Becketts Melodien: Die Musik und die Idee des Zusammenhangs bei Schopenhauer, Proust und Beckett (review)

“Musikalisches findet sich bei Beckett nicht einmal hier und einmal da, sondern überall und immer” (12) [In Beckett, something musical can be found not just here and there, but always and everywhere¹]. With these words, Maier underscores the importance of music for the work of Samuel Beckett. The protagonists of his novels and plays (for stage, radio, and television) regularly sing songs or hum melodies, hear music, or reflect on musical ideas and concepts. In his book, Maier traces these musical occurrences throughout the author’s work and uses them to show the development of Beckett’s views on music beginning with his monograph Proust (1931) and continuing up to his television play Nacht und Träume (1983).² Maier demonstrates that Beckett originally follows Schopenhauer’s philosophy wherein music is conceived as an ideal work of art, but that over the course of his work Beckett gradually supplements his early beliefs with Proust’s view of music as an empirical event, a “personale[s] Gegenüber” (24) [personal opposite].

The first part of Maier’s book is devoted to an analysis of the two works that helped shape Beckett’s views on music: Schopenhauer’s Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung and Proust’s novel À la recherche du temps perdu. The analysis provides the context for the discussion of Beckett’s first important works, the monograph Proust and the novel Dream of Fair to Middling Women. Maier shows that even though Schopenhauer’s theories of music and his idea of the “reines Subjekt des Erkennens” [pure subject of cognition] are the foundation of Beckett’s ideas, it is in Proust’s novel that he finds the “individuelle Betrachtung des Selbst” (140) [individual contemplation of the self].

Having outlined Beckett’s views on music, Maier devotes the last part of the book to an analysis of the role of music in a number of Beckett’s major works (examined in detail are Watt, Pochade radiophonique, Fin de partie, Happy Days, Krapp’s Last Tape, Ghost Trio, and Nacht und Träume). He considers various versions and productions of a work as well as Beckett’s annotations and instructions to producers and stage directors. The latter demonstrate Beckett’s attention to musical detail as, for example, in the case of “Clov’s Lied” from Fin de partie (219–30). Although the song was part of the original French production, Beckett later chose to omit it because its significance was lost when translated for productions in England and Germany.

Besides thorough research and attention to detail, the strength of Maier’s study lies in his clear and insightful musical analyses. Especially significant is his rhythmic and harmonic analysis of the two Beethoven themes used in Ghost Trio (271–76) and the melody of the Schubert song used in Nacht und Träume (304–12). Where appropriate, Maier underscores his observations with musical examples, including Beckett’s own musical manuscripts (see, for example, Beckett’s transcription of the melody “Now the Day is Over” for the German production of Krapp at the Schillertheater in Berlin [253]). Maier’s knowledge of phrasing and form also enables him to determine why the melody “Lippen schweigen” from Franz Léhar’s Die lustige Witwe proved a better choice for Molly’s song in Happy Days than the folk song “When Irish Eyes are Smiling,” which Beckett had also considered (230–45).

Overall, Maier’s book is a valuable addition to current scholarship on Beckett. It provides an important overview of musical events in Beckett’s major works and illustrates the diversity of forms and roles that such music may assume. Maier’s approach, in which he combines both musical and literary analysis, successfully illustrates and strengthens his conclusions regarding Beckett’s relationship with music.