Author: Franz Grillparzer
Year: 1848
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Genres/categories:
Classic, Fiction
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ISBNs:
9783150044308
3150044308 |
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- Unique modern translation
- German original: "Der arme Spielmann"
- Annotated
Franz Grillparzer (1791-1872) is best known as a dramatist whose plays are still regularly performed on the stages of Austria. More highly regarded than the dramatic productions in verse that have propelled Grillparzer's name to the theater marquees of Vienna, though, is this novella, where his finest art and innermost self are most clearly displayed.
"The Poor Fiddler" is a classic example of the Biedermeier style of literature. A thematic triad associated with the earlier era of Romanticism - music, love and death - still marks out the psychological and artistic borders of the tale, however. Though the title character, Jacob appears to be a loser in the domains of music and love, the poor fiddler is revealed to have a transcendently redeeming character at the approach of death.
Central to the unfolding of the tale is the narrator's fascination with psychological motivation. The poor fiddler is selfish, but only within the bounds of music; he quickly glosses over any dissonances - even necessary modulations - and dwells with rapture on the harmonic epiphanies. This is no way to play the works of a classical composer, but it is perhaps a courageous way to live a life: overlooking the disharmony caused by others.
In the final analysis, Jacob's lack of sophistication in music and in life appears more than compensated for by his lack of guile. The target of ridicule presents himself, in the end, as a paragon of saintliness even as his instrument, the fiddle, is elevated to the status of a house shrine, a souvenir of salvation mirrored by a crucifix.
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