Doktor Faustus – Redaktion der Moderne

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Subject according curriculum

General studies

Teachers

Scope

Fridays, 10-12:30 (start 24.04.26) Ten dates in total: 24.04.; 08.05.; 15.05.; 29.05; 05.06.; 12.06.; 19.06.; 26.06.; 03.07.; 10.07. Registration: Please send your registration by 31.03.2026 to benjamin.sprick@hfmt-hamburg.de A first public presentation is planned for Saturday, 09.05.2026 in the Mendelssohn Hall.

Room

Keine Angabe

Duration

3 Semesterwochenstunden

Description

Thomas Mann's Doctor Faustus. The life of the German composer Adrian Leverkühn, told by a friend, is many things in one: an anti-fascist novel by a German who loved his country but could not decide to return to his cursed homeland after the fall of the Third Reich; an artist's novel à la Nietzsche, which describes aesthetic production as progressive emaciation and self-destruction; a philosophical experiment that revolves around the question of how art can be possible and of what nature it can be in the modern age - and so much more. This novel is a unique force field of various disciplines, a topology of musical - and not just musical - modernity, and the questions it formulates in this force field still seem worth discussing in 2026.
Of course, this does not mean that we should fall into a kind of hermeneutic rigidity before this novel, which is certainly not easy to read. No work is a sacred text. Whether it is canonical is not measured by the number of editions and the decoration of decorative editions, but by whether it can be worked with now. The aim of this seminar is therefore to develop musical-performative projects from the text of the novel, intertwined with the joint exploration of the text, which are to be planned and carried out in the winter semester 2026/27. For this reason, interdisciplinary collaboration between students of music and the performing arts is the cornerstone of this project.
The summer semester is essentially dedicated to reading. We want to start with a joint night-time reading of the first novel quarter; if this proves successful, the format will be continued. In the seminar, we will delve into the novel's complex terrain by means of classical hermeneutic experiments, listening to music and exploring the numerous theoretical discussions that Mann has integrated into the novel's force field. In the last third of the semester, possible projects for the winter semester will be discussed. Conceivable, for example:
● a deconstruction of Beethoven's last piano sonata op. 111, which - namely through the description Thomas Mann gives of it - advanced to become the myth of the late work in general. Can this myth be upheld? What do late works by other composers tell us? Is the term still relevant today?
● the so-called "devil's conversation": i.e. the composer's conversation with an abysmal, diabolical musical philosopher who suggests to him that it is possible to wrest works from the infinite difficulty of modern art: namely - as the title of the novel suggests - if one "devotes oneself to the devil". But what does that mean? What did it mean back then? What today?
● A scenic montage of key motifs from the Faust complex - from Marlowe to Paul Valéry
● short compositions that exemplify the works of Leverkühn described in this novel (also in connection with the previous one)
● Performances of works that fall within the theoretical circle of this literary philosophy of music
● Readings of texts by contemporary composers of which the same applies, etc.
The performance(s) should not take place at the university, but should be public. We are currently exploring the possibilities available for this.

Literature

Thomas Mann, Doctor Faustus. Das Leben des deutschen Tonsetzers Adrian Leverkühn, erzählt von einem Freunden, in the version of the large Frankfurt edition, Frankfurt am Main: Fischer, 2012.

Credits

3 Creditpoints

Comments

If you would like to take part in the seminar but would prefer to use an English translation because the text is not exactly easy even for native speakers, please contact us. We will definitely find a solution.
The seminar is aimed at students on artistic degree courses in music, school music, drama students, dramaturgy and directing students. The more heterogeneous the demands placed on this text, the better!
To obtain credit points, students must be interested in combining theory and artistic practice, give a presentation in the seminar and submit a written reflection. Various approaches to theory work will be tested, including dialogic reading, clustering or AI-supported readings. Optional participation without the awarding of credit points is also possible and takes place after consultation with the lecturers.

Modules

Modul Regie 1 Schauspiel, Modul Regie 2 Schauspiel, Modul Schauspiel 1, Modul Schauspiel 2, Modul Schauspiel 3, Wahlmodul Master Dramaturgie, Abschlussmodul Musik Regie, Musiktheater, Regie Schauspiel, Wahlmodul 2 Regie Musiktheater, Regie Schauspiel, Wahlmodul freie Wahl (alle Studiengänge), Studium generale Wahlmodul Master, Wahlmodul 1 Regie, Wahlmodul 2 Regie