The Davidsbündler (League of David)[1] was a music society created by German Romantic composer Robert Schumann in his writings.[2] It was inspired by literary societies, real and imagined ones, such as the Serapionsbrüder (The Serapion Brethren) of ETA Hoffmann,[3] however as Richard Taruskin noted, the concept was most realized in Schumann's reviews of his fellow composers and their aesthetic styles.[1] The illusory group was created to defend the cause of contemporary music against its detractors to whom Schumann routinely called philistine.

Make Up

The imagined "league" comprised mainly the warring identities within Schumann, namely Florestan, Raro, and Eusebius, respectively symbolising the extroverted and introspective sides of his personality.[4] The purpose of this group, however, was expressed in Schumann's words in 1854, "In order to express different views on art, it seems appropriate to invent contrasting artistic characters."[5]

Taruskin corresponds these three aspects in Freudian terminology, namely: id (Florestan), ego (Eusebius), and superego (Raro).[1] However, the characters also revolved around Schumann's aesthetic wrestling with the more exploratory and dramatic elements of the Romantic style, of he routinely disparaged his contemporaries for their philistine traditionality, and the disapproved elements of liberated Romanticism in the case of Franz Liszt and Richard Wagner. Both Wagner and Schumann were avid reviewers during their time and views held by them radiated throughout German cultural life.[6]

Members of the "league" also included wife and composer/pianist Clara Schumann, supportive of Schumann's "league," as well as favored composers Niccolò Paganini and Frederic Chopin.[7] Other members of this group included his piano teacher Friedrich Wieck.[5] The minor composer Franz Otto, brother of choral composer Ernst Otto, was also invited to join the "league."[8] In a quotation from 1888, the purpose of the group is made clear through Schumann's address to Otto,

I expect Wieck has told you that a new musical periodical is coming out, which is to be the representative of poetry, and will mercilessly attack all the weaknesses of the age...Of course, you help us in a passive sense as it is, by writing, but beside that we require active criticism to make victory quite certain.

— Robert Schumann, "The Great Composers", The Musical Times (1888)

Appearance

The name "Davidsbündler" already appears in Schumann's first musical essay, "The Davidsbündler" which was published in Karl Herloßsohn’s newspaper "Der Komet" (The Comet) in December 1833. Its narrator finds a paper shred thrown out of a window by a "Swedish head with a crooked nose" bearing the following message on its backside:

"Finder! To the Good and to the Great you have been chosen! Davidsbündler you shall become, [you shall] translate the secrets of the Society of the World, i.e. of the society, which shall swat the Philistines, musical and otherwise! Here you know all – take action then! By no means organize provincially however, but deliver wildly and crazily! Master Raro, Florestan, Eusebius, Friedrich, Bg., St., Hf., Knif, bellows treader at St. Georg."

The continuation of this "Davidsbündler" fantasizing can be found in the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik, which Schumann founded in April 1834.[9] The first essay on the subject was entitled, "The Davidsbündler," published in 1833 with the second one being published the year after.[10] The first republication of the essays occurred in 1883 by Frederich Gustav Jansen, a German organist and musicologist.[10]

In the same year 1834 Schumann composed three pieces carrying the titles "Florestan", "Eusebius" and "Marche des Davidsbündler contre les Philistins" in his Carnaval.

In 1837 Schumann wrote a piano suite, Davidsbündlertänze, Op. 6, named after the Davidsbündler and translated as, "Dances of the members of the League of David." In the first edition, the dances were signed by the different characters and were additionally accompanied with short excerpts on their individual personalities. However, by the second edition such elements were noticeably absent.[1]

It is also significant that in Schumann's 1854 publication, "Collected Writings about Music and Musicians," the "league" is not mentioned and is absent from any type of mentioning yet the core ideas within the framework are evident throughout the works in the word, "Davidsbündlerschaft."[10]

Works

Within Schumann's body of works, certain ones featured the "League of David" and its constituent characters:

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 "What is a Philistine? : Music in the Nineteenth Century". www.oxfordwesternmusic.com. Retrieved 2023-12-08.
  2. ↑ George Grove (1879). A Dictionary of Music and Musicians: (A.D. 1450-1880). Macmillan. pp. 435–.
  3. ↑ Daverio, John. Robert Schumann: Herald of a "New Poetic Age". Oxford University Press, 1997.
  4. ↑ Schonberg, Harold C. The Lives of the Great Composers, p. 177. W.W. Norton, 1997.
  5. 1 2 Chernaik, Judith (2011). "Schumann's Doppelgängers: Florestan and Eusebius revisited". The Musical Times. 152 (1917): 45–55. ISSN 0027-4666.
  6. ↑ Hermans, Tobias Taddeo, "Robert Schumann and Richard Wagner as Music Critics", Robert Schumann and Richard Wagner as Music Critics, De Gruyter, ISBN 978-3-11-058157-7, retrieved 2023-12-08
  7. ↑ Jensen, Eric Frederick (2001). Schumann. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-195-34606-0. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
  8. ↑ Bennett, Joseph; Schumann, Robert (1888). "The Great Composers. No. XXV. Schumann (Continued)". The Musical Times and Singing Class Circular. 29 (546): 460–462. doi:10.2307/3359347. ISSN 0958-8434.
  9. ↑ Geck, Martin. Robert Schumann: Mensch und Musiker der Romantik. Siedler Verlag, 2010.
  10. 1 2 3 Sponheuer, Bernd (2018). "Die Gründungstexte von Schumanns Davidsbündler-Projekt: 2. Teil: Schumanns Aufsatz „Die Davidsbündler" / The Original Texts of Schumann's "Davidsbündler" Project: Part two: Robert Schumann's Article "Die Davidsbündler"". Archiv für Musikwissenschaft. 75 (1): 29–60. ISSN 0003-9292.
  11. ↑ Kaminsky, Peter (1989). "Principles of Formal Structure in Schumann's Early Piano Cycles". Music Theory Spectrum. 11 (2): 207–225. doi:10.2307/745936. ISSN 0195-6167.

References

  • David Ewen, Encyclopedia of Concert Music. New York; Hill and Wang, 1959.
  • Eisenberg, Evan, "The Recording Angel". Yale University Press; 1987
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