Benedict Taylor | ‘Ein sonderbar Ding’: Music, the Historical, and the Problem of Temporal Representation in Der Rosenkavalier Event details Speaker: Benedict Taylor (University of Edinburgh) Date: 27 January 2021 Time: 4.15-5.45 pm Online About this seminar 'Der Rosenkavalier' is an opera which foregrounds time: the problem of time, as transience, passing, and ultimately death for the ageing Marschallin, and also contrasts this with a potentially more redemptive quality, the category of the Augenblick, the intersection of the temporal with the eternal, associated with the young lovers Octavian and Sophie. It is also a work that has traditionally marked the turning point in Strauss's relation to historical time and the idea of musical progress, the composer supposedly retreating from the modernity of Salome and Elektra towards a more conservative idiom. The temporal qualities manifested in Der Rosenkavalier invite comparison with another work from this period that similarly foregrounds the concept of time, Thomas Mann's 'Der Zauberberg'. In this self-styled 'novel of time', Mann raises a number of problems concerning the human limitations on perceiving time and its artistic representation, especially with regard to music. Disputing the contention made by the narrator of Mann's novel that music cannot 'narrate time', I show that Strauss's music in fact perfectly exemplifies music's capacity to express 'the historical in time', in this way using Der Rosenkavalier as a case study for addressing the philosophical problem of temporal representation in art. I argue that 'Der Rosenkavalier' – both Hofmannsthal's text and Strauss's music – is in several significant ways 'an opera about time': the temporal and the eternal, the historical, and what I will call the 'meta-historical'. Biography Benedict Taylor's profile page`` Links Salzburg Festival production of Der Rosenkavalier conducted by Herbert von Karajan — available to staff and students only on Medici TV, via Discover Ed Covent Garden production of Der Rosenkavalier conducted by Georg Solti, on YouTube (external link) Access details This meeting will be held on Zoom. Join Zoom meeting (external link) Meeting ID: 843 1687 7402 You need a password to access this meeting. Students and staff of the University of Edinburgh can find the password here: Password If you are not a member of the Universiy of Edinburgh, please register in advance on Eventbrite to receive the password: Register for this Seminar on Eventbrite (external page) Jan 27 2021 16.15 - 17.45 Benedict Taylor | ‘Ein sonderbar Ding’: Music, the Historical, and the Problem of Temporal Representation in Der Rosenkavalier Benedict Taylor discusses how 'Der Rosenkavalier' can be viewed as an opera about time. Online (Zoom)
Benedict Taylor | ‘Ein sonderbar Ding’: Music, the Historical, and the Problem of Temporal Representation in Der Rosenkavalier Event details Speaker: Benedict Taylor (University of Edinburgh) Date: 27 January 2021 Time: 4.15-5.45 pm Online About this seminar 'Der Rosenkavalier' is an opera which foregrounds time: the problem of time, as transience, passing, and ultimately death for the ageing Marschallin, and also contrasts this with a potentially more redemptive quality, the category of the Augenblick, the intersection of the temporal with the eternal, associated with the young lovers Octavian and Sophie. It is also a work that has traditionally marked the turning point in Strauss's relation to historical time and the idea of musical progress, the composer supposedly retreating from the modernity of Salome and Elektra towards a more conservative idiom. The temporal qualities manifested in Der Rosenkavalier invite comparison with another work from this period that similarly foregrounds the concept of time, Thomas Mann's 'Der Zauberberg'. In this self-styled 'novel of time', Mann raises a number of problems concerning the human limitations on perceiving time and its artistic representation, especially with regard to music. Disputing the contention made by the narrator of Mann's novel that music cannot 'narrate time', I show that Strauss's music in fact perfectly exemplifies music's capacity to express 'the historical in time', in this way using Der Rosenkavalier as a case study for addressing the philosophical problem of temporal representation in art. I argue that 'Der Rosenkavalier' – both Hofmannsthal's text and Strauss's music – is in several significant ways 'an opera about time': the temporal and the eternal, the historical, and what I will call the 'meta-historical'. Biography Benedict Taylor's profile page`` Links Salzburg Festival production of Der Rosenkavalier conducted by Herbert von Karajan — available to staff and students only on Medici TV, via Discover Ed Covent Garden production of Der Rosenkavalier conducted by Georg Solti, on YouTube (external link) Access details This meeting will be held on Zoom. Join Zoom meeting (external link) Meeting ID: 843 1687 7402 You need a password to access this meeting. Students and staff of the University of Edinburgh can find the password here: Password If you are not a member of the Universiy of Edinburgh, please register in advance on Eventbrite to receive the password: Register for this Seminar on Eventbrite (external page) Jan 27 2021 16.15 - 17.45 Benedict Taylor | ‘Ein sonderbar Ding’: Music, the Historical, and the Problem of Temporal Representation in Der Rosenkavalier Benedict Taylor discusses how 'Der Rosenkavalier' can be viewed as an opera about time. Online (Zoom)
Jan 27 2021 16.15 - 17.45 Benedict Taylor | ‘Ein sonderbar Ding’: Music, the Historical, and the Problem of Temporal Representation in Der Rosenkavalier Benedict Taylor discusses how 'Der Rosenkavalier' can be viewed as an opera about time.
