts, operating in both realms: literary and musical. We are beginning to see in Weber’s Lieder (in terms of his harmonic language) an attempt to express moods and ideas musically in a manner that goes beyond subservience to the text. However, we have so far only found discussion in his treatise on how to interpret multiple meaning in purely musical terms; we are interested in how Weber exploited Multiple Meaning to enhance the relationship of music and text in his Lieder. Weber was roughly contemporaneous with Schubert, though Weber produced most of the songs we are studying before he had the opportunity to hear Schubert’s Lieder. In effect they existed in parallel streams, both advancing the art of Lieder but in different ways. You bring up an excellent point of Lied’s relationship with the emerging middle class, in particular [reputable] women’s growing role as legitimate music makers, but unfortunately that aspect is beyond the scope of our current investigation.
Working on our MUSE project has been very eye opening, and even the brief insight I have gained thus far has changed the way I approach music. Our research is definitely moving along, and so far we have studied Weber’s theories, cataloged his Lieder for voice and guitar (which has given us an overview of his output with which we are concerned) and have even begun to dissect key songs that shed light on the application of “Multiple Meaning” in his own compositions. Some of our sources have been hard to locate, and we had even planned on taking a trip to NYC to go to the public library to view Weber’s treatise (a key source in our research), but were saved the hassle when I stumbled upon a PDF of the source on Google Books! Who would have thought? If anyone else is in need of a source that is hard to find, I highly recommend checking out Google Books; it’s an amazing resource. In fact, there is an interesting article in The Chronicle Review, The Chronicle of Higher Education (June 12, 2009) about Google Books and its inherent pros and cons that is definitely worth the read. In any case, I’m really excited to continue our work and present our initial findings next Thursday.
June 6, 2009 at 2:24 pm |
This project examines rare songs for voice and guitar by German theorist and composer Gottfried Weber (1779-1839). Of particular interest is the extent to which Weber’s theories of music composition, aesthetics and cognition are evident in these compositions. As theorist, Weber was a pioneer of music cognition studies, posing principles by which harmonic progressions are understood by ‘the ear’, and he defined the concept of ‘multiple meaning’, in which harmonic entities can be defined in more than one way in certain tonal contexts. Weber viewed these concepts as fertile sources for compositional richness and variety; in turn his concepts have played a significant role in shaping modern approaches to music theory and composition. As composer, Weber and his contemporaries played a vital role in establishing the genre of German art song, or Lied (pl. Lieder); study of these early songs are essential to achieving a comprehensive understanding of the genre. Weber’s Lieder are unique in the extent in which they feature the guitar as accompanying instrument (the piano is more typical), a subgenre known as Gitarrenlieder. Today, Weber’s forty or more Gitarrenlieder are largely neglected. The purpose of this project is to remedy the fact that, to date, no studies have been published discussing the importance of Weber’s Gitarrenlieder or revealing the extent to which Weber’s theories are evidenced in his music.
June 6, 2009 at 5:21 pm |
This project sound so interesting – I look forward to hearing your performance of some of these songs with guitar during the MUSE program!
June 7, 2009 at 1:48 pm |
Thanks, Janet! And likewise (we are ALL intrigued when it comes to smut fungus)
June 12, 2009 at 5:11 pm |
So, could you say that Weber was a pioneer of something like polysemy in music? And doesn’t that suggest a referentiality beyond music-in-itself, kind of? I think that’s particularly interesting in relation to the Lieder, which were so important in bringing art music into domestic spaces and creating respectable opportunities for women to be artistic performers (vs. the scandalous divas of public performance!) This is all before the now best-known lieder were composed, right–? eg Schubert, Schumann….
June 16, 2009 at 10:59 am |
As a matter of fact, Abbé Georg Vogler, the immediate theoretical predecessor of Weber who originated the term Mehrdeutigkeit (‘Multiple Meaning’), developed his concepts of multiple meaning in music by drawing analogies from Rhetoric. Weber in his own study examines the multiple meanings inherent in chords that can be spelled more than one way (ex. the chords B – D#- F# and Cb – Eb- Gb sound exactly the same but may perform different harmonic functions). In terms of referentiality beyond music–in-itself, early Lieder provided the means to accompany poetry with attractive, simple musical accompaniment and vocal melody. It’s well documented that beginning with Schubert, Lieder began evolving into an art form that was a synthesis of music and poetry greater than its separate parts, operating in both realms: literary and musical. We are beginning to see in Weber’s Lieder (in terms of his harmonic language) an attempt to express moods and ideas musically in a manner that goes beyond subservience to the text. However, we have so far only found discussion in his treatise on how to interpret multiple meaning in purely musical terms; we are interested in how Weber exploited Multiple Meaning to enhance the relationship of music and text in his Lieder. Weber was roughly contemporaneous with Schubert, though Weber produced most of the songs we are studying before he had the opportunity to hear Schubert’s Lieder. In effect they existed in parallel streams, both advancing the art of Lieder but in different ways. You bring up an excellent point of Lied’s relationship with the emerging middle class, in particular [reputable] women’s growing role as legitimate music makers, but unfortunately that aspect is beyond the scope of our current investigation.
June 16, 2009 at 11:32 am |
Working on our MUSE project has been very eye opening, and even the brief insight I have gained thus far has changed the way I approach music. Our research is definitely moving along, and so far we have studied Weber’s theories, cataloged his Lieder for voice and guitar (which has given us an overview of his output with which we are concerned) and have even begun to dissect key songs that shed light on the application of “Multiple Meaning” in his own compositions. Some of our sources have been hard to locate, and we had even planned on taking a trip to NYC to go to the public library to view Weber’s treatise (a key source in our research), but were saved the hassle when I stumbled upon a PDF of the source on Google Books! Who would have thought? If anyone else is in need of a source that is hard to find, I highly recommend checking out Google Books; it’s an amazing resource. In fact, there is an interesting article in The Chronicle Review, The Chronicle of Higher Education (June 12, 2009) about Google Books and its inherent pros and cons that is definitely worth the read. In any case, I’m really excited to continue our work and present our initial findings next Thursday.