Schumann's Ich hab' im Traum geweinet: A
Schenkerian and Freudian Perspective
This paper presents an analytical model combining Schenkerian analysis and Freudian dream interpretation. Drawing on the work of Allen Forte, Martin Eybl, and others, it demonstrates parallels between the music theories of Heinrich Schenker and the psychoanalytic theories of Sigmund Freud. Both theorists emphasize instinctual drives that govern the development of music and the psyche, respectively. Indeed, Schenker’s der Tonwille is quite like Freud’s libido. Additionally, both theorists discuss similar paths of drives toward satisfaction and alterations of those paths through various diversions, changes of object, and disappointments on the quest toward satisfaction. These paths toward a drive’s satisfaction create the structure of each analytic object – music and dreams, respectively. Part two of this paper explores
Schumann’s Ich hab’ im Traum geweinet
from Dichterliebe as a manifestation
of his unconscious from the time. A Schenkerian graph demonstrates parallel
structures evident in both an analysis of the musical structure and a Freudian
analysis of the song’s text. Schumann’s song involves three stanzas, each
recalling separate instantiations of related dreams and three separate
insufficient attempts to satisfy both musical and textual drives. These divergent
paths toward satisfaction are shown to reflect Schumann’s doubts about his
relationship with Clara Wieck at the time of his composing of Dichterliebe. Parallels between a
Freudian interpretation of the text and a Schenkerian analysis of the music
are shown to inform each other’s interpretation of the song.
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Programme > Session K: Schenkerian Theory >