ONLINE FIRST
published on July 27, 2023
Michael Baker
https://doi.org/10.5840/ajs202372488
Conceptual Blending and Mendelssohn¡¯s Poetics of Song
Gilles Fauconnier and Mark Turner¡¯s model of conceptual blending is especially helpful in illustrating the type of text-music correspondences that often occur in Felix Mendelssohn¡¯s songs and other vocal works. It corresponds to the way he spoke of his ¡°poetics of song¡± compositions in his writings on the topic. Following a comparison of the Berlin-based approach to the songwriting of Mendelssohn to that of the Vienna-based song composers, such as Schubert, this essay will examine Mendelssohn¡¯s own writings on text-music for such correspondences with the language of conceptual blending. I conclude with a close reading of ¡°Es weiss und r?th es doch Keiner,¡± Op. 99 no. 6, illustrating how Mendelssohn depicts the overall structure and specific meaning of Joseph von Eichendorff¡¯s poem through a variety of musical techniques.