Comparison of Schumann’s Mondnacht with Brahms’s setting of the same poem

Seminar paper from the year 2011 in the subject Musicology, grade: 1, University of Rochester, Eastman School of Music, language: English, abstract: To precede my comparison of Schumann’s Mondnacht and Brahms’s setting of the same poem I would like to begin with a brief introduction of the two composers. Their personal histories will be taken into account in order to show if any conclusions can be drawn on how their approaches to the compositions may have been influenced. I will also concentrate particularly on both composers’ roles in the context of the Lied of the 19th century. Within this context I will provide a short introduction to the poem Mondnacht and address its various different settings. In this approach will be considered both musical, as well as textual content. By the end of the paper I hope to provide a clearer understanding of how each of them composed their work and illuminate several differences and similarities. In order to not translate each quote taken from German sources and due to my German background I will be using the original quotes.