LUCA PANDOLFI

PhD Student

PhD program:: XXXVIII
email: luca.pandolfi@uniroma1.it




supervisor: Marco Bizzarini
co-supervisor (2): Tiziana Pangrazi

Research: The relationship between poetry and music in Robert Schumann's oratorios

In approaching Robert Schumann's oratorio corpus, the intention is to examine the firm link that in the composer's thought unites the poetic and musical spheres, highlighting how the core of Schumann's work centers on a linguistic and cognitive quest, even before a strictly formal one. Maintaining this purpose, it is intended to provide an overview of the influences that helped shape Schumann's thought and an examination of the artistic-cultural elements, specifically from early German Romanticism, that fueled his poetics. In addition, during the analysis of the oratorio scores, special attention will be paid to a series of small melodic and harmonic nuclei that Schumann placed at the basis of the structural development of his works. These recurring motifs, tying inseparably to the poetic verses to which they are juxtaposed from time to time, create a series of internal cross-references capable of connecting the various parts of the work, linking seemingly distant spheres and creating a motivic-harmonic network that aims to highlight the dramaturgy of the poetic text of reference. In this sense, it is intended to study the concept of the fragment as the nerve center of Schumannian expression that led to a genuine rethinking of the oratorio genre. Finally, it is intended to show how Schumann's artistic production contributed to the renewal of coeval musical practice as well as the conception of music itself, elevating it to the level of literature and philosophy. It is intended to credit his oratorios with overcoming the classical conception of the poetry-music pairing based on strictly formal canons in favor of an affinity that stemmed from much deeper linguistic and poetic roots.


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