Prelude: Introduction
Weber and Hoffmann
Berlioz and Schumann
Wagner
Transition: Nietzsche and the Post-Wagnerians
Burgess
Compositional Forms
Specific Compositions
Leverkühn's Compositions
Coda: Conclusion
Bibliography
Index
Theodore Ziolkowski is Professor Emeritus of German and Comparative Literature, Princeton University.
Ziolkowski's study represents a monumental effort to bring together
music and fiction in new terms. . . . [He] must be commended for
bringing attention to such a significant number of previously
unexamined literary works and laying the foundation for further
research exploring how a knowledge of music and musical form can
inform readings of literature.
*GERMAN STUDIES REVIEW*
Ziolkowski . . . tackles the richness of his material with a
reassuring confidence. He produces charming detail on the travails
of the double talents in the field (only with his erudition at
one's disposal does one begin to realize how many such talents
there were and are). Most importantly, his constant reference to
the [stature of] his subjects [in] the literary or musical
professions reminds readers that these talents were not just
delightful supper-party accomplishments, but meal tickets and
passports to history. No one will read these chapters without
profit, and without resolving to encounter some of those works for
themselves . . . .
*MODERN LANGUAGE REVIEW*
Any reader will find much to learn about the interface between
opera and libretto, about musical references in literature, and
especially about attempts to convey musical forms in fiction. . . .
[Ziolkowski's book is] open-minded, capacious, and dauntingly
informed.
*THE KEY REPORTER*
With an admirably light hand, the author selects and organizes his
materials from this vast topic in one book, which is written in a
pleasant style. . . . It is in presenting a rich palette of
possible further explorations that the true value of the present
study resides. (Francién Marx)
*GERMAN QUARTERLY*
Imitating a musical composition, Ziolkowski organizes this book
into three main sections- 'First Movement,' 'Second Movement,' and
'Finale'-bracketed by a prelude (introduction) and a coda
(conclusion). This is an interesting and readily accessible study.
Highly recommended.
*CHOICE*
[E]ngaging . . . . [W]ide-ranging and often insightful . . . .
Ziolkowski makes a nuanced and often convincing case for the many
ways in which counterpoint and polyphony, or forms such as the
fugue, chaconne, passcaglia, rondo, suite, sonata, and symphony are
at least partially and indirectly transposable into verbal
artifacts . . . .
*MONATSHEFTE*
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