The Romantic Poets

An Imagined Drama of Competitive Opposition in Carter's Scrivo in Vento, with Notes on Narrative, Symmetry, Quantitative Flux and Heraclitus

by Joshua B. Mailman

Music Analysis, v.28, ii-ii (2009)

Carter's music poses struggles of opposition, for instance in timbre (Double Concerto), space (String Quartet No. 3)... more Carter's music poses struggles of opposition, for instance in timbre (Double Concerto), space (String Quartet No. 3) or pulse (String Quartet No. 5). His preference for the all-interval tetrachords, 4–Z15 [0, 1, 4, 6] and 4–Z29 [0, 1, 3, 7], is also well known. From these facets of Carter's music, I develop a narrative interpretation of his Petrarch sonnet–inspired solo flute piece, Scrivo in Vento (1991). Specifically, I forge narrative pathways by imagining the two tetrachords as active agents opposed in competition. Previous Scrivo analyses (Capuzzo 2002; Childs 2006) stress continuity by revealing Q-transforms and common-note voice leading between the tetrachords. While acknowledging such features, my analysis emphasises oppositional struggle by tracing the tetrachords as separate entities which cooperate and conflict as they manoeuvre to outdo each other.

The analysis advances three theses: (1) it guides listening to and reading Scrivo in a way which resonates with Carter's concern for the aesthetics of oppositional struggle, his choice of a sonnet as inspiration and his affinity for all-interval tetrachords; (2) it shows that music-analytical detail can be organised into dramatic narratives by (a) projecting dramatic roles onto categories asserted by a formal theory and (b) treating the formal theory's relations metaphorically as actions performed by each role as the musical work unfolds; and (3) it shows how detailed pc-set analysis can support a Heraclitean view of music: a flux of opposing forces seeking and resisting unity.

'Vaishnavpadabali': Lyricism, Romanticism and the Indian Literary Tradition (Abstract to the Paper)

by Shantanu Majee

Co-authored with Madhurima Neogi, this paper was presented at the CSRL (Centre for Studies in Romantic Literature) 2010 Conference.

The paper focuses on the exploring of the various nuances of Vaishnava love poetry from which one can arrive at some... more The paper focuses on the exploring of the various nuances of Vaishnava love poetry from which one can arrive at some specific features of the Romantic thought as it developed in India. The passion of Radha and Krishna being the central theme of this poetic tradition, it affords one the opportunity of studying the treatment of emotions and effects as formulated by the poets like Jaydev, Vidyapati, Chandidasa and others. Although neither Radha nor the pair of Radha and Krishna is the subject of any known major work prior to Jaydev’s Gitagovinda, their treatment in the stray verses of many prior literary works renders authenticity to Jaydev's claim that he is basing his poem on a known theme. In fact, Prakrit love poetry from the Gathasaptasati of Satavahana Hala provides the earliest instance of the poetic appropriation to this love story. Thus the presentation also attempts to assess the traditions of love poetry that lead upto the bards of Bengal and Mithila. Overall, Vaishnavpadavali, by its evocation of a lingering lyricism, “shringar rasa” as the oldest aesthetic tenet in India, and the mingling boundaries of the finite and the infinite, point to an endless mystery of life thereby bestowing a marked character to Indian Romantic Literature. There lie embedded in it the roots of many of the aesthetic principles to be later taken up and modified by the British Romantics, be it the relation between man and nature or the sense of melancholy lying at the heart of all things beautiful. Vaishnavpadavali, in its profoundly pantheistic flavour, also sing the notes of “advaita” philosophy so integral to the Indian thought. So one can observe the curious convergences and divergences between British Romanticism and Romantic thought as is reflected in Vaishnava love poetry which makes the later, if not an alternate, at least a prominently individual branch of Romantic aesthetics. The paper also tries to examine how this tradition throbs steady in a much later poet Tagore who was exposed to and heavily influenced by the British Romantics, with Shelley in particular. Not entering the labyrinthine alleys of theology, the paper concentrates mostly on a critical study of Vaishnavpadavali by analyzing some specific pada-s to delve into a general exploration of the domain.

“Barbauld and Byron: New Affinities in an Unpublished Letter.”

by Lissette Szwydky

Keats-Shelley Journal 59 (2010): 26-30.

À propos de la Pandora de Nerval

by Dominique Casajus

draft only

À l'automne 1853, Nerval avait envisagé la publication d'une nouvelle dont le titre était alors la Pandora (ou... more À l'automne 1853, Nerval avait envisagé la publication d'une nouvelle dont le titre était alors la Pandora (ou peut-être Suite des Amours de Vienne, ou bien encore Amours de Vienne. Pandora) ; elle devait d'abord paraître dans le journal Paris, puis être intégrée au recueil Les Filles du Feu qu'il était en train d'achever. Le journal Paris disparut en décembre 1853 sans avoir rien publié de tel, et quand Les Filles du Feu parut au début de 1854, la Pandora n'y figurait pas. Le 30 octobre 1854, Le Mousquetaire d'Alexandre Dumas fit paraître le début de la nouvelle, dont le titre était devenu Pandora. Nerval disparut dans la nuit du 25 au 26 janvier 1855, et Le Mousquetaire ne publia jamais la suite de Pandora. Le Père Jean Guillaume a apporté de précieuses lumières sur la genèse de Pandora. Michel Brix et Jacques Clémens ont fait progresser la recherche par la publication en 2005 d'un manuscrit inédit qui pourrait avoir été celui que Le Mousquetaire devait publier. Le présent dossier tire quelques conclusions des travaux respectifs de Jean Guillaume, et de Michel Brix et Jacques Clémens.