Event

On aesthetic-philosophical, ecocritical, and artistic levels, the project brings together works of literature and music from various centuries into a philosophical-transcultural discourse on instances of water.

The combined works of the Taiwanese-American composer Shih-Hui Chen (b. 1962) and the Austrian composer Franz Schubert (1797 – 1828) draw equally on literary sources:

Chen on poems by Li Bai (also known as "Li Taibo," 701 – 762), Su Shi (1037 – 1101), and Zhang Jiuling (673? – 740) about a waterfall on the legendary Chinese cultural mountain Lushan; Schubert’s "Song of the Spirits over the Waters" (Gesang der Geister über den Wassern) is based on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s six-stanza poem of the same name from 1779, inspired by the Staubbach Falls in Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland.

The event examines various reinterpretations of Goethe’s poem in Schubert’s work by incorporating several early settings, ranging from a fragment of an art song for baritone and piano to quartets for male voices with and without accompaniment, and culminating in the unusual final version [1] for four low-pitched string instruments and 8 male voices, D 714, from 1821 — a standout in the concert repertoire when performed in this instrumentation).

Finally, Shih-hui Chen’s composition fits into this cycle:
I've done some research and have been considering writing my piece influenced by Schubert’s setting of Goethe’s text. The imagery and meaning in Goethe's text remind me of three Chinese poems inspired by the waterfall in Mount Lu. Like Goethe's muse, the Staubbach Falls, these poems convey a deep, spiritual connection to nature that transcends time and cultural boundaries. (Shih-Hui Chen, 05.11.2024)

On July 2, 2025, from 2:00 to 3:30 p.m., a Digital Dialogue will take place between composer CHEN Shih-hui, Marc J. Reichow (KlangForum Heidelberg), Rolf Scheuermann (Buddhist Studies, Environmental Humanities), and Barbara Mittler (Worldmaking – A Dialogue with China: Epochal Lifeworlds, Narratives of Crisis and Change), during which these different perspectives will be explored. To receive the link to the event, please register at: xiaojie.chang@zo.uni-heidelberg.de.

[1] Composed beginning in 1816, published posthumously; D484, as well as D538, D704, and D705)