In January 1911, Arnold Schoenberg and Wassily Kandinsky initiated a correspondence which revealed extraordinary parallels in expressing the spiritual in art. Schoenberg emphasized an "art of the representation of inner occurrences" and Kandinsky repeatedly discussed an "inner spirit of art," the mantra of his book, Concerning the Spiritual in Art. Between 1910 and 1914, Schoenberg worked on one piece which spanned the duration of his correspondence with Kandinsky: Die glückliche Hand. Seeking to put Schoenberg's intentions in their original context, I employ the dynamic color theory outlined in Concerning the Spiritual in Art to trace spiritual motion throughout the monodrama, Die glückliche Hand. For every scene, Schoenberg indicates specific transitions of colored light which correspond to the protagonist's internal state. How does Schoenberg mirror the transformation of colored light musically in order to reflect the inner spirit of this protagonist? My analysis not only demonstrates how Schoenberg composed the monodrama with Kandinsky's theory of color in mind, but also illuminates the aural and visual possibilities of abstracting and representing human spirituality. According to Kandinsky, a work of art is defined as a "complex of vibrations;" these vibrations are the "definite activity of the soul." My analysis demonstrates how Die glückliche Hand may be considered a dynamic creation infused with vibrations of sound and light, a reflection of the artistic environment in Western Europe during the beginning of the twentieth century and its portrayal of human spirituality.
Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PITT/oai:PITTETD:etd-04232008-013247 |
Date | 04 June 2008 |
Creators | Hoover, Elizabeth |
Contributors | Don O. Franklin, Mathew Rosenblum, Anna Nisnevich |
Publisher | University of Pittsburgh |
Source Sets | University of Pittsburgh |
Language | English |
Detected Language | English |
Type | text |
Format | application/pdf |
Source | http://etd.library.pitt.edu/ETD/available/etd-04232008-013247/ |
Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Pittsburgh or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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