Josephine Lang’s Goethe, Heine and Uhland Lieder: Contextualizing her Contribution to Nineteenth-Century German Song

This thesis engages in a serious scholarly examination of Lang’s Lieder to texts by Goethe, Heine and Uhland, and contextualizes her Lieder within the nineteenthcentury German Lied tradition. Her songs are considered in the light of recent polemics in the debate on words and music in Lieder studies. An analysis of both text and music provides insight into Lang’s unique gift of musico-poetic interpretation, while revealing that her songs draw on both the German drawing room and the serious Schubertian Lied styles. Lang’s unique musical voice in the Lied tradition is highlighted through her distinct vocal lines, rich harmonic palette and widely varying pianistic figurations. The confessional is examined in a selection of these settings in light of her famous statement, ‘My songs are my diary.’ Lang’s profound sensitivity to the text is explored and her unique aesthetic of Lieder composition summarised. Comparative study forms an element of the thesis and issues of performance practice are also raised. In addition, Lang’s particular experience as a ‘woman composer’ within this tradition is scrutinized. Initiated by questions surrounding the designation ‘woman composer’, an investigation into Lang’s biography, career, compositional environment and reception is carried out in terms of gender theory in order to shed light on her unique musical contribution to the Lied. Socio-cultural issues for the woman composer of song in the nineteenth century are considered, mainly revolving around such dichotomies as public/private, professional/amateur and serious/popular. In response to the recent resurgence in scholarship on Lang, this thesis contextualizes her songs by augmenting our knowledge of women’s musical activities in the nineteenth-century but more importantly, by relativizing Lang’s songs to current Lieder scholarship through exploration of her Goethe, Heine and Uhland settings

Name dc:type.qualificationname

phd

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

doctoral

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

National University of Ireland Maynooth

Year dc:date.issued

2010

Author dc:creator

• Kenny, Aisling

• Music

Language dc:language

en