Robert Schumann’s Poetic World

The project „Robert Schumanns Poetische Welt (RSPW). Drama – Oratorium – Vokalsymphonik – Literarisches Werk. Historisch-kritische Hybridausgabe“ being carried out jointly within the Akademienprogramm by the Sächsische Akademie der Wissenschaften in Leipzig, the Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur, Mainz, and the Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften in Munich, is an interdisciplinary edition of the work of a 19th-century composer who combined music, poetry, and music criticism from a distinctively Romantic perspective.

Robert Schumann's literary and musical œuvre stands not only for music-aesthetic discourse in the second third of the 19th century, but also for the compositional present. No other poetically and musically accomplished artist pursued his concept of music and language in the forms of opera, oratorio, and new vocal-symphonic genres with such determination and insistent interconnectedness. Schumann reflected on his activities until the end in both his literary and musical works and in constant exchange with artists of his time.

The aim of this project is the first complete reconstruction of Schumann's poetic world by means of an historical-critical edition of the central collection of Schumann´s writings (including the twenty volumes of the "Neue Zeitschrift für Musik" edited by himself), poetry, and compositions (dramatic, oratorical, vocal-symphonic works), taking into account both intermedial and historical references. The presentation of works in the various media will be carried out both on an open-access platform, „Robert Schumann-digital“ and in printed form. Twenty-two volumes of music, along with the digital edition of the poetic and literary works, are to be produced.

The project combines editorial-philological basic research and an overdue re-evaluation in terms of reception history with an interdisciplinary approach between musicology, literary studies, and digital humanities (digital edition).

This research project is part of German Academies' Programme which is the largest long- term research Programme in the humanities and cultural studies in the Federal Republic of Germany.
It is co-financed by tax revenue based on the budget approved by the Saxon State Parliament.