In the Shadow of the Canon

Author(s): Lydia Goehr

Source: The Musical Quarterly, Vol. 86, No. 2 (Summer, 2002), pp. 307-328
Published by: Oxford University Press
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Music and Culture

In

the

Shadow

of the

Canon

LydiaGoehr

Das ist die Not der schwerenZeit!

Das ist die schwereZeit der Not!
Das ist die schwereNot der Zeit!
Das ist die Zeit der schwerenNot

This poem, entitled "Kanon,"asksus, as a musicalcanon would, to sing

out its lines not in sequence but in overlappingvoices. And although
it exhausts its logical possibilitiesof variationbetween time and need,
one has the feeling, as in a children'sround,that it could go on forever.
However, I am less interestedin the poem'sform than in its historical
time of authorship,because I shall write about the canon not as a particular musicalform,but, rather,as an authoritativeconcept of cultural
formation.I am interestedin diedeutscheKlassik,the Germancanon
of musicalworkswhere the belated development of Germanyas a modem nation is indispensableto the account, even though the history
neither of music nor of the canon belongs solely to Germany.Yet my
themes are well investigatedby focusing on Germanyand the anxiety
it has shown towardits own status as a nation and its canon of works.
The poem was penned as the Germanmusicalcanon was fast
taking shape. The canon became a dominant culturalformationwhen
music became autonomous,historical, and disciplined in tandem with
the rise of the work'sconcept and absolutemusic. This was also the start
of the bourgeoisage of public concert halls and commissionedworks,
with new roles definedfor composers,performers,audiences,and critics.
Much of this familiarstoryhas to do with the dominance of romanticism
and idealismin Germanyaround 1800 and with how secularcanonic
worksassumedan atavistic characterof sacredness,or, more broadly,
with how secularformsof culturalauthoritydisplayedthe canonic
aspirationsand anxieties of earlierformsof religiousauthority.1
The poem'sexact yearwas 1814, the year of Beethoven'srevisedFidelio. Indeed, that there is a German musicalcanon is usuallyexplained
by referenceto the Beethoven cult, accordingto which Beethoven was
The Musical Quarterly 86(2), Summer 2002, pp. 307-328; DOI: 10.1093/musqtl/gdg012
? 2004 Oxford University Press
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307

308 The MusicalQuarterly

chosenas the paradigmatic

composerforthe newsymphonicage.This
doesnot meanGermanmusicbeganwithBeethoven,onlythe conscious
processof canonization,becauseBach,Haydn,andMozartwerecounted
andincludedas at leastthreeof Beethoven'sgreatpredecessors.
The year1814wasalsothe startof the Congressof Vienna,a congressthatsoughtto reorderEuropeafterthe NapoleonicWars.Conservativein direction,it promptedmorenationalseparationthanEuropean
bordersof inunity.Likethe emergingcanon,it determinedterritorial
clusionandexclusion.Though1814markeda momentof reliefforEudomination,it markedalsoa critical
rope,now releasedfromFrance's
of
time
and
as
the
need,
period
poemsays,of uncertaintyas to whether
Frenchidealsof libertyandequalitywereanylongersupportable
and,if
not, whatwouldstandin theirplace.
Bornin theseuncertaintimes,the Germancanontellsa storyless,
aboutthe undoubtedgreatnessof its masterworks
than
paradoxically,
and
over
aboutGermany's
anxieties
nationhood.
sufferings
The languageof sufferingandgreatness(LeidenundGrosse)ought
naturallyto evokeThomasMann'smostfamouslectureon Richard
Wagner.However,myessayattendsto the composerwho so desperately
soughthis canonicstatusin the musicalParnassus
onlyto saysomething
aboutthe connectionbetweencanonandnationformation.As Thomas
Mannmadeexplicitin 1933,the aspirations
andanxietiesthathadlain
behindGermany's
its
music
into
a
historicallincanonizing
particular
wereinextricably
boundupwith thosethathadlain
eageof masterpieces
behindGermany's
nationalizingits people.2
The poem"Kanon"
waspennedby an inveteratetraveler,an aristoin
craticwriterborn France,who,withhis parents,fledthe RevolutionaryWarsandsettledin Berlin.Therehe cameto be knownas Adalbert
von Chamisso,a Germanicderivationof a muchlongerFrenchname.
YetChamissowasknownlessforthispoemthanforhis authorshipin
1813(published1814)of PeterSchlemihls
wundersame
Geschichte
and,
with this,the contributionto Germanromanticism
of a powerfulKunstthe storyof "theshadow."
However,in this essayI referto a
marchen,
dualimageof Chamissoso thatwheneverone thinksof the writerof
the shadowone thinksalsoof the poetof difficulttimesandneeds.
Chamisso's
storyis abouta manwho sellshis shadowforthe
promiseof immediatehappinessandassimilationinto a community
wherehe hasjustarrivedas foreigner.Butthe promise,he quickly
learns,is false,becausealthoughhe acquiresa happypurse(Fortunati
it costshimhis humanness,the sortthatsaysthereis no
Gliickssdckel),
happinesswithoutsuffering,no individualcontentmentwithoutcommunity,no historywithoutmortality,andno wisdomwithoutthe recog-

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In theShadowof theCanon 309

nition that therearelimitson whatwe can know.As with the Faustian

bargain(or Plato'sparableof the cave), the shadowcastsitselfcanoniDieElexiere
desTeufels,
callylongandwide,throughE. T. A. Hoffmann's
HansChristianAndersen'sfable"TheShadow"[Skyggen],
to Richard
Strauss's
DieFrauohneSchatten.3
Andersen'sfableof 1847mosthelpfully
linksthe themeof the shadowto thatof the canon.It tellsof a scholar
who,havingbetrayedhis commitmentto the canonicvaluesof "the
triesto redeemhimselfbutfindsthat
true,the good,andthe beautiful,"
it is too late.

In this essay,latenessandbelatednessgradually
becomethe overarof
themes:
the
lateness
or
German
music
as an
decay
interpreted
ching
of
the
belatedness
the
modem
nation-all
worked
of
German
expression
out throughthe themeof the shadow.
Andersentellsof a youngbutlearnedmanfromthe north(Berlin)
who,whiletravelingin warmsouthernclimes,one eveningfindshis
curiosityso aroused(bythe magicalstrainsof musicandthe imageof a
beautifulwoman)thathe sendshis shadowoff to seekthe knowledgehe
cannothimselfacquire.However,the shadowreturnsonlyyearslater,
leavingthe learnedmanmeanwhilefearfulthathe hasbecomethe man
of the story(Chamisso's
story)who losthis shadow.When the shadow
he
claims
to havelearnednot onlythe woman'sidentity,
finallyreturns,
also
the
entire
court
of
but
Poetry.(The womanwasjustPoetry.)On this
basis,the shadowclaimsfurtherto havebecomea man,richin wealth
andconvincingin his new suitof clothes.Despondent,the learnedman
wonderswhetherhis pursuitof "thetrue,the good,andthe beautiful"
hasnot justbeena wasteof his time,becausehe hasso little of whathis
shadownowhas.Fearingthe loss,he wastesawayandbecomesa mere
shadowof his formerself.Opportunistically,
the shadowoffersto take
the learnedmanon a restorativetrip,butonly if he will acceptthe reversalof theirrolesas manandshadow.The learnedmanagrees.Arrivthe shadowis immediately
ing at the sanatorium,
pursuedby a sharpsightedprincessto whomhe quicklybecomesengaged.The shadow
knowsthatto keepthe princesshappyhe mustsustainthe illusionthat
he is a man,andforthishe mustconvincethe learnedmanpermanently
to swapidentities.He offersthe maneverlastingwealthto maintainthe
deceit.Butthe learnedmanrefusesandthreatensto revealall. The
princessandthe shadowmarry;the learnedmanis silenced.The learned
manfindshis redemptionin his execution;the princessis left withfar
lessthanshe bargained
for.4
It wouldbe wrongto thinkthatthereis morethanone maleagent
in this storyor that it wasthe shadow'sfaultthathe assumedthe rich
clothesof apparentknowledge.The storyis the man'salone:it is he

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310

The MusicalQuarterly

who,by losinghis shadow,losthis ground.Fora shadowis nothingat

all, onlythe reflectionof a man-strewn acrossthe ground.Thusthe
of the inhumanmanthe
detachedshadowassumesthe appearance
learnedmanbecomes,the "impotent"
manwho mustkeepthe secret
of his deficit.Whydoesthe storynot havea happyending,with the
shadowreattachedto the man,with the man'shumanityrestored?
BecauseAndersenmustmirrorChamisso's
PeterSchlemihl,who in his
storychoseto wanderthe earthforthe restof his daysseekingonlythe
("dehumanized")
knowledgeof science.Hadhe no otherchoice?Yes,
but it wasworse.Eitherhe couldget his shadowbackbutnowonly in
exchangeforhis soul,or he couldlive withhis soulintactbutseparated
forevermore
fromhis shadow.In the latenessof the times,thesewere
the onlychoicesleft, andhe chosethe latter.5
How,now,doesthe shadowserveas an allegoryto elucidatethe
of the Germannation?The firstthingto stressis the transition
sufferings
of focusthatwill takeplacefromthe individual's
lossto the community's.
"It
the
seems
to
me
thatthe storyof
Wittgensteinbegins argument:
PeterSchlemihlshouldreadlike this:He makesoverhis soulto the
Devilformoney.Then he regretsit andnow the Devildemandshis
shadowas a ransom.ButPeterSchlemihlstillhasa choicebetweengiving the Devilhis soulandsacrificing,
alongwithhis shadowlife, life in
communitywithothermen."6But,as Wittgensteinwellknew(in 1931),
if individualschooseeitherto losetheirsoulsor to sacrificetheirlivesas
partof a community,the communityis affectedtoo. Forwhatwoulda
communitybe like if it reacheda pointwherethe memberswho stayed
hadsoldtheirsouls,whilethosewhokepttheirsoulslivednowonly in
shadowlessexile?
Exileis preciselyThomasMann'sconcerntoo when,in his essay
he describesa solitaryman,Schlemihlor Chamissohimself,
"Chamisso,"
who,havingleft his nativecountry,findshimselfin a strangelandand
immediatelyloseshis shadow-becausea manwithouta countryis a
manwithouta shadow.Mannwrites,"TheShadowis in PeterSchlemihl
a
HadMann
symbolof all bourgeoissolidityandhumanbelongingness."
writtenhis essayin 1941,he wouldhaveknownfirsthandthe anxieties
of livingin a strangeland.Butin 1911he usedChamisso's
estrangement
to focuson the youngwriter'stendencyto glorifyhis sufferingof separation not onlyfromhis nativecountryandlanguage,butalso,andmore,
becauseof his genius,fromhis community."Thewholelittle bookis
of
nothingbuta profoundly
experienceddescriptionof the sufferings
the markedandsolitaryindividual."
Sufferingfromhis greatness,young
Chamissowonders-perhapslikeGoethe'syoungWertherorWagner's
youngWalthervon Stolzing-how he will fulfillhis dutyto art.But

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In theShadowof theCanon 311

Chamissofeelsalsoa dutyto Germanart,becauseforhim, Mannwrites,

"[t]obe a German,thatalmostmeantto be a poet.To be a poet,thatalWhereasManngrantsChamissohis sucmostmeantto be a German."
cessas a Germanpoet,he refusesto glorifythe geniusof his youth.As
GoethesurvivedWerther,so ChamissomustsurviveSchlemihl:"One
cannotbe interestingforever."
Onlyeternalbohemianswouldresentan
that
artist'smaturation,
preferring he ratherdie in obscurity"fromhis
own interestingness"
rather
("gehtan seinerInteressantheit
zugrunde")
Foran artistto havea
thanjoin the communityandbecome"amaster."
shadowis alsoforan artistto havean impact-to casta shadow-on
art'sfuture.7
Yet,asThomasMannwouldwitness,becominga masterwasnot
forthe communityas a whole.At worst,masters
withoutramifications
to
a
at
demands,howevercalamitous;
mightcapitulate community's
best,theywouldlive up to theirownproclaimedvalueseven whena
communitywasin crisis.Herewasa transitionin Mann'sviewbetween
1911and 1933:thougha youngwriteroughtnot celebratethe sufferings
of his exilinggreatnessandchooseto join the community,therewill be
timeswhenthe communitylets the masterdown,suchthathe is forced,
in orderto keephis soul,to choosea differentkindof exile.
RecallnowMann'smostfamousclaimof exile,thatwhenhe moved
to Americahe tookGermanculturewithhim to preserveit againstits
andabuse.YetwasMannreallyhopingforanything
Naziappropriation
HansSachs,who,by stayingat home,sangat
differentfromWagner's
in Dunstdasheil' ge rom'sche
the end of DieMeistersinger,
that"zerging'
Reich,unsbliebegleichdie heil'gedeutscheKunst!"("evenif the Holy
RomanEmpirewereto go up in smoke[throughthe "decay"
brought
aboutbyforeignrule],holyGermanartmightstill remainwithus!")
WagnerwasneverfarfromMann'sthoughts.However,whatMann
mademoreexplicitthanSachswasthata threatto a nationthatis taken
to be fromwithout(orfrom"theforeign")is usuallyonlya projection
of a causefromwithin(fromoneself).Butstill, if the
andrationalization
all
whatwasgoingon insidea country,then wasnot
was
about
problem
Mann'shopeto saveits culturein exile quitefutile,as if one couldtake
the cultureout of a country-as if a culture,like a man,couldsurviveas
a detachedshadow?Of course,the questionwaswhether,in the lateness
of the times,he hadanyotherchoice.
I hesitateto statethe harshtruthnow thatthe Germancanonof
Germanmusichas in darktimesentered,withdireconsequences,into
humancommunity,or that it becamecaught
Faustianbargainsregarding
history.ButI thinkone
up in the mostcatastrophic
periodof Europe's

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312

The MusicalQuarterly

shouldnot avoidthis truth,becauseinvestigatinga culturalphenomenon underextremeor abnormalconditionscan serveto showus with

condition
frighteningclaritywhatis alwaysat stakeeven in a purported
of normality.
Myargumentnow assumessomepoliticalresonancesfromcritical
theory.I makethemexplicitlessto enteran immediatepoliticaldebate
thanyet furtherto encouragea dialecticalapproach
to the musicalcanon,
wherethe dialecticalaimis to disentanglethe truthsof suffering
thatlie
in the shadowof the canonandareconcealedpreciselybyassertions
of its
I
am
aware
that
strike
an
American
readgreatness.
myapproachmight
ership,as opposed,say,to a Germanone, as ratherextreme,butone of
America,unlikeGermany,has
mypointsis explicitlythatmainstream
not chosen,needed,wanted,or beenforcedto confrontso much"atthe
extreme"whata dialecticalapproachto the canonshowsmostseriously
to be at stake.
Letme saysomethingquicklyaboutthe debateoverthe canon
thathastakenplacein the lasttwodecadesin mainstream
America,
butsomethingjustaboutthe fairlycrudesplitthathasemergedbetween
the canon'sso-calledconservativedefendersandthe liberaldetractors.
The formerhavetendedto defendcanonicworksas rightlybelonging
to the canon,or ashavingstoodthe test of time,by virtueof theirrepresentingthe noblevaluesof "thetrue,the good,andthe beautiful."
They
haveseentheirtaskas defendingunprejudiced
judgmentandvalue.Dehavecriticizedthe canonforits elitismandchauvintractors,contrarily,
andaestheticism.Commitism,or forits claimedpurity,nonpoliticality,
mentto "thetrue,the good,andthe beautiful"
maywellcapturethe
mosthumanandenlightenedof ourvalues,butit doesso only if it remainstrueto itselfandis not usedto eclipsethe voicesof its detractors
or furtherto ostracizea society'srepressed
groups.Suchcommitmentdid
not workin the OldWorld,criticspointout;whyshouldit in the New?
Mostlythe debatehaskeptthe ideaof a canonin place.Detractors
havejusturgeddefendersto acknowledge,
as theyusuallydo, that a
if
canonwill remaintrueto the spiritof truth,genius,or individuality
it is treatedasopenandrevisable,andnot, likePolykleitos's
statueor
Moses'stablets,as eternallyset in stone.8Mosttheoristsgivepriorityto
individualworksoverthe canonto whichthe worksbelongandagree
that if a givenworkdoesnot fit the canon'sstandardof value,it is better
to revisethe standardthanrejectthe work.Buttherehasbeenfarless
revision.
agreementaboutthe characterandextentof the standard's
Whencriticsaskthat a greaterdiversityof worksbe includedin the
canon,whattheyalsodemandis thatmoreof society's(orAmerica's)
values,andnot only its so-called(European)aestheticor intellectual

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In theShadowof theCanon 313

ones,comeinto play.Defendersbalkat the suggestionforfearthat the

canon(orresultingcanons)will,underthesepluralistterms,becomejust
the mirrorof a society'sfluctuatingideologies.The purismof lastingaestheticandintellectualvaluesis accordingly
heldup as the antidoteto
the
of
Nationalism
or
extremes
democratization.
pluralism,relativism,
standsto a nationas democratization
standsto democracy:
both,
to
the
an
antidote.
defenders,
according
require
However,so longas the debateoverthe canonis drivenby highly
polarizeddilemmasbetweenlastingvaluesandfluctuatingideologies,as
seenfromthe conservativedefenders'standpoint,orbetweennewforms
of expressionandethnocentrism,
as seenfromthe liberalstandpoint,
criticalthinkingaboutcanonizationis unlikely.Forboththesedilemmas
leavetheoristscontentjustto argueendlesslyoverwhichworkshouldor
shouldnot be includedwithoutfurtherreflectingon the argument's
preOr,worse,theyfurtherencouragewhathasbecomea pubsuppositions.
lic gameof canonbusting,wheredetractorsremovethe bustsof canonic
authorsor,betterforthe presentargument,canoniccomposersfromthe
concerthalls,not even on the basisof the works,butbecauseof the
composers'
personalcommitmentsto all mannerof illiberalviews."Bad
man,badworks."Defendersthen tryto savethe worksagainstthe adthatthe worksare
mittedly"bad"composerson groundsso aestheticized
effectivelystrippedof theirshadows,theirmediationby andwithsocimelodrama"?9
A deep-seatedfearthat
ety.Whatencouragesthis "tawdry
the shadeof the Commendatore
will appearto sendthe actorsto hell.
Defendersretreatinto a placeof havingno politicsat all, detractors,into
a placeof havingtoo much,buteitheronlyfurthersanctionsthe anxiety.
The anxietymaybe illustratedby two dialecticallycontrastingimlessironicthanthe second,is takenfrom
ages.The first,unfortunately
the coverof a deservedlyinfluentialAmericanbookentitledDisciplining
Musicthatshowsthe would-befallenminiaturestatuesof canoniccomThe secondcomesfromthe
posersas chesspieceson a chessboard.10
of
a
Czech
its
tellsof ill-educatedSS
novel;
author,
Weil,
Jiri
opening
instructed
to
Mendelssohn's
bustfromthe roof
guards,who,
topple
of the formerGermanTheatrein Prague,haddifficultyidentifyingthe
JewishcomposerandalmosttoppledWagneras a result.11
Althoughthe
demandfortoleranceandpluralismmotivatesthe firstimageand"obedience andlonglegs"the second,the firstis morefragileandtoo often
becomes the second.12

The recentdebateoverthe canonhasobviouslyto do with the

politicsof inclusionandexclusion,butalsowith the transitionfrom
authoritarian
to democraticpoliticalforms.Stressingthe latter,it does
not servethe debatewell to thinkit solvedbykeepingsomecomposers

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314 TheMusicalQuarterly

on the roofandtopplingothers.Indeed,in a deepsense,the debateis

not aboutthe composersor worksat all, butaboutconstructinga canon
andhow thatprocessis boundupwithbuildinga nationor a group's
collectiveidentity.Thus,whenthinkingaboutthe canon,we oughtto
moveawayfromfocusingon its criteriaforbelongingtowardan investithatmotivatethe
gationof the nationalistanxietiesandaspirations
of
in
And
the
first
althoughthereareclearly
place.
process canonizing
lessinnocuousreasonswhycountriesanddifferentspheresof production
those
havetheir"commontraditions,"
lineages,rules,andclassifications,
reasonsdo not beliethe claimthatthe specificprocessof canonizing
worksis inextricablytiedto howwritingandmakinghistoriesshape
the politicalidentity,confidence,andauthorityof particular
groups.
Lookingat how oppressed
peopleshavewrittentheirhistoriesand
constructedtheirmythsis a powerfulandoptimisticwayto illuminate
of canonbuilding.But,
someof the complexanxietiesandaspirations
by lookingat historyfromthisside,we runthe riskof missingthe authoritarianism
that threatensthe constructionon the other.In the early
movetowardnationhood(officiallyestablishedin
of
stages Germany's
1871),it wasobviousthat its historyof composerswouldbe separated
(moreor less)fromthe French,Italian,or anyother"foreign"
lineage.
However,the separationassumeda terroristcharacterpreciselywhenthe
electedworkscameto be identifiedwithmusic'sessence,truth,andsole
future.It wasnot even an extremeversionof thisclaimto hearabout
thatwhichdidnot belongas beingconsignedto dasFalscheanddas
Feuer.Hereis a wayto thinkaboutthe shadow:as the dialecticalunderelesideof a canonwhenthe oppositional,radical,andnonconformist
mentsareconsignedto the darknessin orderto promotethe illusionof
a canon'suniquelypureandnaturalgreatness.The pointdoesnot rest
with the banalclaimthatcanonizingworks,likenationalizing
peoples,
cannottrackits groupingtendencieswithoutthreateningto repressits
opposition.The pointis ratherto emphasize,at the extreme,the factof
inclusionthat
the generationof an illusionof comfortable
repression,
masksthe sufferingof exclusion.Justbecausenationsandcanonsdo not
alwaysshowthemselvesat theirextremes,still,thereis the constant
threatthattheymight-becauseat leastGermanyonce did.A dialectithatnationsandcanonsmayexistundera socal modelacknowledges
calledconditionof normality,a conditionhavingsignsof productively
unclearinclusions(in Germanytoo), but it refusesto takethe normality
of anynation'scanonat facevalueor as riskfree.
Post-WorldWarII theoristsinfluencedby criticaltheoryhaveemployedthisdialecticalmodelwell.Criticaltheoryis preciselythe refusal
to jumpoverits shadowor to assumea safeplaceoutsidetimeandneed

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In theShadowof theCanon 315

whereshadowsareno longercast.Thus,the phrase"inthe shadow"was

usedin 1997by AnsonRabinbachforhis bookof essays,In theShadowof
andEnlightenment.13
GermanIntellectuals
between
Apocalypse
Catastrophe:
andItsShadows"
Rabinbachgavehis introductionthe title "Apocalypse
to conjureupboththe apocalypticeventsof violenceandterrorof the
in whichwe arecurlastcenturyandthe deepreflection(Andenken)
fromthe workof
rentlyengagedin the shadowsof the past.Borrowing
Rabinbach
confined
as
an
emotional
Heller,
mourning
responseapAgnes
thinking
onlyto thosewhodied,so thatgenuinephilosophical
propriate
couldtakeplaceaboutthe ideasthatwerecomplicitin the catastrophe.
herewasalreadyin Nietzscheasearlyas 1883:"Thoughts
The separation
arethe shadowsof ourfeelings-only darker,emptier,simpler."14
In 1997SeylaBenhabibusedthe title "Inthe Shadowof the Wall"
to reviewforthe suitablynamedNationmagazinea recentlytranslated
underthe title A BerlinRepublic:
collectionof essaysbyJurgenHabermas
on Germany.15Benhabibpaidspecialattentionto the finalessay,
Writings
"1989in the Shadowof 1945:On the Normalityof a FutureBerlinRepublic."Thistitle conveyedall the anxietyof an essaythatwasasking
how one mightthinkaboutthe normalityof a futurefora BerlinRepubaskedus to consider
lic in the shadowof its abnormalpast.Habermas
whatfollowsfromthe factthat the terrorspreceding1945can be understoodas havinggivenwayto the doctrineof humanrights.He wrote:
"Thata liberalpoliticalculturecoulddevelopin a culturallyhighlycivilizedsocietysuchas GermanyonlyafterAuschwitzis a truthdifficult
to grasp.The factthat it developedbecauseof Auschwitz,becauseof reif one
is lessdifficultto understand
flectionon the incomprehensible,
considerswhathumanrightsanddemocracymeanat heart;namely,the
simpleexpectationthatno one will be excludedfromthe politicalcommunity,andthatthe integrityof each individual,in his or herotherness,
willbe similarlyrespected"
(164).
thatfew in Americawouldlikelyfindanything
Benhabibremarked
radicalin beingaskedto respecthumanrights.Butshe madethe point
forbeingbehindthe timesnorto congratneitherto criticizeHabermas
ulatethe Americansforbeingwiththe times,butratherto pointout to
Americanshow the self-evidentassertionof humanrightsprovesanythingbutself-evident,thoughforthatreasonall the moreurgent,when
consideredagainstthe extremeconditionof Germany's
past.And if the
assertionlacksself-evidencethere,perhapsit will beginto lose its selfevidentcharactereverywhere
else,forself-evidence,likenormality,betokensthe falseillusionthatwe no longerhaveto thinksomethingthrough.
ForHabermas,
learningfromGermany's
pastis a dialecticalmode
whichpaysexplicit
of self-evidence,
as is the dismantling
of interrogation,

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316 The MusicalQuarterly

homageto Adoro's seminallectureof 1959, "Wasbedeutet:Aufarbeitung

der Vergangenheit?"16
It is a reflectivemode of thinking throughconditions in and at the extremes,a mode of thinking about what is possible
now againstthe catastrophicdarknessof what once provedpossible,
even though it seemed, then as now, inconceivable. Benhabibwrites:
"ForHabermas,learningfrom the past means that any futureGermanrepublic must anchor itself firmlyin the traditionsof liberaldemocratic
constitutionalismand respectfor universalhuman, civil and political
rights, including the social and economic rightsgained by the working
classes in welfare-statedemocracies.Only a vibrantcivil society and an
energetic public sphere, in which social movements create alternative
associationsand spacesalongsiderepresentativedemocraticinstitutions,
can guaranteethat liberal-democraticconstitutionalismbecomes a living cultureratherthan a dead tradition."
The optimismof Benhabib'swordsdoes not, however, maskthe
general anxiety.The notion that a living culturecan become a dead tradition derivesfrom the earlynineteenth century,when Germanywas being shapedby dialectical proclamationsof its end, of its priorand living
historyof art, religion, and reasonhaving reached,for example, the culminating point of self-realization.The ironic fatalismthat accompanied
such proclamationswas deep: having at last found its history,Germany
was somehow no longer living or makingone. Habermasasks:What,
if anything, can we learn fromhistory againstthe fatalistic Hegelian
thought "thatlearningalwayscomes too late for those who act?"17But
the question is also what we do to history in late times. Evidentlywe
reify it, canonize it, and place its productsin a museum,as a way,paradoxically,to prove it alive. Here is a motivation for canon formation
perfectlyillustratedby Germany'sexample, a motivation basedon an
obsessivepreoccupationwith the thought that Germany'smusic, and
thereforeall music, had reached its end.
Nietzsche articulatedthe fatalismin referenceto Wagnerwhen he
describedDie Meistersinger's
overtureas "lateart,"a decadent style that
itself
on
the
prides
living relationshipit establishesto a two-hundredyear-oldpast, and via this relationshipon the vision it offersfor music's
future.And yet, preciselybecauseof this Janusface, it negates its own
presence as present art. Here now is the anxiety of lateness or decay that
throwsdoubt on the very idea of a living cultureunderthe belated condition of Germanmodernity."Thiskind of music expresseswhat I consider true of the Germans:they are of the day beforeyesterdayand of
the day aftertomorrow-they haveas yet no today."Without a today,
Nietzsche continues, in what do Germansput their hope? In finding
an answerto the most fatal of all questions:"Wasist deutsch?"18

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In theShadowof theCanon 317

So considerWagner'sessay "Wasist deutsch,"19begun in 1865

duringhis own repatriationto Bavariaafterexile and completed in the
1880s. It opens with the anxious observationthat it is only the Germans
who, in their insecurity,have constantly to repeattheir own name with
reverence:deutscheTiefe(depth), deutscherErnst(seriousness),deutsche
Treue(fidelity). Why do they do this?Becauseof their lack of success in
reestablishingthemselves, in suitablymodem form, as the Holy Roman
Empirethey once were. Should they want to do this, given their failure
the firsttime round?Only if it means not repeatingthe political errorsof
the past. But this is exactly what Germanyis doing now, Wagnerthinks:
repeatingthe errorof allowing Germanpolitical reformto be dictated by
formsand principlesforeign to it. Once the problemwas Rome; now it is
France.All recent "revolutionsin Germanyare entirely unGerman,"he
writes. "'Democracy'in Germanyis entirely a translatedthing."What,
then, is appropriatefor Germany?Seeking Germany'sessence. And
where does one find that?In just that partof Germany'shistorythat
transcendsits political failure:its music, aesthetics, and philosophy,the
"suprememasterpieces"of Bach, Goethe, Mozart,and Beethoven-but
also of Shakespeare,Wagneradds,whom the Englishhave failed to understand.Only in this lineage does one find "the beautifuland the noble" pursueddisinterestedlyfor its own sake. Only here does one find
the unsulliedexpressionof that which transcendsall politics and even
nationalities:the "purelyhuman"spiritof Christianity.Only in the rebirth of spiritand culturewill Germanysave itself againstthe invasion
not merelyof the external foreign,but also of those "foreign"elements
within-by which Wagnermeant the Jews,who pursueeverythingwith
"interest."20
BecauseWagnersaw political failureas the cause of both the invasion and the successof those elements that did not belong to the German Heimat,he turnedhis attention to spiritualand canonic reform.
Hence Hans Sachs'smonologue, which predatesMann's,where he says
that when politics fails a land one should seek to preservethe land's
values throughits culture. But Wagner'shope for
idealized"burgherly"
German culturewas also deeply tainted by the pessimismof lateness that
had lain for so long (allegedlysince Luther) in Germany'sshadows.21For
to seek the rebirthof Germanyin its culture,and in a culturethat was
freedfrom utilitarianconcerns, was also a mode of retreatfrom a society
that was unable any more not to fail. No one expressedthe pessimism
for Wagnermore overwhelminglythan Schopenhauer,who spoke of
the attempt no longer to "conquerthe world,"only to "overcome"it.22
As early as 1819, Schopenhauerhad spoken of a retreatinto a will-freed
worldof aesthetic and intellectual contemplation existing "outsideand

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318

The MusicalQuarterly

of all the relations"thathadshapedthe worldinto a

independently
of
battle-ground tormentandsuffering.23
Wagnerhimselfmorbidlyspoke
of seekingconsolationfromthe ruinsof the present.24
The pessimisticretreatfrompoliticalfailureinto a spiritualor culturalconsolationcertainlycontributedto givingGermanmusicandits
canoniclineageof worksa greaterprominencein the country'spolitical
life.That,one mightthink,wouldnot havebeenso badhadit not assumedso collectivelynarcissisticor so obsessivelyself-conscious
a character.Forin doingso, its purported
valuesof the true,the good,andthe
beautifulwereprofoundly
to sustaina mythof the Germisinterpreted
manashavinga uniqueclaimto the authentically,
naturally,
simply,and
human-which
was
of
the
to Reichpurely
preciselypart
"condescending
sdeutsch"thatfinallyledNietzscheawayfromWagner,andof the natudescribesfora nationin the processof
ralizingprocessthatHabermas
nationalized.
"The
being
Republicis damagedif the integrativestrength
of a nationis basedon a prepoliticalgiven,on a factindependentof the
formationof politicalwill.A nationnaturalized
in thiswayreplacesthe
historicalcontingencyof the contextualizing
of the communityandfortifiesartificially
createdboundaries
by lendingthemthe auraof the natural.Althougha people'snationis largelyan artifact,it imaginesitselfto
havegrownorganicallyandunderstands
itselfby contrastwith the artificial orderof positivelaw"(173-174).
Whatis the argumentherethatdisturbsHabermas
as it disturbs
me?Wantingcultureto do a country'sworkgiventhe failureof political
reformis premised,first,on separating
culturefrompolitics,and,second,
on universalizing
orpurifyingculturalvaluesuchthat it leavesculture's
rolein the nationalprojecteclipsed,unlessof coursethe nationalproject is then alsoseparated
frompoliticsby beingsomehowuniversalized
or naturalized
too. Butis thisnot a decadentprocess,a recognitionof
a deador late modeof living,a modeof livingwithouta shadow:Germanywithoutgeography;
Germanybecomepurelyculturalentity;the
worldjustified,to recallnow the earlyNietzsche,as an aestheticphenomenon?In thatcase,one mightargue,politicsnowhasto be reintroduced
as the naturalization
antidote,to bringthe nation
process's"artificial"
backto life. Butis not the appealto politicsaspositivelawsubjectto
the sameriskas the appealto the naturalness
of culture-that, by being
conceivedas artificialor abstract,as the othersideof naturalism's
coin,
it too will be strippedof its groundingandmediationin the actualhistoryof the troubledcountry?
Evenif one wereto seekan answerin cosmopolitanism,
Euroor
this
would
no.t
overcome
peanism, multiculturalism,
automatically
the difficultoppositionsbetweennatureandartifice,or betweenpolitics

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In theShadowof theCanon 319

andculture.25
Butit wouldat leastavoidthe pitfallsof the naturalism
of
commitment
to
a
nationalism,Germany's
(a uniquedestiny).
Sonderweg
now moves,as Benhabib
So this is the answertowardwhichHabermas
noteswhen,to concludeherreview,she articulatesthe choicebetween
two visionsavailableto contemporary
Germany:Will "aunifiedGerwhich
is
an
mosaicreflectbecoming ethno-cultural
many,
increasingly
ing its placein the globaleconomy,alsocontinuethe bestof Europe's
democraticandsocialisttraditions,or will the newGermanyturninmulti-ethnicrepublic
wardandawayfromthe projectof a multicultural,
towardthe idealsof a thirdwayfora nationwith a supposedly
unique
What
would
be
the
of
the
destiny?"
advantage
pluralistoption?That it
wouldnot askGermanyto sell its soul.Butwouldit allowGermanyto
is still the question:"Republicankeepits shadow?That,forHabermas,
its truenatureto the extentthat it shakesoff
ism,"he writes,"realizes
the ambivalentpotentialof nationalism,whichonce servedas its vehiformof socialintegrationthathasbeenhatched
cle. The multicultural
underthe wingof the nation-statemuststillproveitselfoutsideand
(176).
beyondthe nation-state"
And yet, althoughHabermas
speakshereof moving"outsideand
beyond"the nation-state,thatdemandwouldfailwereit understood
simplyas a declarationof ourhavinggottenoverthe pastor simply
givenup on nationhood.His demand,rather,is a criticalorhermeneutical one, thatrequiresus constantlyto workthroughGermany's
past,to
it
could
become
in
the
fears
of
what
focus
(again),the
changing
keep
fearof whatit couldlose,the fearof whatit cannotget awayfrom(as
whenone saysthatone canneverjumpoverone'sownshadow),the fear
of whatmayhappenlest we everforget."Onlyas a criticalauthority,"
Habermas
writes,"doeshistoryserveas a teacher.At best,it tellsushow
we oughtnotto do it. It is fromexperiencesof a negativekindthatwe
learn"(180-81). Habermas
usefullydrawsan analogyto the canon:If
the canonis still to exerta usefulauthorityoverus,we haveto treatit
not as "apetrifiedguestof the past"(12), butas somethingconstantly
demandingourrevision,foronlythen will we cometo see whatit has
thereis a deliberatepointin articexcludedfromourview.Comparably,
formas the directalternativeto unique
ulatingthe bidformulticultural
the
idea
of
it
genuinepoliticalreformthoroughlymedidestiny: keeps
andanxietiesof a troubledcountry.
atedby the aspirations
I havebeenarguingthat in the canondebate,as in the nationdebate,it is not enoughfordefendersto proclaimpureaestheticvaluesin
antiisolationfrompolitics,as if suchvalueswereideology'sguaranteed
dote;norshouldcriticsthinkthatpoliticsas artificiallawwill do all the

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320 The MusicalQuarterly

workof a canon'sor a nation'sreform.However,despite this argumentof

analogy,it would be wrongto conclude that a canon is merelya shadow
of a nation (or vice versa). The relationshipis much more complex.
Considerjust at the historicallevel of fact the incongruencebetween
Germany'spolitical and geographicalrelationshipto Austria (the problem of Germany'sbeing kleinor gross)and Austria'slong-termdomination of Germanmusic, or the deep tension between composerswho are
pronounced"foreign"on political, racial,or religiousgroundsbut whose
music is nonetheless pronounced"German."And then think of the
deeper,dialectical point: that even when a countryclaims to be in a
state of political normality,the continued obsessionwith the canon as
an authoritativeculturalformationmight show us something, albeit
indirectly,of the false confidence of that claim.
I also suggestedearlierthat to engage in the canon debate was not
to focus on composersor their works,becauseone tends, by so focusing,
not to confront the anxieties head on. However,perhapsit is time to
reintroducethis focus, although now in a completely differentway.Recall the worryfrom that debate regardingthe dangersof judgingnew
worksaccordingto an alreadyfixed standard.As Wagnerarguedin Die
the masters,ratherthan subsumingthe value of a song unMeistersinger,
der the idea of fittingnessto a rule, should ratheradaptthe rule to the
song, for what producesa beautifulsong is that enigmatic or even spiritual qualityof genius, not just the correctfollowing of rules.Why should
a mastercare more for the enigmatic qualityof songs than for a tradition's rules?To keep the traditionfromsufferingdeath by pedantryor
Beckmesserei.
And what is death by pedantry?Exactlythe attempt to
maskthe differentiaof songs to maintain the orderof the day.
But is not the control of differencejust part of what contributesto
a canon'sbecoming collectively narcissisticor authoritarian?And if so,
how then could Sachs appealto the canon to save a countryagainst itself when its politics had purportedlyfailed it? Perhapshis appealwas
not reallyto the canon afterall, but only to its potentially constitutive
songs. And perhapsthis was what Mann reallymeant too when he proclaimed in English in 1938, where I am, there is Germanculture!For,
ratherthan claiming to preserveGermancultureper se, was he not just
stressingthe lonely burdenthat had now been placed on the exiled and
individualwriterto producethose saving and redemptiveworks?
Why impose a gap now between the canon and its individual
works?Becausewhen one thinks of a canon, one thinks about how the
worksstand in relation to one another to give the canon its authority.
And when one thinks about works,one thinks more about their enigmatic qualitiesand individualconstructionthan merelytheir canonic

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In theShadowof theCanon 321

fit.The relationshipbetweena canonandits worksbecomesa mirrorof

thatbetweena communityandits individuals,madeincreasingly
antagonisticby the artist'sdeeplyfelt modemloneliness.
Again,whyimposea gapbetweena canonandits works?To allow
individualworksto resisteven the canonwhentheyoughtto. When
wouldthis resistanceprovemostimportant?
One mightsay"always"
if
one wantedto glorifythe sufferingactsof greatness.RememberMann's
earlyworryaboutthe bohemianpretensionsof youth.Butfollowing
Mann'slaterstep,one mightrathersaythatresistanceis appropriate
only
as havingsuccumbedto samecollective
whenthe canonis interpreted
dictateas the nationitself.
Butwhatdoesthe resistanceof individualworksmean,andto
whatdoesit amount?Considerthe so-calledKiinstleropem
of the early
twentiethcentury-althoughI thinktheymightbetterbe called
assumedmanyof the anxietiesof art'sauthorityto
Kanonopern-which
detrackthe pathof music'sfuturein the faceof Germany's
purported
MathisderMaler,Ernst
PaulHindemith's
cline. HansPfitzner's
Palestrina,
MosesundAronare
Krenek's
Jonnyspieltauf, andArnoldSchoenberg's
all exemplaryof worksthatfaceda declineattributedat the differentextremesto technology,to jazz,to techniquesof the new,and/orincreasinglyto the tendentiousdictatesof Nazism'sofficialculture.Whatis
sharedamongtheseotherwiseverydifferentworksis howfareachnegotiatedthe relationshipbetweenmusicandpoliticsby callingattentionto
taskof the individualcomposer,artist,or charismatic
the self-appointed
an exemplary(musical)pastandthereby
leaderto continueor transform
a futurecommunity.
to continueor transform
TheseKanonopernot onlyassumedas theirverytopicthe question of canonicheritage;theircomposersalsousedthe topicto affirm
the statusof theirworksandthemselvesas canonic.As ThomasMann
one mightsaythattheseoperas
novels"confessional,"
calledcomparable
werecomposedanxiouslyforcanonicstatus.One couldnot judgethese
works,therefore,as pedantic.Butone mightstill note theirsharedconof Germanmusic
ceit to composeforthe continuationor transformation
another
this
conceitonly
music
se.
At
the
continuation
of
as
level,
per
whatit wantedto conceal-the anxietyor reliefthat in
demonstrated
timesthe canonof Germanworks,like the nation,
thesecatastrophic
wasat an end.Wherein the actualworksdidthis conceitundermineitselfmost?In the violent,silent,impotent,desperate,andmelancholic
gesturesof theirendings,or in the anxietyor reliefeachthusshowed,
thateach in factmightbe theverylastGermanwork.
Butif thesewerethe anxiousextremesor partof the intensification
to whichGermany's
modemoperaseither
of Germanness
(Steigerung)

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322 The MusicalQuarterly

contributedor resistedin the shadowof its emergingcatastrophe,

then
note once morehow muchthe anxietyof Parnassus
wasalreadyin place
I havementionedrein the operain whoseshadowtheywerewritten.26
peatedlyHansSachs'shopethat in timesof politicalcrisisGermanart
mightpreservethe truevaluesof the land.Butagainstwhatforcewashis
hopeexpressed?
Preciselythe youngWalthervon Stolzing,
particular
whohavingwon the prize,not onlyrefusedto becomea masterbutalso,
becausethe ambiguityof the phraseallowsit-"[Ich] will ohne Meister
Sachsthen
seligsein"-refusedanyfurtherrelationto mastersinging.
lecturedhim andeveryoneelse on whymastersinging
hadto continue,
andeveryone"wavedtheirhatsandscarves."Butstill we areleft with
Wagner's
thoughtthatthe traditionwasno longerworthsupporting
becausethe songWalthersangfrom"Paradies"
to win Evawastoo
the
demands
of
With
ThomasMann,one
"Parnassus."
by
compromised
mightworrythatyoungWaltherwasjustmorereadyto die of his interestingnessthanwillingto workhardto becomea master.Butit is also
possiblethatWaltherwantednothingfurtherto do with a traditionthat
he thoughthadalreadydiedits death.27FollowingPeterSchlemihl,perhumancommunityaltogetherand
hapshe shouldhaverelinquished
continuedhis life ashe enteredthe story,as a lonelytraveler.Perhaps,
followingKrenek,Walthershouldhave takenthe next boatto America,
singingnow no longerthe PrizeSong,butJonny'sTriumphSongof
"Amerikanismus."
Butdo we nowhavean adequatesolutionto ourproblem,a solution wherewe putourhope,asThomasManndid,in the thoughtthat
we can preservethe valueof songin the exile or escapeof the artist
awayfromcorruptedtradition,politics,andcountry?Doesthe appealto
exile, or to the individualandhis songs,not alsorunthe sameriskof
lossas purifyingculture,universalizing
values,or makinglawpositive?
Do anyof theseappeals(andthis is whatI havebeenaskingall along)
reallygiveus whatwewantof them,a safeandsecureplacefromwhichto
savea nationfromitself?I do not thinkso, andno one, I think,better
explainedwhythanAdomo.
WhenAdornowrotein "Aufdie Frage:Wasist deutsch?"
that
"[t]heGoodandthe Betterin everypeopleis surelythatwhichdoesnot
integrateitself into the collective subjectand if possibleresistsit,"28or

whenhe argued,in the shadowof Auschwitz,thatartwasthe lastrefuge

of truthfulness,
he alsosoundedas if he wereclaimingthat individual
pursuitsor singularworksof artcouldresista nation'scollectiveauthority.Buthe neverclaimedthis resistancewithoutalsodialecticallyundowork)couldprovidesucha refuge
ing it. Fora work(an autonomous
onlyif it alsorefusedpreciselythe claimit wasmakingon behalfof it-

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In theShadowof theCanon 323

self.In this secondrefusal,it wouldrevealthe conditionof the world

withwhichin the firstrefusalit claimedto havenothingto do. Being
somewhereor nowhere,shoutingout its truthwithno one
shipwrecked
to hearit-what couldthe meaningof thiswork'sdoublerefusalthen
futurewasstill firmlyin the
be?ThatpresentthinkingaboutGermany's
of its muthe "greatness"
on
the
one
of
its
hand,
shadowed,
by
past,
grip
true
that
modem
the
fateful
on
the
other,by
sic, but,
anxiety
Germany's
wansince
had
citizenhadonlyeverbeen the lonelymanwho,
1813,
deredthe worldwithouthis shadow."Onlysymphonictime,"Adorno
wrotewhilethinkingaboutautonomous
works,"makeslegiblethe
horrorof whattimehas lost,like PeterSchlemihlhis shadow."29
Adomonamedthe extremeconclusionto an ideologyof belatednessandlatenessby namingno safeplace-as, in myview,he wasright
to do so. He namedno safeplaceto counterthe.falseillusionthatone
couldorhadbeenfound.At this extreme,he revealedthe deepestanxiety forthe Germannationandcanon:thateven the Germangeniusdid
not belong.The geniusthen madethe foreignerwhathe fearedhe was
himself,a shadeof the non-belonging.Bynamingthe extreme,Adorno
sawthe possibilityof change,buta possibilitypremisedneveragainon a
redemptiveretreatby the geniusinto the puresphereof culture,but
reasonandpolitics.
ratheron a deepandcriticalrethinkingof humanity's
This,one mayconclude,wasjustthe sortof thinking,froma political perspective,one wishesWagnerhadnot givenup on so quicklyafter
the politicalfailuresof 1848.Withthe anxietyof not belonginguncurbed,he left himselfsolelywith the meansof art,not justto express
his anxietyaboutpolitics,butalsoto seekin artits resolution.Greatoperashe mighthaveproduced,but,likethe Kanonopern,
theyarein some
sensealienatedoperastoo, whichtryto aestheticizethe politicalin their
tied to
apparent(butonly apparent)refusalof the political.Inextricably
of
and
later
an ideology "greatness suffering,"
Wagner's operasmaybe
readas lateworksof non-belongingthatlookexactlyin the wrongplace,
backinto themselves,fortheirlost shadows.30
impossibly
Looknow at Wagner(seeFig.1), standingwithhis handon his
breastandpalmsat his feet, as a ghostin 1911in TheMusicalHallof
Fame.31
Whatdoeshe say?Doeshe repeatthe limitedchoicesof lateness:HansSachs,tryingto convinceBeethovento giveuphis throne;
of the chair"he wantsnothing
youngWalther,tellingthe "composers
moreto do with them?OrdoesWagnerjuststill speakof "wasist
deutsch,"hopingto findthe voice of the outcastwho so desperately
wantsto belong?This at lastreturnsus to the Schlemihl-however,
no longernowjustto Chamisso's
figure,butalso,becauseof ourimage,
to Heinrich Heine's.32In Heine's 1851 poem "Jehudaben Halevy"we

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324 The MusicalQuarterly

Figure1. MusicalHall of Fame. Fromleft to right:Chopin, Handel, Gluck, Schumann,

Weber,Bach, Haydn, Mozart,Schubert, Beethoven-the reigningfigure(Apollo) in this
Europeanmusical Parnassus-Mendelssohn, Wagner,Meyerbeer,Gounod, Verdi,Liszt,
Bruckner,Brahms,Grieg. Reproducedfrom Etude,December 1911.

finally meet the figure who has been hiding in the shadows of Germany's
modem tradition: the outcast Jewish poet who, by being given companionship with the "the big, divine Schlemihl," Apollo, finds his voice.
And though the smaller Schlemihl regrets that he must sing only in
Apollo's "shadow,"he demonstrates his desire also to belong.
... Dichterschicksal!boserUnstem,
Der die Sohne des Apollo
Todlich nergelt, und sogar
Ihren Vaternicht verschont hat,

... What a fate reservedfor poets!

Star of evil, deadlygadfly
Of Apollo's sons, and one that
Did not even sparetheir father,

Als er, hinter Daphnen laufend,

Statt des weiBenNymphenleibes
Nur den LorbeerbaumerfaBte,
Er,der gottliche Schlemihl!

On that day when, chasing Daphne

He reachedout for her white body
And insteadembraceda laurel.
What a big divine Schlemihl!

Ja, der hohe Delphier ist

Ein Schlemihl, und garder Lorbeer,
Der so stolz die Stime kronet,
Ist ein Zeichen des Schlemihltums.

Yes,the highbor Delphic God is

A Schlemihl; indeed, the laurel
That enwreatheshis browso proudly
Is a sign of this Schlemihldom.

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In theShadow
of theCanon 325

WasdasWortSchlemihlbedeutet,
Whatthe wordSchlemihldenotesis
Knownto us.Longsince,Chamisso
Wissenwir.HatdochChamisso
IhmdasBiirgerrecht
in Deutschland Saw to it that it got German
dem
Langstverschafft, Wortenamlich. Civicrights-I meanthe worddid.
Aberunbekanntgeblieben,
WiedesheilgenNiles Quellen,
IstseinUrsprung;
habdaruber
mancheNacht.
Nachgegriibelt

Butits originis stillas

Farfromknownas arethe sources
Of the HolyNile; I'vepondered
Manya nightuponthissubject.

ZuBerlinvorvielenJahren
Wandtich michdeshalban unsem
FreundChamisso,suchteAuskunft
BeimDekanederSchlemihle....

ManyyearsagoI traveled
To Berlinto see Chamisso
Ourgoodfriend,forinformation
Fromthe dean of the Schlemihls....33

Not incidentally,late in Chamisso'sstory is the man "ohne

Schatten" also identifiedas a Jew with the non-name "NumeroZwolf."
"That he had no shadow,"Chamissoremarks,"seemsto have gone
unnoticed."
What a paradoxicalcompanionshipHeine thus forms.In linking
the Jewishpoet to Apollo, he also links him to the Germangenius who
has alwayslooked to the same god for his inspirationand belonging.
What follows fromthis affinityof difficultneed?A difficulttime, to recall Chamisso'spoem, of assimilationand exclusion by too many of a
country'speople who feel they do not belong. Hannah Arendt once expressedthe point perfectly:"Thoughthey dub its author'unknown,'"
she wrote, "the Nazis cannot eliminate [Heine's]Loreleifrom the repertoire of German song"(71). With the Schlemihl, therefore,one could
not find a more appropriateKunstmdrchen
by which to understandthe
nation. And in this lateness,
in
the
modem
German
of
lateness
anxiety
one cannot help but see the deep anxiety of non-belonging that has
sustainedone of Germany'smost profoundand tragiccontradictions.
Notes
"Thatis the needof the diretimes,/ Thatis the diretimeof need,/ Thatis the direneed
of the times,/ Thatis the timeof direneed"(trans.SusanH. Gillespie).Thisessaywas
Wissenschaftliches
writtenforthe Intemationales
"Kunst-Fest-Feier,"
Symposium
zuBerlin
UnterdenLindenundthe Humboldt-Universitat
presentedat the Staatsoper
forthe (Wagner)Festtage2002.A Germanversionof thisessaywillappearin the
Thanks
EditionArgus(Schliengen),ed. HermannDanuserundHerfriedMuenkler.
AnselmGerhard,
to manycolleaguesandfriends,butespeciallyto BorisGasparov,
SusanGillespie,BrigitteHilmer,GreggHorowitz,NormanManea,ErnstOsterkamp,
ThomasPogge,andLeoTreitler,all of whomwillfindthemselvesin the shadowsof my
thoughts.

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326 The MusicalQuarterly

1. Cf. JosephKerman's"A Few Canonic Variations,"in Canons, ed. Robertvon Hallberg (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1983), 177-95; Anselm Gerhard," 'Kanon'
in der Musikgeschichtsschreibung:
Nationalistische Gewohnheiten nach dem Ende der
nationalistischenEpoche,"Archivfiir Musikwissenschaft
58, no. 1 (2000): 18-30; Goehr,
The ImaginaryMuseumof MusicalWorks(Oxford:ClarendonPress,1992).
2. Thomas Mann, "Leidenund GrosseRichardWagners,"in Essays,vol. 4, Achtung,
Europa!1933-1938, ed. HermannKurzkeand Stephen Stachorski(Frankfurt:Fischer,
1995), 11-72. Publishedin Englishas "Sufferingsand Greatnessof RichardWagner,"in
Essaysof ThreeDecades,trans.Helen T. Lowe-Porter(New York:Knopf, 1948), 307-52.
Motivs
3. See also Gero von Wilpert, Der verloreneSchatten:Varianteneinesliterarischen
(Stuttgart:Kroner,1978).
4. Tales,HarvardClassics 1909-14 (New York:HarvardUniversity Press,2001).
5. Andersen met Chamisso in Berlin in 1831, afterwhich he went on his travelsand
produceda travelogueentitled ShadowPictures.Note that Andersen'sstorysayssomething about the relationshipbetween poetry and science. The shadow,in assumingthe
pretensionsof knowledge,does so by learningabout poetry,but fails to use his poetryfor
noble ends. The learnedman, separatedfromhis shadow,is left skepticallypursuinga
knowledgehe thinks has lost its humanity.Thus, both man and shadow are left with
the sort of knowledge the other needs, but, again, it is too late for each to find the other.
Finally,there is also an explicit class theme in this story,conservativelyexpressedin
termsof an aristocraticman who findshimself threatenedby a poor man (the shadow)
who has assumedthe appearance,but the appearanceonly, of wealth.
6. CultureandValue,trans.Peter Winch (Oxford:Blackwell, 1980), 21.
7. "Chamisso,"Essaysof ThreeDecades,241-59.
8. Moses arguablysmashesthe tablets the firsttime aroundto prove "the law"as
eternal and thus separablefrom any particularinscription,also to sustainhis poweror
"charismaticauthority"over and above any of the religion'sfuturescribes.I thank Gregg
Horowitzfor this point. For more on canons and charismaticauthority,see GeraldL.
Bruns,"Canonand Power in the HebrewScriptures,"in Canons, ed. Robertvon Hallberg (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1983), 65-83.
9. This is a phraseused by CharlesAltieri in "An Idea and Ideal of a LiteraryCanon,"
in Canons, ed. Robertvon Hallberg(Chicago:University of Chicago Press, 1983), 41.
10. KatherineBergeronand Philip V. Bohlman, eds., Disciplining
Music:Musicologyand
Its Canons(Chicago: University of Chicago Press,1992).
11. MendelssohnIs on theRoof, trans.MarieWinn (New York:Penguin, 1992), 2-9.
12. This phraseis taken fromNietzsche'sdefinition of "Germanen"in The Case of
Wagner,in The Birthof Tragedyand The Case of Wagner,trans.WalterKaufmann(New
York:Vintage, 1967), no. 11.
13. Anson Rabinbach,In theShadowof Catastrophe:GermanIntellectuals
betweenApocalypseand Enlightenment
(Berkeley:University of CaliforniaPress, 1997).
14. The Gay Science,trans.WalterKaufmann(New York:Vintage Books, 1974), book
3, no. 179.

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In theShadowof theCanon 327

15. Habermas,A BerlinRepublic:Writingson Germany,trans.Steven Rendall (Lincoln:

University of NebraskaPress, 1997; publishedin German as Die NormalitateinerBerliner
Republik[Frankfurt:Suhrkamp,1995]). Benhabib,review of Giirgen Habermas,A Berlin
Republic:Writingson Germany,Nation, Dec. 1997, 18-22.
16. Habermas,17ff.;Adorno, "The Meaning of Workingthroughthe Past,"in Critical
Models:Interventions
and Catchwords,trans.Henry W. Pickford(New York:Columbia
89-103.
Press,
1998),
University
17. "CanWe Learnfrom History?"in A BerlinRepublic,7.
18. BeyondGoodandEvil, trans.WalterKaufmann(New York:Vintage, 1966), nos.
240, 244. Cf. "EineMusikohne Zukunft,"in NietzschecontraWagner.Cf. also Anselm
Gerhard,"Musikwissenschaft-eine verspateteDisziplin,"in Musikwissenschaft-eine
und
zwischenFortschrittsglauben
verspdteteDisziplin?Die akademische
Musikforschung
Modemitdtsverweigerung
(Stuttgart:Metzler,2000), 1-30.
19. "What is German?"in RichardWagner'sProseWorks,trans.William Ashton Ellis,
vol. 4, Art and Politics(New York:Broude,1996), 149-69.
20. Cf. Adorno: "Recallthe most famousformulationof Germancollective narcissism.
Wagner's:to be German means to do something for its own sake.""On the Question:
'What is German?'"in CriticalModels,207.
21. For more on this connection back to Luther,see Helmuth Plessner,Die verspdtete
Nation: iber diepolitischeVerfiihrbarkeit
Geistes(Stuttgart:Kohlhammer,
biirgerlichen
1959).
22. To stressthe lineage, I am here quoting Mann quoting Wagnerquoting Schopenhauer ("Sufferingsand Greatness,"345).
23. Cf. The Worldas WillandRepresentation
(New York:Dover, 1958), no. 36. It is important to note now that canon formationin the arts,especially in the 1870s, was deeply
tied to the theological debate over kanonischeSchriftenand the possibilitiesof Protestant
ritual to define a unique Germanyidentity.Thus the development of what was called
I thank Anselm Gerhardfor makingthis connection explicit.
Kunstreligion.
24. Cf. Nietzsche, Resurrection
of theSpirit."On its political sickbed,a people usually
and
itself
finds
its
spiritagain, which had been lost graduallyin the seeking
regenerates
and claiming of power.Cultureowes its highest achievements to politically weakened
times";"A Look at the State," in Human,All TooHuman, trans.MarionFaberwith
Stephen Lehmann (Lincoln: University of NebraskaPress, 1984), no. 465.
25. Mann got into troublefor EuropeanizingWagnerin his 1933 Wagneressay,which
quickly led to his leaving Germany;see Hans Rudolf Vaget, "The Rivalryfor Wagner's
Mantle: Strauss,Pfitzner,Mann,"in Re-ReadingWagner,ed. Reinhold Grimm and Jost
Hermand(Madison,Wis.: Publishedfor Monatshefte[by]University of Wisconsin Press,
1993), 136-58. One may also usefullycompareMann's 1945 lecture "Germanyand the
Germans"(Libraryof Congress)for an exemplarystatement of this German'scanonic
anxiety as expressedthroughthe author'shaving now become an American.
is forwardlook26. Here I am disagreeingwith the view that whereasDie Meistersinger
are
backward
Thomas
the
Cf.
Mann,
looking.
Reflections
of a Nonpolitical
Kanonopem
ing,
Man, trans.Walter D. Morris(New York:Ungar, 1987), 302 and 311.

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328 The MusicalQuarterly

27. Formore on readingthe opera'sending this way,see my "The Dangersof Satisfacin Performance,
tion: On Songs, Rehearsals,and Repetition in Wagner'sDie Meistersinger,"
ed. N. Vazsonyi(Rochester:
History,Representation:
(Re)ViewingWagner'sMeistersinger,
RochesterUniversity Press,2003, 56-70).
28. CriticalModels,205.
29. Mahler:A MusicalPhysiognomy
(Chicago:University of Chicago Press, 1992), 162.
30. Note that I am thinking about these works,with their canonical obsession,as
demonstratingthe lateness of German music as a whole, as part of the anxiety about the
Germannation; I am thereforedepartingfromAdomo here, who thinks more specifically about particularlate worksof composersin termsof "latestyle."I thank Jay Bernstein for makingthis differenceexplicit.
31. Thanks to Leo Treitlerfor introducingme to this picture.Cf. Treitler,"The Politics
of Reception:Tailoringthe Presentas Fulfillmentof a DesiredPast,"Journalof theRoyal
MusicalAssociation116 (1992), 280-98, and "Genderand Other Dualities of Music Hised. Ruth
tory,"in MusicologyandDifference:GenderandSexualityin MusicalScholarship,
Solie (Berkeley:University of CaliforniaPress, 1993), 23-45.
32. This link to Heine is taken from Hannah Arendt, "TheJew as Pariah,"in TheJew
as Pariah,ed. Ron H. Feldman(New York:Grove, 1978). I thank RichardBernstein
for alertingme to this discussion.Heine met Chamisso in 1822 as a student and Hans
ChristianAndersen in Parisin 1833, two yearsafterAndersen had met Chamisso in
Berlin. In Victor I. Stoichita, A ShortHistoryof theShadow(London:Reaction Books,
1997), it is also noted that Chamisso'sstoryfollows Achim von Amim's Jemandund
Niemand,a story,relevantlynow, of how a nobody becomes a somebody.
33. Heinrich Heine, SdmtlicheSchriften,ed. KlausBriegleb,vol. 6/1 (Munich: Hanser,
1985), 153. English translationfromHeine, The CompletePoems:A ModernEnglishVersion, trans.Hal Draper(Cambridge,Mass.:Suhrkamp/InselPublishersBoston, c1982).

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