E. T. A. Hoffmann, Cosmopolitanism, and the Struggle for German Opera

Francien Markx, Ph.D. (2003), University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, is Associate Professor of German at George Mason University. Her primary area of expertise is in the intersections of eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century German literature, music, and theater, particularly opera and the lied.

Acknowledgments

Prelude

Prologue: German Musical Drama and the Emerging Public Sphere

Hamburg – Leipzig – Weimar and Gotha – The National Theater Projects – Mannheim – Vienna – Berlin – E. T. A. Hoffmann’s Theatrical and
Operatic Experiences – Evaluating Hoffmann’s Contribution(s) to Opera

ACT I. NARRATING OPERA (CRITICISM) FOR THE ALLGEMEINE MUSIKALISCHE ZEITUNG (Berlin, Bamberg, Leipzig/Dresden, 1808-1814)

Chapter One
Ritter Gluck: On The Art of Judging Opera

The Power of Anecdotes – Querelle des Gluckistes et des Piccinnistes. Christoph Willibald Gluck in the French Press – Gluck in the German Press – E. T. A. Hoffmann’s Views on Gluck – Ritter Gluck: A Response to Forkel – Narrating Gluck’s Public Image – Berlin: An Operatic Backwater – A Tale Illuminated by Music – Ritter Gluck: Towards a New Aesthetics of Opera

Chapter Two
Don Juan: Reflections on (Performing) Mozart’s Don Giovanni

E. T. A. Hoffmann’s Don Juan and Lorenzo Da Ponte’s Don Giovanni – Contemporary Performance Practices – E. T. A. Hoffmann and Mozart’s Don Giovanni – Restaging Don Giovanni – Approaches to Mozart – Mozart’s Score and Donna Anna’s Secret – Reflections on Donna Anna’s Role - A Tale Inspired by Music

Chapter Three
Poet and Composer: Operatic Insights of an Insider

Turbulent Times – The Dialogue Der Dichter und der Komponist – Theoretical Discourse: The Poet (A. W. Schlegel) and the Composer (E. T. A. Hoffmann) – How Not to Write a Libretto: Der Opern-Almanach des H[er]rn A. v[on] Kotzebue – Musical Practice – Der Dichter und der Komponist: A Program for Romantic Opera? – A Word to the Composer: Über einen Ausspruch Sachini’s – Der Dichter und der Komponist and the Future of German Opera – The Poet and the Composer: Hoffmann’s Own Creative Production

ACT II. BACK IN BERLIN: BALANCING ACTS AS ARTIST AND CRITIC (1814-1822)

Prelude: Brühl and the Berlin Theater

Chapter Four
‘Patriotic Acts’: Undine on the Berlin Stage ossia Accomplishments of a Trio (Fouqué, Hoffmann, and Schinkel)

Preparing the Stage – Fouqué’s Undine – The Staging of Hoffmann’s Undine – Voices of the Critics – Carl Maria von Weber’s Review of Undine for the AMZ – Weber and the German Ideal – Romantic Ideal versus Reality – Dénouement

Chapter Five
Berlin Reviews I: Dramaturgisches Wochenblatt and Vossische Zeitung

Reviews of 1815 – Reviews of 1816 – Envisioning the Future: Visions of a Realist – Contributions for the Vossische Zeitung: Reviewing a Befriended Reviewer – Hoffmann’s Final DW Contribution: Die Kunstverwandten or the Joys and Sorrows of Producing an Opera – Art Beyond Boundaries: Towards a Universal Operatic Style

Chapter Six
Berlin Reviews II: Standing up for Spontini

A Parisian in Berlin – Hoffmann’s Warm Welcome – Briefe über Tonkunst in Berlin. Erster Brief – Hoffmann’s Remaining Berlin Reviews – Zufällige
Gedanken or Ritter Gluck Revisited – Spontini’s Opera Olimpie – Hoffmann’s Translation of Olimpie – Hoffmann’s Last Review: Nachträgliche Bemerkungen über Spontinis Oper Olympia – Further Observations on Hoffmann’s Last Review

Chapter Seven
Falling Silent: The Freischütz Controversy

A Tumultuous Première – Contemporary Letters and Comments – ‘Made in Germany’ or An Opera’s Success Story – Reflections on Hoffmann’s Silence

Postlude

Bibliography
Index