Song as Memory, Memory as Song

Abstract

The function of song embodying and encapsulating memory has been part and parcel of artistic representations in literature and music for hundreds of years; it manifested itself also in nineteenthcentury Lieder. Aided by lyric poetry, often recalling poignant moments from times past in the present through flashbacks (thereby rolling different temporal layers into one), Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, and Mahler found ingenious ways through musical means such as thematic recall, variation, paraphrase, heterophony, tonal juxtaposition, counterpoint, and quotation to give expression to the emotions-some soothing and healing, others conflicting and jarring-that memory inflicts on those who remember.

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