Change and Permanence (Stanford German Studies)

The monograph analyses the poem Gottfried Benn wrote for Paul Hindemith's oratorio «Das Unaufhörliche» and examines Benn's assumption about permanence, as revealed in the images he used in the oratorio text and in his other works. Special attention is given to the problem of nihilism in Benn's work and to the question of the relation of «Das Unaufhörliche» to religious tradition. A final chapter describes Hindemith's setting for the poem and analyses various types of word-music relationships. Emphasis is placed on structural aspects of Benn's text that allow a comparison to music.