“Four Serious Songs” by I. Brahms in the context of the German mystical tradition
St. Tikhon’s Orthodox University for the Humanities
For citation: Khondzinskii, Pavel V. “Four Serious Songs” by I. Brahms in the context of the German mystical tradition // Drevneishie gosudarstva Vostochnoi Evropy (The Earliest States of Eastern Europe). 2024: In memoriam Alexandr V. Nazarenko / Editors of the volume Т.V. Guimon, P.V. Lukin, Е.А. Мelnikova, А.V. Podossinov. Мoscow: GAUGN-Press, 2024. S. 1–2.
DOI: 10.32608/1560-1382-2024-45-1-2
Abstract: The article examines the connection of J. Brahms' Four Serious Songs, written on biblical texts, with the German mystical tradition, dating back to the Rhenish mystics of the 14th century. It was they who formulated the doctrine of the love for God, strong as death (Song of Solomon 8:6), which is similar to death, since it deprives a person not only of what binds him to earthly life, but also of the very hope of salvation, thus gaining the perfection of its selflessness. The article shows that if the first three Songs are written on texts about the death, and the fourth is about the love, then the musical themes of the ‘death’ and ‘love’ can be combined in simultaneous sound, thus creating a single musical death-love complex that expresses the main idea of the cycle.
References
Аверинцев С.С. София-Логос. Словарь. Киев, 2001. [Averintsev S.S. Sofiya-Logos. Slovar’ (Sofia-Logos. Dictionary). Kiev, 2001.]
Корзо М. Украинская и белорусская катехизическая традиция конца XVI – XVIII в. Становление, эволюция и проблема заимствований. М., 2007. [Korzo M. Ukrainskaya i belorusskaya katekhizicheskaya traditsiya kontsa XVI – XVIII v. Stanovlenie, evolyutsiya i problema zaimstvovaniy (Ukrainian and Belarusian catechetic Tradition late 16th–18th centuries: Formation, Evolution and the Problem of Borrowings). Moscow, 2007.]
Кьеркегор С. Или – или. СПб., 2011. [Kierkegaard S. Ili – ili (Either/Or). St-Petersburg, 2011.]
Хондзинский П. Любящие, возлюбленные и разделяющая их любовь: концепция любви в романе Райнера Марии Рильке «Записки Мальте Лауридса Бригге» // Филаретовский альманах. 2018. № 14. С. 17–36. [Khondzinskii P. Lyubyashchie, vozlyublennye i razdelyayushchaya ikh lyubov’: kontseptsiya lyubvi v romane Raynera Marii Ril’ke «Zapiski Mal’te Lauridsa Brigge» (The Lovers, Beloveds and Dividing them off Love: The Concept of Love in the Novel of Rainer Maria Rilke “The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge”) // Filaretovskiy almanakh. 2018. № 14. S. 17–36.]
Хондзинский П. Средневековая проповедь Fortis est ut mors dilectio в контексте августинианской традиции // Вестник РХГА. 2018. № 3. С. 130–139. [Khondzinskii P. Srednevekovaya propoved’ Fortis est ut mors dilectio v kontekste avgustinianskoy traditsii (Medieval Sermon Fortis est ut mors dilectio in the Context of the Augustinian Tradition) // Vestnik Russkoj hristianskoj gumanitarnoj akademii. 2018. № 3. S. 130–139.]
Шопенгауэр А. Собрание сочинений. М., 2011. [Schopenhauer A. Sobranie sochineniy (Collected Works). Moscow, 2011.]
Clara Schumann – Johannes Brahms. Briefe aus den Jahren 1853–1896. Im Auftrage von Marie Schumann herausgegeben von Bertold Litzmann: In 2 Bd. Leipzig, 1927. Bd. 1.
Luff R. Gedanken Meister Eckharts in der Lyrik Rainer Maria Rilke // Meister Ekhart Jahrbuch. 2017. Heft 4. S. 439–454.
Meister Eckhart. Schriften. Jena, 1934.
Preissinger C. Die vier ernsten Gesänge op. 121: Vokale und instrumentale Gestaltungsprinzipien im Werk von Johannes Brahms. Europäische Hochschulschriften: Musikwissenschaft. Frankfurt-am-Main, 1994.
Rilke R.M. Die Aufzeichnungen des Malte Laurids Brigge. Stuttgart, 1997.
Schumann C. Ein Künstlerleben nach Tagebüchern und Briefen. Von Berthold Litzmann: In 4 Bd. Leipzig, 1920. Bd. 3.