Elizabeth A. Kramer, Ph.D. 2005

Advisor: Mark Evan Bonds

Dissertation Title: The Idea of Kunstreligion in German Musical Aesthetics of the Early Nineteenth Century

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Dissertation Abstract:

Religious imagery and ideas permeate late eighteenth-century and early nineteenth-century German writings about music. Although the connection of music to human and divine matters itself was not new, the frequent and forceful invocation of terms such as “religion”, “spiritual”, “divine”, “heavenly”,”purity”, and “infinity” is striking and parallels other musical developments. At this time audiences began listening to music in a fundamentally new way, which they often described as Andacht or devotional contemplation. Composers were increasingly characterized as divinely-creative artists, rather than indentured craftsmen, and their music was given an important role in new accounts of the Modern, Christian, Romantic Era. And in the wake of the Enlightenment, there was renewed debate on the nature of true church music. These late eighteenth-century and early nineteenth-century trajectories can be seen as part of the diverse constellation of ideas within the contemporary concept of Kunstreligion (art religion). Three broad perspectives on the relationship between art and religion can be discerned in the literature of this time: art seen as the expression of religion, art and religion seen in symbiosis, and art supplanting or becoming a religion. The controversies surrounding particular applications of Kunstreligion to music and the other arts offer a unique window onto various and sometime conflicting beliefs about art and religion. 

In my dissertation I hope to provide a history of the idea of Kunstreligion as it interacts with German musical aesthetics in the period roughly between 1790 and 1830. Through reference to texts by writers such as J.G. Herder, Friedrich Schleiermacher, A.W. and Friedrich Schlegel, F.W.J. von Schelling, G.W.F. Hegel, E.T.A. Hoffmann and others I will show that the use of the concept to describe music emerged from an intellectual atmosphere which included the revival of Platonic Idealism, the continued influence of Pietism and revival of Roman Catholicism, new knowledge of eastern religions and mystery cults, and the advent of new philosophies of history. As an idea of musical aesthetics circa 1800 Kunstreligion accounts for the phenomenon of religious imagery in a way that other formulations have not. At the same time, it interacts with ideas of philosophy and literature that other scholars have evoked in writing about musical aesthetics of this time. Others, for example, have noted the importance of aesthetic contemplation, but what was the influence of contemplation on modes of listening, performing, and composing? And how is the religious idea of Andacht related to other types of contemplation and perceptive intuition? Mythic accounts of Beethoven are well documented, but how did the religious and philosophical commitments of critics and historians affect their various characterizations of musicians as demigods, divine creators, priests, and prophets? How might religious ideas of immanence and transcendence shape the way contemporary writers understand the musical tone and aspects of the musical work such as tone painting, form and content? Finally, how might the concept of Kunstreligion lead to a better understanding of theories of how music is historically and hierarchically related to other arts? 

Recipient of the Glen Haydon Dissertation Award

Dr. Kramer is currently Associate Professor of Music History and Strings at the University of West Georgia, where she also serves as Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Humanities and Chair of the Faculty Senate.