1. Furtwängler and Brahms: Performing Sublime History in the »Germaniasymphonie«.
- Author
-
Vaillancourt, Michael
- Subjects
- *
SYMPHONY , *MUSICAL performance - Abstract
This study investigates the two surviving performances of Brahms's Third Symphony conducted by Wilhelm Furtwängler and contextualizes them as part of the reception of cultural tradition and national music in Germany during the early and mid-twentieth century. Many of the conductor's performance choices appear motivated by a desire to project the narratives of heroism, nostalgia and nationalism invented for Brahms's Third by critics in the decades after its premiere. Through his copious writings on aesthetics, as well as critical commentaries on his performance style, particularly those of Theodor Adorno, Furtwängler emerges as a living manifestation of the historical sublime. Sublime aesthetics formed the basis of many contemporary assessments of Furtwängler. He was personified as an inspired orator in the classical tradition, one with special insight into the symphonic repertory, but particularly as an interpreter with a significant connection to the musical past of Central Europe. Perceptions of Furtwängler's »lateness« stemmed from those who identified him as one of the last proponents of the Espressivo style of music making. From this vantage point he was seen as a key protector of tradition and by extension, as the defender of a rapidly disappearing national hegemony of music. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2023
- Full Text
- View/download PDF