Listening awry music and alterity in German culture

240 Pages·2006·1.95 MB·English

by  David Schwarz

Listening Awry
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Listening Awry
Music and Alterity in German Culture
David Schwarz
University ofMinnesota Press
Minneapolis • London
English translations offive songs by Franz Schubert (“Die liebe Farbe,”“Der
Wegweiser,”“Ihr Bild,”“Die Stadt,”and “Der Doppelgänger”) are by George Bird
and Richard Stokes and reprinted from The Fischer-Dieskau Book ofLieder(New
York:Alfred A.Knopf,1977).
For audio components and other features related to the text,visit
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Copyright 2006 by the Regents ofthe University ofMinnesota
All rights reserved.No part ofthis publication may be reproduced,stored in
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Published by the University ofMinnesota Press
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Minneapolis,MN 55401-2520
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Library ofCongress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Schwarz,David,1952–
Listening awry :music and alterity in German culture / David Schwarz.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13:978-0-8166-4449-0 (hc :alk.paper)
ISBN-10:0-8166-4449-7 (hc :alk.paper)
ISBN-13:978-0-8166-4450-6 (pb :alk.paper)
ISBN-10:0-8166-4450-0 (pb :alk.paper)
1. Music—Psychological aspects. 2. Music—Germany—History and
criticism. 3. Other (Philosophy). 4. Music—Philosophy and aesthetics.
I. Title.
ML3830.S278 2006
781'.110943—dc22 2006010714
Printed in the United States ofAmerica on acid-free paper
The University ofMinnesota is an equal-opportunity educator and employer.
14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To the Schwarz,Stolow,Ganzburg,and Sklarinsky family members lost in the Holocaust
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Contents
Preface ix
Acknowledgments xxi
ONE
The Rise ofthe Conductor and the Missing One 1
TWO
Franz Schubert’s “Die Stadt”and Sublime (Dis)pleasure 27
THREE
Music and the Birth ofPsychoanalysis:
Anton Webern’s Opus 6,no.4 58
FOUR
Left! Right! Left! Right! Music,Bodies,Fascism 83
FIVE
Closing the Wound:
Parsifalby Richard Wagner and Hans-Jürgen Syberberg 118
Notes 161
Index 213
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Preface
This book began with simple auditory experiences that have been re-
peated and varied in countless ways throughout my life:(1) hearing the
whistle ofa passing train (how odd that you can hear a sound bend as a
train passes while the conductor on the train hears the “same”sound as
a steady,sustained tone or interval);(2) feeling a sudden sense offright
at a loud noise (sounds penetrate the body all at once at various sur-
faces of skin);(3) turning at the sound of a call not meant for you (the
call meant for the other embarrasses); (4) listening to the sounds of a
language you do not understand (like all objects that circulate in social
spaces, words are projections that are language, culture, and context
specific);(5) thinking about the discrepancy between seeing the source
of a sound and hearing the sound later as it strikes the ear (we “see”a
sound as a carpenter hits a distant roof with a hammer; between that
moment ofsight and the delayed sound striking our ear,we hear silence).
Such experiences have caused me to wonder how sounds affect the
body and the psyche,how music as representation ofstructured sounds
affects the body and psyche of the listening subject, and the cultural
context in which music is produced,reproduced,and consumed.Post-
Lacanian psychoanalysis can suggest how music envelops the body at
our organ ofparallel processing—the skin.Applications ofpost-Lacanian
psychoanalysis to ideological interpellation can connect psychoanalysis
to culture.Music theory can ground these considerations in precise de-
tails ofmusical textuality.
ix