Skip to Main Content
 

Global Search Box

 
 
 
 

Files

File List


19718.pdf (4.49 MB)

ETD Abstract Container

Abstract Header

Goethe’s "Gretchentragodie" in Song: A Multidimensional Woman, not Victim

Chew, Ellen C
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7408-1649
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1458893328

Abstract Details

2016, MA, University of Cincinnati, Arts and Sciences: Germanic Languages and Literature.
This paper is an exploration of several musical settings of the Gretchen character’s most poignant songs and scenes in Goethe’s "Faust." The purpose of this paper is to argue that nineteenth-century composers from Germany, (Carl Friederich Zelter, Richard Wagner, and Hugo Wolf,) Austria, (Franz Schubert) and France (Charles Gounod) chose Gretchen as the subject of their Lieder (or in Gounod’s case, enhanced her role from supporting to lead in his opera) because they recognized she was more complex than most women of her time. Throughout "Faust," Gretchen exercises an unparalleled agency that is usually denied by scholars. My purpose is to reinstate Gretchen’s agency and to show how composers added depth and subtext through their musical settings to make Gretchen stronger and an even more poignant character. In this paper, each scene is presented in chronological order; the purpose of which is twofold: First, I examine each scene based on Goethe’s “Naturformen der Dichtung” and how the three poetic forms outlined may have influenced the composers. Second, I discuss carefully selected chosen vocal music settings of these texts to show how composers portrayed Gretchen’s coming of age: her psychological and physical transformations that lead to her maturity, and the coming into her agency to reconcile herself as a sexual woman with her religious faith. Gretchen’s faith in God is very strong, but the faith she has in herself, is even stronger. Gretchen is as relevant a character today as she was in the nineteenth century. I wish to show that the interdisciplinary exchange between German Studies and Music makes for a relevant twenty-first century interpretation of this timeless character and timeless work.
Richard Schade, Ph.D. (Committee Chair)
Valerie Weinstein, Ph.D. (Committee Chair)
Mary Stucky, M.M. (Committee Member)
68 p.
Germanic Literature
Goethe; Faust; Gretchen; Music; Voice Opera; Performance

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Chew, E. C. (2016). Goethe’s "Gretchentragodie" in Song: A Multidimensional Woman, not Victim [Master's thesis, University of Cincinnati]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1458893328

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Chew, Ellen. Goethe’s "Gretchentragodie" in Song: A Multidimensional Woman, not Victim. 2016. University of Cincinnati, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1458893328.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Chew, Ellen. "Goethe’s "Gretchentragodie" in Song: A Multidimensional Woman, not Victim." Master's thesis, University of Cincinnati, 2016. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1458893328

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

ucin1458893328
2,267
© 2016, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by University of Cincinnati and OhioLINK.