Zdeněk Fibich (1850–1900) and his Songs to Goethe: Forgotten Settings?
Zdeněk Fibich (1850–1900) and his Songs to Goethe: Forgotten Settings?

Summary/Abstract: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) is considered as one of themost influential cultural figures of his age. His literary work attractedcomposers throughout the 19th century and beyond. Goethe himselfappreciated musical settings of his literary works, as, in his opinion, lyrical poetry without music did not seem complete.One of the numerous composers who tackled Goethe’s words wasZdeněk Fibich (1850–1900), a Bohemian composer whose name isstrongly associated with the genres of opera and melodrama. However, only little is known about his primary compositional attempts in thearea of songs. Inspired by settings of Schubert and Schumann the composer was addressed by German poets such as Rückert, Heine,Eichendorff and Goethe. Moreover, song settings to both Germanand Czech literary models were emerging throughout Fibich’s life. Similarly to Schubert, Fibich’s first Lieder are dated back to his teenhood. Gefunden, Fibich’s first musical encounter with Goethe, waswritten as early as 1865. In my paper, I have examined nine settings to Wilhelm Meister Lehrjahren, which originated between 16 and 21 April1871. Numerous reasons led me to examine these particular songs.Firstly, Fibich’s Goethe settings have been neglected by musicologists as well as performers. None of eleven vocal pieces have been publishedor recorded to date. Secondly, there is need for a comparative study of these songs with other settings to Goethe. My research addressesthe lacuna in the 19th century song studies while asking the following questions: Do the songs have much to offer in comparison to songsby Schubert, Schumann, Wolf and others? What stands behind the omission of the songs? This paper is a starting point in uncoveringthe significance of forgotten Fibich’s Goethe settings.

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