Transposition of a Western Mythical Hero: Odoevskij's Beethoven's Last Quartet
Alexandra
Walter
Although many writers and critics, including Pu&shachek;kin, highly
praised Prince Vladimir Odoevskij's Poslednij kvartet
Betxovena, first published in 1831, and later included in the
Sixth Night of Russkie no&chachek;i (1844),
relatively little criticism has been devoted to the work. In the scant
commentary available, critics usually assume that Odoevskij simply
renders homage to the great composer. Yet Odoevskij's Beethoven is
more ambiguous than one would expect for a eulogy. Furthermore,
critics claim that the novella fits the typical romantic
representation of an artist popular at the time. After all, myths of
Beethoven had turned the composer into a quintessential romantic hero.
However, several elements in the text do not coincide with what we
might expect to find in a quintessential romantic hero's
portrayal.
In posthumous notes for a second edition of Russkie
no&chachek;i, which was not realized until well after
Odoevskij's death, the author addresses accusations that he imitated
E. T. A. Hoffmann. He writes that such accusations do not offend him,
because he reveres the German author and, besides, all authors are
influenced by their predecessors and contemporaries. At the same time,
he maintains that he did not imitate Hoffmann. Thus while
acknowledging the German author's influence, Odoevskij attempts to
assert his independence. Similarly, in Poslednij kvartet
Betxovena, he further attempts to separate himself from
European models.
In this paper, I will show that Poslednij kvartet
Betxovena does not fit literary, musical, and historical
models and myths that the author invokes. One of the first indications
that Poslednij kvartet Betxovena does not coincide with
literary models is the epigraph from Hoffmann's Rat
Krespel. On first glance, it may seem suitable, but a closer
analysis shows that the two texts actually share little in common.
Furthermore, through his use of Egmont, Odoevskij subverts both
literary and musical models by denying his own Beethoven the heroic
triumph bestowed upon the heroes in both Beethoven's overture and
Goethe's drama of the same name. The author also rejects historical
models by questioning the validity of biographies, as well as
challenging notions of historical facts
and
truth.
Finally, he disputes powerful myths of Beethoven
as a triumphant, noble hero, sorcerer, or saint (which emerged from
compositions of the composer's middle period) by examining Beethoven's
late period. Moreover, by characterizing him as pathetic and even
ridiculous, in many ways, Odoevskij's Beethoven is the antithesis of
the mythical hero.
While drawing on these models, genres, and myths, Odoevskij
attempts to deviate from and reject them. But the fact that his
deviations can be discovered only through a close reading suggests
that he remained hesitant about explicitly challenging them. In this
way, he imbues his transposition of a western figure into Russian
literature with ambiguity and ambivalence. Thus he creatively
expresses anxiety, prevalent in Russia at the time, about what role
western models should play in the creation of an independent Russian
culture.