PhD in the Arts
This doctoral research explores the resonance between Robert Schumann's music and poetic literature. From the perspective of a performer of Schumann's works—specifically 1836-1838 compositions (Opuses 6, 12, 15, 16, 17, 21) recorded with Etcetera Records—pianist Marco Mantovani reflects on how the immersion into Schumann's poetic world can enrich the interpreter's imagination.
By contextualizing his view on the interpreter’s role and on concepts such as intuition and the subconscious (drawing on considerations by Schumann and later musicians such as Furtwängler, Arrau, and Holliger), the author underlines the significant influence of extra-musical stimuli—specifically literature and poetry—on his artistic process. This method mirrors Schumann’s nuanced approach towards music and literature, which navigates the ambiguity between music’s autonomy and its capacity to convey meaning that transcends words (“Töne sind höhere Worte”). The acquaintance with Schumann's aesthetics, acquired through studying a selection of his favorite literary works and his own writings (i.e., diaries, letters, and articles), has intuitively shaped and informed the performance of these compositions.
Taking inspiration from Schumann’s posthumous Dichtergarten für Musik, a collection of literary quotes on music’s transcendental power, Mantovani presents his personal anthology. It features quotes from authors admired by Schumann, such as Hoffmann, Jean Paul, and Shakespeare, alongside later writers whose (similar) aesthetics have profoundly influenced the interpreter's artistic identity, including Baudelaire, Bulgakov, Calvino, Dostoevsky, Mann, Márquez, Pirandello, Walser, among others.
Ultimately, both the recordings and anthology are integrated into “The Poets’ Garden,” a 3D virtual space that offers a glimpse into the researcher’s internal artistic process. This metaphorical environment visualizes how literary fragments, evoked by music, resurface from the subconscious. Visitors are invited to explore a representation of the interpreter’s mind, strolling through and getting lost in its labyrinthine library.
