Putting the Muse to Music: German Composers and Elisa von der Recke

Authors

Aubrey Hatch, Brigham Young University
Dr. Michelle James, Brigham Young University
Cindy Brewer, Brigham Young University

Keywords

German composers, Elisa von der Recke, poetry, German Romantic period

College

Humanities

Department

German and Russian

Abstract

Some artists create music directly, while other artists—like Elisa von der Recke—inspire others to create music. Elisa von der Recke was a literary phenomenon in her era, a woman whose writing was taken seriously by male readers, thinkers, and, very importantly, by male composers. At the height of her popularity and shortly after her death, several of Germany’s best composers put Recke’s poetry to music. Unfortunately, for all of their popularity during the German Romantic period, Recke’s poems—as well as their musical accompaniments—have all but disappeared1. The purpose of this project was to both compile and transcribe music that was inspired by the poetry of Elisa von der Recke.

Recommended Citation

Hatch, Aubrey; James, Dr. Michelle; and Brewer, Cindy (2014) "Putting the Muse to Music: German Composers and Elisa von der Recke," Journal of Undergraduate Research: Vol. 2014: Iss. 1, Article 636.
Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/jur/vol2014/iss1/636