Bettina von Arnim’s Musical World
Carl Johann Arnold, Quartettabend bei Bettina von Arnim, 1854/56. © Freies Deutsches Hochstift, Frankfurt a.M.
Join the German Department for an evening of chamber music with compositions by the Romantic writer, socialite, and activist Bettina von Arnim (née Brentano, 1785-1859). An outstanding woman of letters, Bettina spent her entire career setting to music poetry by Johann Wolfgang Goethe and her husband Ludwig Achim von Arnim, but her musical work has long been overshadowed by her literary career and political activism.
Bettina von Arnim’s Musical Worlds will feature Bettina’s own Lieder in conversation with other musicians of her time, including Franz Schubert (“Gretchen am Spinnrade”, “So lass mich scheinen, bis ich werde”) and Helen Liebmann (“Kennst Du das Land?”), and an intermezzo with Robert Schumann’s Gesänge der Frühe, which the great composer famously dedicated to Bettina.
Our own Dr. Jamie Rankin will accompany soloist Dr. Gabrielle Ferrari (Columbia University) on this musical journey. Remarks by Professor Joel Lande and lectures by Dr. Ferrari and graduate student Dennis Schäfer will introduce the audience to Bettina’s life and work and the relationship of women and the art song. A roundtable discussion, moderated by Professor Susan Morrow, will conclude the event.
Free and open to the public.
