The singer (Brentano)

Clemens Brentano
(1778-1842)

The singer is the beginning of a story by Clemens Brentano , which appeared at the beginning of 1801 in Sophie Mereau's magazine "Kalathiskos" by Heinrich Frölich in Berlin. Sophie Mereau asked in vain for a "continuation of this excellent product". Information on the origin of the text fragment and the date of publication can be found in Volume 19 of the Frankfurt Brentano edition [FBA].

The singer confronts the letter writer Julie with their family history.

shape

Julie writes letters to her friend Theresa. Because Julie does not receive an answer, there is a monologue. In this the writer first comes to an understanding about herself. Then she lets the singer speak with his vita. By “singer” Brentano also means “poet”. Numerous poems are included. In addition, the first half contributes to art theory and exemplifies this immediately. The text has at least two levels. For example, when Brentano lets Julie say to Theresa at the beginning: "... that we ... invented such a woman as Antonie was", then imagination hovers over the not so easy to grasp action. The astonished reader encounters this as soon as it appears as if two people have merged into one.

content

Antonie died abroad. The death of her sister is a reason for Julie to reflect. The letter writer is thrown off balance when a portrait is sent to her that shows the father who was lost so early in his youth. This portrait of "Heinrich S" was painted by "E" and shows the father as John the Baptist .

The singer, a German, had loved Antonie during his lifetime. Julie longs for his announced appearance with uneasiness. When he finally comes, he sings of love, because love can be sung rather than said. Antonie died in Piedmont in the village of G. in the singer's arms. Before that, he had been with the lover for three years. His life ended with the death of Antonie.

The singer lost his "passionately loved" mother, Eugenie, as a youth. The father, a respected merchant who lived in the nearby town, had long since separated from his mother. Now the singer tells stories from his childhood. For Julie it follows from one that she and the singer have one and the same father: The latter loved Eugenie and painted him as John the Baptist.

Quotes

• "Quiet must not be in life."
• "He who loves life lives love."
• "In love everything that is not good disappears."

Self-testimony

• Brentano in March 1801 to Kunigunde von Savigny : "It is the best that I wrote."

reception

• Schlegel praised on February 2, 1801: "It remains that we like him [the singer] very much, I like the prose more than the poems."
• Dorothea Veit wrote to Brentano on February 27, 1801: "Your singer looks very good."

Kluge researched the fragment.

• Because Julie and the singer share a biological father, the singer's relationship with Julie's late sister Antonie has been incestuous. Antonie loved the half-brother during his lifetime.
• The incestuous also affects the singer's bond with his mother Eugenie.
• The mute boy Eugen reminded me of Mignon .
• The multiple puzzles make the text almost inscrutable. In the confusion, the singer's youthful story appears most clearly at the end of the text.
• In the narrative, two opposites collide. In the first half Julie describes her everyday life in harmony in the midst of poetry. The life of the singer in the second half is determined by everyday reality.

literature

• Werner Vordtriede (ed.): Clemens Brentano. The poet about his work. 324 pages. dtv Munich 1978 (© 1970 Heimeran Verlag Munich), ISBN 3-423-06089-1
• Gerhard Kluge : Clemens Brentano's early stories . P. 43–51 in: Hartwig Schultz (Ed.): Clemens Brentano. 1778–1842 on the 150th anniversary of his death. 341 pages. Peter Lang, Bern 1993, ISBN 3-906750-94-9
• Klaus Günzel : The Brentanos. A German family story. 192 pages. Book guild Gutenberg Frankfurt am Main 1993 (Licensor: Artemis Zurich), ISBN 3-7632-4380-1
• Hartwig Schultz : Clemens Brentano. With 20 illustrations. 224 pages. Reclam Stuttgart 1999. Series of literature studies. Universal Library No. 17614, ISBN 3-15-017614-X

Quoted text edition

• The singer. P. 41–83 in Gerhard Kluge (Ed.): Stories in Jürgen Behrens (Ed.), Konrad Feilchenfeldt (Ed.), Wolfgang Frühwald (Ed.), Christoph Perels (Ed.), Hartwig Schultz (Ed.): Clemens Brentano. All works and letters. Volume 19. Prose IV. 868 pages. Linen. With 16 full-page black-and-white illustrations. W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1987, ISBN 3-17-009440-8

Individual evidence

Source means the quoted text edition

1. ↑ Source, p. 475, 2nd Zvu
2. ↑ Kalathiskos (Greek) means both sewing basket and dance .
3. ↑ Source, p. 471 above
4. ↑ quoted in Schultz, p. 71, 8th Zvu
5. ↑ Source, pp. 475–501
6. ↑ Julie hates “the brutality in culture” and “every disharmony” is terrible. "Our earth" is "so similar to the starry sky in spring" (source, pp. 58–59)
7. ↑ Source p. 43, 13. Zvu
8. ↑ The much too early loss of his mother - Brentano was fifteen years old - was the subject of the poet, for example, in “The Singer” (Günzel, p. 72).
9. ↑ Source, p. 81
10. ↑ Source, p. 60, 16. Zvo
11. ↑ Source, p. 66, 4th Zvu
12. ↑ Source, p. 75, 6th Zvu
13. ↑ cited in Vordtriede, p. 95 above
14. ↑ Source, p. 482, 7. Zvo
15. ↑ Source, p. 481, 4th Zvu
16. ↑ Source, p. 484, 15. Zvo
17. ↑ Kluge anno 1993, p. 44, 14th Zvu
18. ↑ Kluge anno 1993, p. 34 above
19. ↑ Kluge anno 1993, p. 49, 17. Zvo
20. ↑ Source, p. 485, 20. Zvu
21. ↑ Kluge anno 1993, p. 44
22. ↑ Kluge anno 1993, p. 49, 7. Zvo