Hanns Eisler’s Art Songs: Arguing with Beauty (pdf)

Description

The book follows a chronological arc from Eisler’s early Morgenstern songs to his Lied-like setting of Brecht’s 1939 “To Those Who Come After” and his treatment of Hoelderlin’s poetry in the 1940s Hollywood Songbook; the final two chapters focus on Eisler’s Goethe settings in the early GDR, followed by his late Serious Songs recalling Brahms in their reflective approach. In its combination of textual and musicological analysis, this book balances technical and lay vocabulary to reach readers with or without musical background.