Utopie und Resignation. Schuberts Deutungen des Sehnsuchtsliedes aus Goethes ‘Wilhelm Meister’ von 1826
Abstract
In the lied, music interprets poetry. Interpretation is not arbitrary. At the same time, there is no such thing as a single correct interpretation of
something else – at any rate not of something as complex as a poem by
Goethe. Mignon’s song of longing “Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt, / weiß,
was ich leide” can be taken to manifest subjectivity utterly barren within
itself. Yet the ability to express that state of mind transcends it; it implies imagination of something else. Thus the freedom achieved in the act of articulation points towards a different sphere of being – “nach jener Seite”. In 1826, Schubert rendered both complementary perspectives musically, the latter in his duet D 877/1, the former in his solo setting D 877/4. Yet that contrast – openness versus closure – conveys only the barest outline. In art, detail is forever crucial to interpretation.