Music in Beckett’s Nacht und Träume: Vocality and Imagination

Catherine Laws

Music in Beckett’s Nacht und Träume: Vocality and Imagination

Music

Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper

Abstract

The influence of music upon the work of Samuel Beckett is frequently commented on, and Schubert is the composer to whom the author alludes most frequently. Specific compositions are invoked alongside those of Beethoven, particularly in some of the early stories, and in the radio play All That Fall and the television play Nacht and Träume we hear extracts of Schubert’s music. Moreover, Beckett’s particular musical choices and the specific ways in which he employs the music are significant within his broader exploration of subjectivity, authority and the imagination. Understanding this is revealing with regard to the self-conscious preoccupations of Modernism and beyond.

This paper examines how Beckett’s use of Schubert mirrors the ambiguities of image, agency, action and identity in Nacht and Träume . Here music is used as a means of trying to imagine the unimaginable; the emphasis is on the productive imagining and re-imagining of release, transcendence, absolution. Beckett exploits music’s ability to carry consciousness without specific subjectivity, invoking presence and agency without grounding.

Original language	English
Publication status	Published - 2012
Event	Samuel Beckett Working Group - University of Southampton, Southampton, United Kingdom Duration: 7 Sept 2012 → 9 Sept 2012

Conference

Conference	Samuel Beckett Working Group
Country/Territory	United Kingdom
City	Southampton
Period	7/09/12 → 9/09/12

Access to Document

http://www.beckettcircle.org/2012/10/samuel-beckett-working-group-southampton.html

Cite this

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title = "Music in Beckett{\textquoteright}s Nacht und Tr{\"a}ume: Vocality and Imagination",

abstract = "The influence of music upon the work of Samuel Beckett is frequently commented on, and Schubert is the composer to whom the author alludes most frequently. Specific compositions are invoked alongside those of Beethoven, particularly in some of the early stories, and in the radio play All That Fall and the television play Nacht and Tr{\"a}ume we hear extracts of Schubert{\textquoteright}s music. Moreover, Beckett{\textquoteright}s particular musical choices and the specific ways in which he employs the music are significant within his broader exploration of subjectivity, authority and the imagination. Understanding this is revealing with regard to the self-conscious preoccupations of Modernism and beyond.This paper examines how Beckett{\textquoteright}s use of Schubert mirrors the ambiguities of image, agency, action and identity in Nacht and Tr{\"a}ume . Here music is used as a means of trying to imagine the unimaginable; the emphasis is on the productive imagining and re-imagining of release, transcendence, absolution. Beckett exploits music{\textquoteright}s ability to carry consciousness without specific subjectivity, invoking presence and agency without grounding.",

author = "Catherine Laws",

year = "2012",

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note = "Samuel Beckett Working Group ; Conference date: 07-09-2012 Through 09-09-2012",

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T1 - Music in Beckett’s Nacht und Träume

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AU - Laws, Catherine

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AB - The influence of music upon the work of Samuel Beckett is frequently commented on, and Schubert is the composer to whom the author alludes most frequently. Specific compositions are invoked alongside those of Beethoven, particularly in some of the early stories, and in the radio play All That Fall and the television play Nacht and Träume we hear extracts of Schubert’s music. Moreover, Beckett’s particular musical choices and the specific ways in which he employs the music are significant within his broader exploration of subjectivity, authority and the imagination. Understanding this is revealing with regard to the self-conscious preoccupations of Modernism and beyond.This paper examines how Beckett’s use of Schubert mirrors the ambiguities of image, agency, action and identity in Nacht and Träume . Here music is used as a means of trying to imagine the unimaginable; the emphasis is on the productive imagining and re-imagining of release, transcendence, absolution. Beckett exploits music’s ability to carry consciousness without specific subjectivity, invoking presence and agency without grounding.

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