Die stil avontuur an evaluation of Hendrik Hofmeyr's song-cycle with an emphasis on the poetry of Elisabeth Eybers

Claasen, Clinton Jared

Die stil avontuur an evaluation of Hendrik Hofmeyr's song-cycle with an emphasis on the poetry of Elisabeth Eybers

Master Thesis

2012

Publisher

University of Cape Town

Department

College of Music

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Abstract

Forty-six opuses in Hofmeyr's oeuvre are either inspired by or set to Afrikaans texts. This is indicative of his love for the language and of the culture in which he feels most comfortable. Of these works, the Afrikaans song is the most predominant genre which spans his entire compositional career. However, only one cycle, Alleenstryd, has been the subject of extensive academic evaluation (Roos, 2000; May, 2003; Cupido, 2010). For the purposes of this dissertation, I have decided to investigate Die stil avontuur, a cycle based on seven poems by Elisabeth Eybers. Die stil avontuur, commissioned by Lina Spies in celebration of Eybers' ninetieth birthday traces, like Robert Schumann's Frauenlieben und -leben, the life of a woman from the first meeting of her beloved to his death. My motivation for selecting this cycle as the subject for my study, besides considering it a high-point in both Hofmeyr's oeuvre and South African song, is one of identifying a number of correlations between Eybers and Hofmeyr. Both being recipients of international awards for their respective arts, they also both left their birth country in self-imposed exile. Another aspect common to both artists is their struggle to reconcile aspects of their upbringing with their arts.

Description

Includes bibliographical references.

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