Romantic Subjectivity and West German Politics in Wolfgang Rihm's "Jakob Lenz"

Romantic Subjectivity and West German Politics in Wolfgang Rihm's Jakob Lenz In the late 1970s, the German composer Wolfgang Rihm was still in his late twenties, but he had already gained international recognition. He had established himself through a compositional style that incorpo rated historical allusion while aiming toward intense expressivity. The intended expressive immediacy of his music has often been understood in stark contrast to the complex, highly intellectualized compositional techniques of preceding years.1 Particularly illustrative of this style isJakob Lenz, a chamber opera that Rihm composed in 1977-78. The opera's libretto is based on a narrative textwritten by Georg Biichner around 1835. Buchner's text is about an episode in the life of a real historical figure: the eighteenth-century Sturm und Drang writer, Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz (1751-92).2 True to Buchner's Lenz, themost obvious topic of Rihm's one-act opera is the psychological condition of itsprotagonist. Jessica Balik Wolfgang Rihm'sJakob Lenz 229 Rihm's opera depicts the subjective state of the character Lenz. More specifically, the opera's drama emphasizes tension between general, socio-historically established conventions and Lenz's individual, subjective state. Similarly, Rihm's music also exudes tension between the historical conventions to which it alludes and the unique music that Rihm nonetheless creates. Through both the depiction of itsprotagonist and the construction of its music, therefore,Jakob Lenz engages with the idea of preserving subjectivity against established theories and conventions. This paper cites examples of the tension, and explains two ways that such concern for the preservation of individual subjectivity can be understood in relation to the sociopolitical climate fromwhich this opera emerged: West Germany during the 1970s.3 Subjectivity vis-A-vis Convention Biichner's text and the opera's libretto portray Lenz as a psychologically unstable character. In both texts, Lenz is sent by a friend named Kaufmann on a journey through themountains to find a pastor named Oberlin. Kaufmann hopes that Oberlin can nurse Lenz to health. Although Lenz does find Oberlin, Oberlin is unable to help him. The opera ends with Kaufmann and Oberlin binding Lenz in a straitjacket, and with Lenz sufferingamental and emotional breakdown. While this ending makes Lenz's psychological agitation clear, itdoes not explain what underlies Lenz's affliction. In a study of Biichner's text, Gundula Sharman understands Lenz's instablity to concern external frameworks that conventionally imbue human lifewith stability and meaning. They fail for Lenz.4 Nature is one example. Sharman notes that walking through the mountains is a trope of German Romanticism that usually yields "rejuvenation" and "communion with nature."5 Although Biichner's Lenz is indeed a piece of German Romantic literature that references this trope, Lenz's journey through themountains does not produce any salubrious effects. Another example of an external framework that fails to keep Lenz psychologically sound is religion. In Rihm's opera, for instance, Kaufmann reminds Lenz that his father would like for him to return home. Even if it is not made explicit in the opera, Lenz's biography makes it clear that his father is a pastor who is disappointed about Lenz's refusal to become a pastor himself.6 Kaufmann and Oberlin both suggest that Lenz should return home and obey his father, but near the close of the opera's sixth scene, Lenz responds with incredulity that he cannot.7 230 Perspectives of New Music Just as Lenz's dramatic narrative does not adhere to these conven tional frameworks for creating a psychologically stable life, so too does Lenz's musical line tend to eschew convention. One example occurs in the ninth scene. Rihm's performance indication at its beginning reads "Quasi Sarabande."8 It opens with the cellos establishing a stately triple meter. They also reference the second-beat accents and dotted rhythmic patterns that characterize the Sarabandes of many eighteenth-century dance suites, even though they also distort these characteristics by playing pizzicato. In so doing, Rihm references this dance in part by distancing his own music from its conventions; therefore, the adjective "quasi" within his performance indication is indeed crucial (see Example When Lenz's vocal line enters this scene, the...