Peter Walsworth

Research and Materials

Assignment #1 1/22/13
In considering topics for this semester's research and presentations, m !rainstorming too" me
to a n#m!er of different topics$ I decided I wanted to find something that I had great interest in,
!eca#se otherwise, the prolonged st#d of the topic might !ecome !oring$ M tho#ghts ranged across
topics from %ch#!ert to West %ide %tor$ %ch#!ert's Winterreise !riefl crossed m mind !efore I
reali&ed that the topic was alread the e'ample gi(en in the hando#t$ )he reorchestration of
%ondheim's older, grander wor"s into smaller cham!er m#sicals in which the singers were also the
instr#mentalists seemed li"e a (er interesting topic, !#t not one that wo#ld ha(e eno#gh research to !e
feasi!le for this class$ It might also !e a little too recent to loo" at in an informed wa and in a
historical conte't$
M tho#ghts t#rned !ac" to %ch#!ert, as his wor"s are (er interesting to me$ I tried to thin" of
other was in which he co#ld !e the s#!*ect of m research, and I decided that perhaps there wo#ld !e
eno#gh information on one of his most famo#s and most ha#nting songs, +,er -rl".nig$/ It is a song
that I had learned in high school, far !efore I had an right to do so, and one that I hold in high regard$
I tho#ght that perhaps this single song wo#ld ield too small a !od of research, so I widened m (iew
a small !it and decided to loo" into the m#sic that had !een written ! (ario#s composers to go with
0oethe's -rl".nig poem$ I feel that a topic along these lines wo#ld !e (er good for the first and third
pro*ects of the semester as it wo#ld !e specific eno#gh to loo" into and com!ine the stories of 0oethe,
%ch#!ert, 1oewe, and perhaps 2eetho(en, stri(ing to find the points at which these stories intersect and
where the composers and a#thor ma ha(e parted was$
As for the second pro*ect's s#!*ect, m mind is not et made #p, !#t I thin" it will loo" at
(ocalists in some form or another and the practices of a specific era or of those that sang a specific
composer's wor"$ Perhaps Wagner, or 0il!ert and %#lli(an might !e f#n to loo" at$
Peter Walsworth 3 2i!liograph for Assignment #1
4ischer5,ies"a#, ,ietrich$ Schubert's Songs$ 6ew 7or"8 Alfred A$ 9nopf, 1:;;$
<allmar", R#f#s$ German Lieder in the Nineteenth Century$ 6ew 7or"8 )alor = 4rancis, 2>1>$
%ternfeld, 4rederic" W$ Goethe and Music$ 6ew 7or"8 ,a ?apo Press, 1:;:$
9isch, 0#ido$ @M#sic in 0oethe's 1ife$@ Monatshefte$ A2$ no$ B C1:D>E8 C2A352D1E$
Istel, -dgar, and )heodore 2a"er$ @0oethe and M#sic$@ The Musical Quarterly$ 1A$ no$ 2 C1:2FE8 C21B5
2DAE$