Two Alter Egos Mediated By A Third Poem by gershon hepner

FLORESTAN, EUSEBIUS AND MEISTER RARO

For Florestan the movements are most animated,
and for Eusebius cantabile and more expressive;
two alter egos, both of them infatuated
by Clara, MeisterRaro making her transgressive.

The Davidsbündlertänze show one note can carry
contrasting information, which is useful if
the father of the girl whom you decide to marry
opposes themes that ClaRARObert’s wrting riff.

Inspired by a comment by David Lefkowitz on my poem “Hat’s Off Gentlemen, a Genius! ”

In case you don't know (I suspect that you know more about this than I do) , 'hats off, gentlemen, a genius' was written by Schumann through Eusebius, one of his Davidsbund, a group of aesthetes (but with different personalities) who served as voices of Schumann's different moods or approaches to music, and published in Schumann's Neue Zeitschrift für Musik. I have the good fortune to have a collection of some of these writings, in good translation, in an out-of-print book that is still available
(http: //www.amazon.com/Schumann-Music-Selection-Writings-Robert/dp/0486257487/ref=sr_1_1? ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1263431861&sr=1-1) .

You have the better fortune of being able to read it in the original...if you can get your hands on the 'NMZ'!

For a while I tried to convince my father to write a wine column with his own Davidsbund (when not a lawyer, he was a wine connoisseur and sometime wine writer) - after all, if people react non-monolithicly to music, surely they would react non-monolithicly to wine? ! He never embraced the idea (alas) . Perhaps I'll fill his shoes, someday...

This comment inspired me to reconsider the significance of the Davidsbündlertänze, inspired by Schumann’s love of Clara and his friendship with his Boswell, Eusebius, as well as Florestan, who like Schumann were members of the Davidsbund. David Lefkowitz pointed out to me that Eusebius and Florestan are two of Schumann's alter egos (the two principal ones) , with Meister Raro (possibly representing ClaRARObert) mediating between the two.


1/13/10