| Variant title |
Mathis der Maler as a spiritual testimony |
| Contents |
The "Hermit's plight" in three parallel lives -- The ascetic, Saint Antony of Egypt -- Biography or legend? -- Hermit or abbot? -- The first stage: calling and apprenticeship -- The second stage: the devil's greatest challenger -- The third stage: abbot despite himself -- The fourth stage: renewed and final retreat -- The painter, "Master Mathis" -- Which Mathis? Three Grunewald biographies -- The mysterious master of Aschaffenburg: Grunewald reception 1530-1930 -- Grunewald reaffirmed: insights of the past twenty-five years the "Historical Grunewald" of the 1930s -- The cultural-political context -- Coming full circle: Antony, Mathis, and Hindemith -- The composer, Paul Hindemith -- A twentieth-century life -- The quest for solidarity: music for active participation -- The work, not the man: simplicity and spirituality in Hindemith's character -- Spirituality in Hindemith's work -- The "Hermit's plight" in the arts -- Hermits, anchorites, ascetics -- The Eremitic quest -- Eremitism, in practice and in spirit -- The hermit motif in German literature -- The temptation of Saint Antony in literature, art, and music -- The temptation of Saint Antony in drama, novel, and poetry -- The temptation of Saint Antony in the visual arts -- The temptation of Saint Antony in music -- The Isenheim altarpiece of "Master Mathis" -- The order of the Antonite brothers and their altar at Isenheim -- The artist's vision -- Architecture and layout in the Isenheim altarpiece -- The closed view: three tormented men. |
| Abstract |
This ground-breaking interdisciplinary study of Paul Hindemith's important opera Mathis der Maler draws together the three major sources that inspired the composition. The author shows that only a recognition of the significant parallel in the lives of the composer, the Renaissance painter Grünewald on whom the operatic Mathis is modeled, and the main character depicted in Grünewald's masterpiece, Saint Antony, will open the doors to a full understanding of the composer's musical testimony. The author begins by exploring the significance of the historical Antony within the spiritual and artistic traditions. Based on the interpretations of art historians and theologians, she then presents a fascinating reading of Grünewald's Isenheim Altarpiece and its singular importance for the opera. Turning to the opera itself, she examines the libretto as a symbolic representation of the dilemma in the lives of Grünewald and Hindemith and, finally and prominently, she interprets the music against the background of the spiritual plight that drives the plot. |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references (pages 405-412) and index. |
| LCCN | 98040661 |
| ISBN | 157647013X |
