In Crossing Paths, John Daverio explores the connections between art and life in the works of three giants of musical romanticism. Drawing on contemporary critical theory and a wide variety of nineteenth-century sources, he considers topics including Schubert and Schumann's uncanny ability to evoke memory in music, the supposed cryptographic practices of Schumann and Brahms, and the allure of the Hungarian Gypsy style for Brahms and others in the Schumann circle. The book offers a fresh perspective on the music of these composers, including a comprehensive discussion of the 19th century practice of cryptogtraphy, a debunking of the myth that Schumann and Brahms planted codes for "Clara Schumann" throughout their works, and attention to the late works of Schumann not as evidence of the composer's descent into madness but as inspiration for his successors. Daverio portrays the book's three key players as musical storytellers, each in his own way simulating the structure of lived experience in works of art. As an intimate study of three composers that combines cultural history and literary criticism with deep musicological understanding, Crossing Paths is a rich exploration of memory, the re-creation of artistic tradition, and the value of artistic influence.
Readership: Scholars and students of critical theory and nineteenth-century music history.
The late John Daverio, Professor and Chair of Music, Boston University
"... there are several illuminating and ground-breaking discussions in this book." - Nineteenth-Century Music Review
"Daverio's book is filled with original and suggestive insights that will undoubtedly stimulate continuing inquiry into the questions that they raise. Musicologists will welcome it as an important contribution to nineteenth-century studies." - Notes
"Like all first-rate musicological work, the book blends purposeful speculation with meticulous research." - Notes
Introduction: At the Intersection of Old and New Paths Part I: Schumann's One and Only Schubert 1: Schumann and Schubert's "Immortal" Piano Trio in E flat 2: The Gestus of Remembering: Schubert's Critique of Schubert's Impromptus Part II: Uttering CLARA in Tones 3: Schumann: Cryptographer or Pictographer? 4: Brahm's Musical Ciphers: Acts of Homage and Gestures of Effacement 5: The Folded Fan Part III: A Noble Model 6: Metaphysical Chess Games 7: Brahms, the Schumann Circle, and the Style hongrois: Contexts for the "Double" Concerto Epilogue: Crossing Paths and Modes of Experience
Please note, this offer price only applies to individual customers when ordering direct from Oxford University Press, while stock lasts. No further discounts will apply. If you are a bookseller, please contact your OUP sales representative.
