Chapter 16 Selfobject Functions, Self States, and Intimate Forms of Musical Composition: Influences from Literary Texts on the Art Song

Psychoanalytic studies of music, the dance, and the visual arts have not typically relied on written texts to discover pertinent psychological insights, although the understanding of certain musical compositions may be fostered when such works are derived from written texts. Isadora Duncan reportedly observed: “If I could write it, I wouldn't need to dance it.” But employing psychoanalytic concepts to consider a psychological understanding of music is problematic, considering the large number of musical compositions that are nonprogrammatic, such as the sonata, orchestral works, and chamber music. There are some exceptions, but these are limited, such as orchestral or chamber music works in which at least some portion of the composition is based on abstract or programmatic content, for example, Haydn's Farewell or Beethoven's Eroica symphonies, Mozart's Hunt string quartet, or Liszt's and Strauss's tone poems. Naturally, however, vocal works such as opera, oratorio, or the art song are necessarily based on texts, such as a libretto, biblical passages, or poetry, respectively. Further, performances of vocal compositions are enhanced by conveying nuances of