Scenes from Goethe's Faust:: Schumann's Grand Opus

Abstract

The course of Schumann's career seems to lead m an almost predetermined manner to the composition of the oratorio Scenes from Goethe's Faust as the culmination and summation of all the work that had preceded it, both musically and philosophically, a compositional climax that portrays the characteristics of the theoretical genre of the Grand Opus. This thesis explores a single example from each of the three genres that were most important to Schumann's career – piano composition, song and symphony - and examines how these three works - the C major Fantasie Op. 17, Frauenliebe und-Leben Op.42, and the Second Symphony Op.61 respectively - exemplify the hallmarks of Schumann's creative philosophy through three compositional elements - Schumann's use of genre, the philosophy of the fragment, and a new found historicism and appreciation of tradition - elements that were rooted m the broader context of the Romantic period and its distinct system of values and beliefs. The manifestation, development, and culmination of these three genres and three compositional elements m Scenes from Goethe's Faust provides a perspective from which to view the oratorio, in relation to the composer's previous works, as Schumann's Grand Opus.