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| Thomas Eakins ( 1904 ) Music |
Doctor Faustus chapter 18 : My title : The highly talented Mr. Leverkühn
Ok, before things get worse, let’s have chapter 18, which
does two things:
1) Wet our appetite by hinting at things to come ( Mann
understands that his reader need some encouragement ! )
2) Bringing us up to date concerning AL’s progress to become a
composer
18.1 SZ tells us that he is familiar with the doings of AL
even tough he is not always present.If you check the subsequent actions in their lives, I get the impression that SZ
I am looking back at the subtitle : The life of the German
composer Adrian Leverkûhn as told by a friend. A friend ? Wishful thinking ?
Al is feeling more confortable in
the presence of others. Not only Kretzschmar, but also others. Take for instance Rûdiger Schildknapp, AL’s companion for his Italian travel. At the end of chapter 10 SZ, confesses that “Schildknapp
is a far better partner for such moods ( of demonic laughter ) – which is why I
have always been a little jealous of the man”.
Schildknapp is described as a writer, an Anglophile and a
Silesian ( in today’s Poland ) by birth. A bit of a racist remark. AL takes a holiday
to the Nort Sea with this new found friend and Schildknapp where he will write his
18.1 Wet our appetite
by hinting at things to come ( Mann understands that his reader need some
encouragement ! )
year
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SZ
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AL
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1905
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Does Military service
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In Leipzig with Kretzschmar
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1906 - 1907
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University of Leipzig
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1908 – 1909
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Classical tour
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Moves to Munich in
Southern Germany
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1910 - 1911
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First year teacher in Kaisersaschern
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In Italy with Schildknapp
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1913
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Freising
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Pfeiffering in Upper Bavaria
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1930
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18.2 Bringing us up to date concerning AL’s study to become
a composer
18.3 Neat definition of Music : that strangely cabalistic,
simultaneously playful and rigorous, ingenious and profound craft.
18.4 the study of music :
AL makes rapid progress in compositional technique,formal
structure and orchestration
Eager and prolific exercises in counterpoint
The teacher experience versus the students intuition
Al learns about Instrumentation, he learns to orchestrate orchestrate
“Teacher and pupil were essntially quite far apart in
matters of musical instinct and intent – indeed, any aspirant in the arts finds
himself almost by necessity dependent on the guidance of a master of his craft
from whom he is already half estranged by a generation’s difference. Things
only go well if the master nevertheless surmises and understands these hidden
tendencies – sees them ironically , if need be – but is careful not to stand in
the way of development”.
And so Kretzschmar lived in the self – evident, unuttered
conviction that music had found its
ultimate, highest manifestation and
efficacy in orchestral works – Something Adrian no longer believed.
Contemporary music is as a dead tooth preserved by artificially
ambalming…
AL proofs this with his own symphonic fantasy : “Phosphorence
of the Sea” which is a masterpiece but a parody as well
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Astounding feel for bewitching mixtures of
sound
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Exquisite tone painting
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highly talented succesor to Debussy or Ravel
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unbelieving masterpiece of orchestral coloristic
brillance
but still with “traits of a parody”
