The Music of Jörg Widmann

Siglind Bruhn, born in Hamburg and with a Ph.D. from the University of Vienna (Austria), is a music analyst, concert pianist, and interdisciplinary researcher. Since 1993 she has been affiliated with the University of Michigan’s Institute for the Humanities, where she is responsible for “Music in interdisciplinary dialogue.” She is the author of more than 25 book-length monographs, most of them in the field of 20th-century music’s relationship to literature, art, and religion. In 2001, she was elected to the European Academy of Arts and Sciences; in 2008 she was awarded an honorary doctorate from Linnaeus University (Sweden). During the years 2014-2017, she will be teaching as Guest Professor at the Music Academies of Cracow and Katowice in Poland. Book publications (English): *Arnold Schoenberg's Journey from Tone Poems to Kaleidoscopic Sound Colors (2015), *J. S. Bach’s Well-tempered Clavier. In-depth Analysis and Interpretation (2014, rev. after 1st ed. of 1993) *The Music of Jörg Widmann (2013) *Frank Martin’s Musical Reflections on Death (2011) *Messiaen’s Interpretations of Holiness and Trinity: Echoes of Medieval Theology in His Oratorio, Organ Meditations, and Opera (2008) *Messiaen’s Explorations of Love and Death: Musical Signification in the “Tristan Trilogy” and Three Related Song Cycles (2008) *Messiaen’s Contemplations of Covenant and Incarnation: Musical Symbols of Faith in the Two Great Piano Cycles of the 1940s (2007) *The Musical Order of the World: Kepler, Hesse, Hindemith (2005) *Saints in the Limelight: Representations of the Religious Quest on the Post-1945 Operatic Stage (2003) *Musical Ekphrasis: Composers Responding to Poetry and Painting (2000) *Musical Ekphrasis in Rilke's Marienleben (2000) *The Temptation of Paul Hindemith: Mathis der Maler as a Spiritual Testimony (1997) *Images and Ideas in Modern French Piano Music: The Extra-musical Subtext in Piano Works by Ravel, Debussy and Messiaen (1997) Selection of additional studies in German: * Henri Dutilleux: Jede Note auf der Galdwaage gewogen (2016) *Aribert Reimanns Vokalmusik (2016) *Europas klingende Bilder. Eine musikalische Reise (2013) *Hindemiths große Instrumentalwerke. Hindemith trilogy vol. III (2012) *Hindemiths große Vokalwerke. Hindemith trilogy vol. II (2010) *Hindemiths große Bühnenwerke. Hindemith trilogy vol. I (2009) *Christus als Opernheld im späten 20. Jahrhundert (2005) *Das tönende Museum. Musik des 20. Jahrhunderts interpretiert Werke bildender Kunst (2004) *Musikalische Symbolik in Olivier Messiaens Weihnachtsvignetten. Hermeneutisch- analytische Untersuchungen zu den “Vingt regards sur l’Enfant-Jésus” (1997) *Die musikalische Darstellung psychologischer Wirklichkeit in Alban Bergs Wozzeck (1986) *Die Kunst musikalischer Gestaltung am Klavier. Gestaltungskriterien und Gestaltungsmittel in Bach’scher und klassischer Klaviermusik (1981)

Preface
Biographic Sketch and Work Catalogue
Introduction

Chapter I: Instrumental Poetry
Fleurs du mal, Piano Sonata after Baudelaire
Insel der Sirenen, Ikarische Klage, and Teiresias
Teufel Amor

Chapter II: Trilogy of Instrumental Singing
Lied für Orchester
Chor für Orchester
Messe für großes Orchester

Chapter III: Five String Quartets
First String Quartet
Chorale Quartet (Second String Quartet)
Hunting Quartet (Third String Quartet)
Fourth String Quartet
Versuch über die Fuge (Fifth String Quartet with Soprano)

Chapter IV: Chamber Music with Clarinet
Sieben Abgesänge auf eine tote Linde
Octet
Quintet

Chapter V: Operas
Das Gesicht im Spiegel
Babylon

A First Assessment

Appendix I: Libretto for Das Gesicht im Spiegel
Appendix II: Libretto for Babylon
Appendix III: Babylonian Culture, Its Myths and Epics