Hildebrand approaches the great composers with loving openness—the only stance, he argues, through which beauty fully reveals itself. He shows us Mozart’s radiant happiness, Beethoven’s victorious joy, and Schubert’s mysterious power, not through analysis but through reverent attention. The result is a book of profound insight and joyful discovery.
The three chapters dedicated to Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert were published in one book; the Additional Writings on Music, including on Sacred Music (Bach's St. Matthew Passion and his Christmas Oratorio), Beethoven's Fidelio, Richard Wagner's music dramas, selections from an unpublished essay on Wagner, and Verdi's music drama (Otello and Falstaff) are from other sources.
In the chapter on Mozart, he focuses on Mozart's operas: two of his singspiel, The Abduction from the Seraglio (Die Entführung aus dem Serail) and The Magic Flute (Die Zauberflöte), and the three da Ponte operas, Cosi fan Tutti, Don Giovanni, and Le Nozze di Figaro. I was surprised that von Hildebrand did not mention either Idomeneo or La Clemenza di Tito, two of his opera seria but perhaps they weren't performed in Germany or Austria at his time. (When Idomeneo was performed in Vienna in 1931, it was in an adaptation by Richard Strauss with some of his own music included, so maybe it's for the best.) It just seems to me that the spirit and form of the opera seria, with its emphasis on virtues, would really appeal to von Hildebrand.
He deplores (in 1962! already!?!) some of the misleading staging of Mozart's operas, the view that Giovanni is the hero of his opera--an anti-hero, at least--to the disparagement of Don Ottavio whom, along with Donna Anna, "deserve[s] our love" for their "moral depth." In a footnote to his discussion of "The Marriage of Figaro" he deplores productions that update the setting to "an art nouveau room" or "add farcical, coarse effects"! Von Hildebrand greatly appreciates the character of Cherubino, "that enchanting invention [of Beaumarchais], original in the operatic literature and so quintessentially Mozartean . . . An incarnation of Mozart's youthful phase of being in love, Cherubino is a unique character and without counterpart in the whole of literature." (p. 7)
He would have been most concerned with some performances of Cosi fan Tutte, when the couples switch after they've been re-united. I think he'd also be appalled with the depiction of Mozart in Amadeus, even though he knows that Mozart was no saint! Or rather, he'd be more concerned with Salieri's rejection of the true response to value, God's Providence in the distribution of talent.
Of course he does not neglect Mozart's other works, his symphonies, concerti, chamber music, and his religious music, including the Great Mass in C minor, the Requiem, and the "Ave Verum Corpus". He emphasizes the "festive radiance" and "the quintessentially Catholic character" of all of Mozart's works.
In the chapter on Beethoven he finds "such complete artistic fulfillment, such a conscious striving for specifically artistic worlds, such intentional realization of these worlds to the very last detail . . ." He writes of the art of Beethoven "is an unsurpassed expression of the objective logos. The ethos suffusing it is through and through that of a reverent and profoundly felt value-response [an emblematic statement of von Hildebrand's] of a surrender to the world of values and to God." (pp. 27-28)
Von Hildebrand especially praises Beethoven's Missa Solemnis, calling it "thoroughly Catholic": in the final words of this chapter, he writes:
When at the beginning of the Benedictus the violin rings out, it is as if heaven bends down; when the Dona nobis pacem resounds, as if humanity form its true metaphysical position looks up beseechingly to God. Truly, it ever in the world of art applies, then here we must say: "It is the Passover of the Lord." (p. 42)
The chapter on Schubert took me the longest time to read because I am not as familiar with Schubert's works, especially not his Lieder, so I had to stop to hear what von Hildebrand was praising because he knows Schubert's works so thoroughly, and he responds so empathetically to Schubert's person and art. He calls him "a figure so uniquely loveable and filled with such extraordinary genius" (p. 44). He contrasts the joyful sharing of his music with close friends in the "Schubertiaden" to "an understanding of the tragic dimension of human existence in this valley of tears--a presentiment of death." (p. 45)
Von Hildebrand comments on Schubert's lieder, saying he developed this form of song into "a fully artistic genre" . . . and that "His Lieder are musical poems." Von Hildebrand also praises Schubert's Masses, especially the Mass in E-flat Major, noting how he interweaves the Incarnatus the Crucifixus in the Credo, as "an entirely unique conception, which . . . allows us to see the mystery of the Incarnation in light of the Crucifixion." (p.61)
I found it interesting how few Italian (except for Mozart's three da Ponte operas) or French works or composers von Hildebrand discusses: no Massenet, Gounod (21 Masses!), or Thomas and certainly no Debussy or Berlioz. Even when he discusses Verdi, it's only Otello and Falstaff (Shakespearean inspirations with Boito's librettos; not Macbeth from Piave!)--and not La Traviata, Rigoletto, or Aida--and certainly no Puccini. He mentions Rossini's "Barber of Seville" once. No French melodie or Italian arie antiche, just German Lieder. His selections are focused! Probably depends on what was being performed in his time; musical tastes and trends change over time and place.
When he writes about Wagner's operas, which he had probably seen at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus before fleeing Nazi territory in 1938, I still can't gain the kind of appreciation he has for these works. But I do think that he would be horrified by the different settings of the Ring cycle, etc. once the operas were allowed outside Wagner's designated performance site; (the Metropolitan Opera performed Parsifal in 1903 in spite of Cosima Wagner).
When I think of Wagner's Ring cycle, I think of Anna Russell ("Remember the Ring?"; when Siegfried meets Gutrune, Russell exclaims that she is "the first woman he has met who isn’t his aunt!") so maybe that's my fault.
This is a book that demands a great deal from the reader. I was able to understand and sympathize with his expression of appreciation of Mozart most readily; Beethoven took some more recollection--I have listened to Beethoven through the years, including Fidelio--and Schubert took quite a few searches on YouTube to listen to some of his works. French and Italian are much easier for me to understand, but I've never studied German at all, so I have to take von Hildebrand's comments about the poetic expression of Lieder on his authority.
One of the reasons I've chosen it as one of the best books I read in 2025 is how much work I had to do to appreciate von Hildebrand's loving openness . . . reverent attention. . . . and . . . profound insight and joyful discovery." It was truly an interactive experience!
Honorable mention in this category of music appreciation goes to Dana Gioia's Weep, Shudder, Die.
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