1

THIS DOCUMENT PROVIDES VARIOUS AIDS FOR READERS OF JOHN WOODS

TRANSLATION OF THOMAS MANNS DOCTOR FAUSTUS:

CHAPTER-BY-CHAPTER SUMMARY 1
CHRONOLOGY OF ADRIAN LEVERKHNS LIFE 5
SOME OF THE REFERENCES IN DOKTOR FAUSTUS 6
VARIOUS ILLUSTRATIONS FROM ALBRECHT DRER 20


CONTENTS OF THOMAS MANNS DR. FAUSTUS

Chapter I: The narrator, Serenus Zeitblom (SZ), introduces himself. Begins writing in
May of 1943, 2 years after Adrian Leverkhns death. He is uncertain about his
qualifications for writing ALs biography. He loved AL, but the latter was surrounded
by coldness.

Chapter II: SZ continues self-description. He was born in 1883 in Kaisersaschern on the
Saale River near Merseburg, where AL later attended school. AL belonged to the
Protestant majority; SZ Catholic. AL a humanist, a friend of reason, fine arts, the
world of the human spirit. He is retired from teaching classical languages at a
Gymnasium. He and his wife, Helene, have two sons and a daughter. Although
musical he plays the viola he is wary of musics demonic side.

Chapter III: ALs family descended from farmers and craftsmen. His parents Jonathan
and Elsbeth have a farm, Buchel, in Weienfels, near Kaisersaschern. A brother is also
a farmer. His sister is Ursel. Jonathan reads the Luther-Bible but is also interested in
mystical science. He studies fantastical, ambiguous creatures, such as beautiful but
poisonous butterflies and seashells apparently inscribed by nature. One butterfly,
Heatera esmeralda, protects itself by looking like a leaf. Another interest is the
problematic boundary between organic and inorganic beings.

Chapter IV: ALs mother. The milkmaid Hanne, who teaches the children how to sing
rounds. Thoughts on ALs later concept of art.

Chapter V: SZ contemplates Germany and war. AL, while in his village school, is
recognized as gifted and sent to Gymnasium.

Chapter VI: School in Kaisersaschern. AL lives with his uncle, Nikolaus Leverkhn,
who sells musical instruments and builds violins. Kaisersaschern is described as
having strong vestiges of medieval times, as well as a number of odd characters.

Chapter VII: AL is so intelligent that he masters schoolwork without effort or interest
(except for a fascination with math). Uncle gives him a harmonium, on which he
experiments with musical relationships: Music is ambiguity as a system.

Chapter VIII: Wendell Kretzschmar, ALs music teacher. Gives lectures on
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Beethovens Piano sonata no. 32 and the composers relationship to the fugue. He also
tells the story of Johann Conrad Beiel, of the Ephrata Cloister, and his system of
musical composition, with master and servant notes. Kretzschmar characterizes
the present age is one of homophonic-harmonic-melodic music, as opposed to the
older (and superior) polyphonic-contrapuntal kind (a positive form of barbarism).

Chapter IX: Kretzschmars interest in English literature. AL studies musical history and
attempts to reconcile homophonic and polyphonic musical composition. Interest in the
Lied.

Chapter X: AL decides to study theology out of pride.

Chapter XI: AL begins his university study in Halle, the historical center of pietism. The
older and newer streams of Christianity are criticized. Theology necessarily becomes
demonology.

Chapter XII: ALs room has a picture of the magic square from Drers Melancholia.
Lectures on Pythagoras. Prof. Ehrenfried Kumpf, redolent of Luther, lectures on the
necessary presence of the devil in Christianity.

Chapter XIII: Prof. Eberhard Schleppfu on the sexual nature of the devil, as well as his
vital role in the divine plan. The story of Heinz Klpfgeiel and Brbel.

Chapter XIV: SZs reflections on numerology. A discussion among the theological
students of the Winfried fraternity. Especially Deutschlin represents a proto-fascist
tendency.

Chapter XV: ALs mother wary of Kretzschmars influence. A discussion of music,
which is seen as theology plus mathematics. Is originality possible? AL decides to
study music in Leipzig.

Chapter XVI: Leipzig 1905. Letter from AL to SZ in self-consciously jocular style. He
reports on a visit to a whorehouse where he meets, but does not sleep with, Esmeralda.
Further reflections on the history of music.

Chapter XVII: SZs reflections on Adrians (empty) relationship to sex and love. Tells
of his own affair with a coopers daughter.

Chapter XVIII: Adrian composes a tone poem, Meerleuchten, but no longer believes
in symphonic music, which which he compares to a root-canal operation (restoring a
dead tooth). Developing interest in polyphonic vocal music.

Chapter XIX: AL tracks down Esmeralda in Hungary and, despite her warning that she
has syphilis, sleeps with her. The two physicians he visits come to mysterious ends
before they can treat him: one dies suddenly, the other is arrested. The tone row h (=
B in the German notational system)-e-a-e-es (= E-flat) becomes a standard feature of
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his future compositions.

Chapter XX: Rdiger Schildknapp, scholar of English, translator, and poet, helps AL
with his opera, Loves Labors Lost. AL also composes Lieder based on texts from
Dante, Blake, and Verlaine.

Chapter XXI: SZs reflections on the war, fascism, barbarism, and the limits of his own
narrative possibilities. ALs trip to Basel with Kretzschmar to hear Meerleuchten
performed. Key reflexions on the nature of art. Lieder based on poems by Brentano.

Chapter XXII: ALs sister, Ursula, is married. Her 4th child will be the angelic Nepomuk
(also known as Echo). SZ seeks to combine the archaic with the revolutionary within
the strictest possible form. First mentions of a 12-tone system.

Chapter XXIII: Munich around 1910. The Rodde sisters, the seductive violinist Rudolf
Schwerdtfeger. AL and Schildknapp take a bike trip to Pfeiffering, meet the
Schweigestills, whose farm resembles Buchel (ALs parents farm).

Chapter XXIV: AL and Schildknapp go to Italy, SZ and wife visit.

Chapter XXV: AL and the devil make pact.

Chapter XXVI: SZ reflects on the various chronological levels of his narrative: the
historical time, the time of composition, and the time of its reading. Expectations of
the Normandy invasion. AL moves to Pfeiffering, SZ to Freising.

Chapter XXVII: Loves Labors Lost is finally finished and premiered in Lbeck.
Klopstocks Frhlingsfeier (Festival of Spring). AL reports on his bathysphere
adventures and exploration of the cosmos. Composition of the symphonic Wunder
des Alls.

Chapter XXVIII: Munich in 1913-14. Breisacher and von Riedesel. Cultural pessimism
and decay.

Chapter XXIX: Helmut Institoris is to marry Inez Rodde, who loves Rudi
Schwerdtfeger.

Chapter XXX: World War I. SZ serves briefly. Comparison of the two world wars. AL
untouched by events, composes Gesta Romanorum, played by marionettes (alluding
to Heinrich von Kleists On the Marionette-Theater, about the nature of
consciousness). In both politics and art: desire for a breakthrough.

Chapter XXXI: during WWI AL is taken care of by two women, Meta Nackdey and
Kunigunde Rosenstiel, in addition to Else Schweigestill. The story of Gregorious.
Discussion of ALs compositions. AL proposes a redeeming musical breakthrough that
will bring music to all the people, while SZ argues for an elitist appreciation.
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Chapter XXXII: Helmut Institoris and Inez Rodde marry and set up an exemplary
household. Simultaneously she has an on-going affair with Rudi Schwerdtfeger. SZ
serves as her confidant. Her mother moves to Pfeiffering.

Chapter XXXIII: 1944, Normandy invasion by the Allies. Bombing of German cities.
Nazis as barbarians. Munich in 1919: collapse, workers revolution. AL sick.
Andersens story of The Little Mermaid. Rudi Schwerdtfeger ingratiates himself
with AL, wants a violin concerto.

Chapter XXXIV: 1919: the collapse of the German state and of the era of bourgeois
humanism. AL reads mystics and works on Apocalipsis cum Figuris, based on
Drers woodcuts.

Continuation of XXXIV: debates in the apartment of Sixtus Kridwiss about the future of
culture. Proposal of a rebarbarizarion, precursor of Nazism.

Conclusion of XXXIV: aestheticism as precursor of barbarism. Apocalipsis cum
Figuris as the synthesis of the highest intellectualism and barbarism.

Chapter XXXV: Clarissa Rodde kills herself with poison. Inez, her affair with Rudi
over, joins a group of women who regularly take morphine.

Chapter XXXVI: Weimar Republic. Frau von Tolna, a rich Hungarian widow, is ALs
patron. He and Rudi spend 12 days in her castle in feudal circumstances. Rudi
performs ALs violin concerto in Vienna.

Chapter XXXVII: Saul Fitelberg, impresario, tries to recruit AL for the world of the
music business. A Polish Jew, he represents the larger world of culture and society,
especially in Paris. He offers to spread his magic cloak (a theme from the traditional
Faust story) and take AL out of his isolation. AL declines.

Chapter XXXVIII: Discussion of ALs violin concerto. Discussion at the home of the
industrialist Bullinger about serious, heavy music vs. light and sensual. How Rudi
Schwerdtfeger seduced AL.

Chapter XXXIX: Adrian avenges the seduction through an attraction to Marie
Godeau, who might possibly redeem him from his isolation.

Chapter XL: AL, Rudi, Schildknapp, SZ, Helene, Marie and an aunt make an excursion
in the environs of Munich. A discussion about Ludwig II (Mad Ludwig).

Chapter XLI: AL asks Rudi to speak for him with Marie and convey his proposal of
marriage to her. Rudi is himself attracted to her but agrees. The last time that AL and
Rudi see each other.

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Chapter XLII: Rudi carries ALs message to Marie but then speaks for himself (perhaps
AL intended this all along). Marie and Rudi become engaged and plan to move to
Paris. He gives a farewell concert, but after that, in a trolley car, with SZ as a witness,
Inez Institorus shoots him out of jealousy.

Chapter XLIII: Reflections on Germanys descent, but SZs continued love for his
country. AL suffers physically and spiritually. His father and Max Schweigestill die.
Now ALs creative powers return with the composition of chamber pieces and the
concept for the Lament of Dr. Faustus.

Chapter XLIV: Nepomuk (Echo) Schneidewein, ALs angelic 5-year-old nephew, visits.
Chapter XLV: Echo dies of meningitis. AL holds himself responsible and curses the
devil.

Chapter XLVI: April 1945. Germanys collapse approaching. The battle of Berlin.
Buchenwald. Is Nazism a perverted form of the national character? Composition of the
Lamentation of Dr. Faustus, a kind of anti-Beethovens 9th (Ode to Sorrow). Using
the 12-tone system, rigorously organized yet also expressive. Perhaps a possibility of
hope in its hopelessness, a transcendence of despair?

Chapter XLVII: 1930: AL assembles his friends and confesses all. Collapses at the
piano.

Epilogue: Reflections on Germany, from which SZ feels estranged. Plan to send his
manuscript to America to be translated and published there. SZ questions his own
actions. Story of AL return to Buchel with his mother and his death in 1940.



CHRONOLOGY OF ADRIAN LEVERKHNS LIFE:

1885 Born at Oberweiler, near Weienfels in Saxony.
1895 Lodges with uncle in Kaisersaschern while attending grammar school.
1899 Starts music lessons with Wendel Kretzschmar.
1903 Study of theology at Halle University.
1905-10 Study of composition at Leipzig. Contracts syphilis. [Works: Meerleuchten
(ocean lights, orchestral piece in the manner of Debussy); Lieder from Verlaine and
Blake; Brentano song-cycle. Dante settings.]
1910 Moves to Munich. Lodges with the Rodde family. [Works: begins Loves Labors
Lost].
1911 Stay in Italy (Rome and Palestrina) with Rdiger Schildknapp. Dialogue with the
devil.
1912 Return to Germany. Residence at Schweigestills farm in Pfeiffering, near Munich.
[completes LovesLabors Lost].
1913 [Works: Songs of Blake and Keats. Frhlingsfeier (Festival of Spring) for baritone,
organ and string orchestra.
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1914 [Works: Wonders of the Universe, fantasia for orchestra in one movement; Gesta
Romanorum, opera for puppets]
1919 [Work: Apocalipsis cum figuris, oratorio]
1924 Visits Tolna Castle in Hungary with Rudi Schwerdtfeger. [Work: Violin concerto]
1925 Proposes marriage to Marie Godeau (via Rudi Schwerdtfeger).
1927 [Works: Music for strings, woodwind and piano; String quartet; Trio for violin,
viola and cello]
1928 Visit and death of his nephew Nepomuk (Echo) [Works: Ariels Songs from The
Tempest; The Lamentation of Dr. Faustus, choral symphony.
1930 Mental collapse. Taken back by mother to the family farm.
1940 Death.


SOME OF THE REFERENCES, ETC., IN THOMAS MANNS DOKTOR FAUSTUS
(PAGE NUMBERS REFER TO THE TRANSLATION BY JOHN E. WOODS, VIKING
EDITION)

Prelude
Dantes Inferno: Canto II
Translation (http://www.everypoet.com/archive/poetry/dante/dante_i_02.htm):

Day was departing, and the embrowned air
Released the animals that are on earth
From their fatigues; and I the only one
Made myself ready to sustain the war,
Both of the way and likewise of the woe,
Which memory that errs not shall retrace.
O Muses, O high genius, now assist me!
O memory, that didst write down what I saw,
Here thy nobility shall be manifest!

Chapter I
p. 6: conjuratus = [Latin] sworn member (here: someone who knows Latin)
Johann Reuchlin (1455-1522) = German Humanist.

Letters of the Obscure Men = satirical pamphlet (1515-17) by the Humanistis Crotus
Rubeanus (1480-[after] 1509) and Ulrich von Hutten (1488-1523). Humanism was a
Renaissance cultural movement that turned back toward Greek and Roman thought
while stressing human, as opposed to divine, matters.
divinis inflexibus ex alto = with divine influences from above
necrosis = death of most or all cells of an organ

p. 7 Gesta Romanorum = [Latin] a popular collection of anecdotes (late 13
th
century)
The Revelation of St. John the Divine, the last book the New Testament, also known as
the Apocalypse. It is also a basis for one of Adrian Leverkhns last works, an oratorio,
Apocalipsis cum figuris (Apocalypse with Pictures), the title of a series of woodcuts
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by Albrecht Drer (1471-1528) see:
http://kunst.gymszbad.de/kunstgeschichte/motivgeschichte/apokalypse/duerer/apokalyp
se.htm
or
http://www.lessing-
photo.com/search.asp?a=1&kc=202020209041&kw=REVELATION%2C+DUERER&
p=1&ipp=6

Chapter II
p. 9 Kaisersaschern = the name of a fictitious town. The name suggests Emperors
Ashes; the town is, according to the novel, the site of Otto IIIs grave.
Saale = a river on which the university town of Halle is also located.
Meister = [German] maestro

p. 10 Jovis alma parens - [Latin] God as a nourishing parent

p. 11 bonae litterae = ([Latin] literally, 'good letters'). Fine literature.
polis = Greek city-state

p. 12 Eubouleus = In Greek mythology, a human form of Pluto, the god of the
underworld. This section refers to the Eleusian Mysteries.

p. 16 locos parallelos = [Latin] parallel places

p. 19 Demiurge = a deity responsible for the creation of the Universe.

p. 21 phantasmagoria = a sequence of real or imagined images

Chapter V
p. 36 ingenium = [Latin] innate or natural quality; disposition, inclination

p. 41 Volk = [German] (national) people, populace, folk

Chapter VI
p. 39 nunc stans = [Latin] the everlasting now (an eternal instant that has no temporality)
St. Vituss dance = Syndenhams chorea (a nervous disorder, once thought to be caused
by evil spirits)

Chapter VIII
p. 55: Beethoven's Piano Sonata 32 in C minor, opus 111 (pp. 56- 60) has, as
Kretzschmar points out, only two movements. You can hear them both at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piano_Sonata_No._32_(Beethoven) (scroll down to the
"Media" section).
There are lots of YouTube sites with just the first movement. An interesting one has
Sviatoslav Richter: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBFphuxUlQA
See also a master class presentation by Andras Schiff that might give a small
8
impression of what Kretzschmar is doing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wk-iqxqixhY&feature=related

p. 57 plus ultra = [Latin] further beyond; the extreme or perfect point

p. 58 adagio molto semplice e cantabile = [(Italian) musical notation] very slow, simple
and songlike
fioritue = flowery ([Italian] musical) ornaments

p. 59 meadow-land. Thomas Mann based Kretzschmar's lecture on a demonstration that
the sociologist/philosopher/musicologist Theodor W. Adorno (1903-1969) gave during
a dinner party at Mann's house in Pacific Palisades. When Kretzschmar describes the
D-G-G motif, he substitutes some words and phrases for the notes, including "meadow-
land". That is John Woods's translation of "Wiesengrund," which also happens to be
Adorno's middle name.

p. 61 allegro fugato = [(Italian) musical notation] quick, lively, in the manner of a fugue

p. 62 Missa = [Latin] mass
Could ye not watch with me one hour? Matthew 26:40 (English Standard Version):
And He came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And He said to Peter, So,
could you not watch with me one hour?

p. 64 a cappella = [Italian] without instrumental accompaniment

p. 68 Kundry = name of a figure from Wagners opera, Parzival.

p. 69 per se = [Latin] by or in itself or themselves; intrinsically

p. 71 Anabaptists a radical Protestant sect that began at the time of the Reformation.
They maintained that only adults should be baptized. For information on Ephrata and
Johann Conrad Beissel, see http://www.cob-net.org/cloister.htm

Chapter IX
p. 84 cantilena = [Italian] a lyrical melody in a composition

p. 87 Imitatio dei = [Latin] imitating God. The religious concept of finding virtue by
imitating God.

Chapter X
p. 91 sacrificium intellectus = [Latin] sacrifice of the intellect (to faith)
Polyhymnia = the Greek Muse of sacred poetry

p. 92 Vale = [Latin] farewell

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p. 94 De Civitate Dei = [Latin] City of God, written in the early 5
th
century, St.
Augustines book presents a Christian philosophy of history.

Chapter XII
p. 102: see a copy of Drers Melancholia and a detail with the magic square at the end
of this document, pp. 20-21.

p. 103 Auts pha = [Greek] he (the master) said it
entelechy = realization of form

p. 106 Si Diabolus non esset mendax et homicida = [Latin] if the devil were not a liar and
murderer
Dicis et non facis = [Latin] you who speak but do not act on your words

p. 107 Gaudeaumus Igitur = [Latin] title of a student drinking song
Apage! = away with you!

Chapter XIII
p. 108 venia legendi = [Latin] habilitation (an academic rank that is a prerequisite for a
teaching position at a German university)

p. 112 Flagellum Haereticorum Fascinariorum, [Latin] by Nicholas Jacquier (written
1458, published 1581), defined witchcraft as a new heresy.
illusiones daemonum = [Latin] devilish illusions

p. 114 instrumentum = [Latin] instrument, means

p. 115 [Latin] femina (= woman) / fides (= loyalty) / minus

p. 117 specificum = [Latin] remedy

Chapter XIV
p. 123 in corpore = [Latin] as a body

p. 126 quod demonstramus = [Latin] which we are proving

Chapter XV
p. 141 prima materia = [Latin] the original, basic material (term in alchemy)
magisterium = [Latin] the philosophers stone
o homo fuge = [Latin] O man, fly (away)!

Chapter XVI
p. 148 The Purification = Candlemas (festival on February 2 to commemorate the
purification of the Virgin Mary)

p. 149 cenrum musicae = [Latin] musical center
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punctum contra punctum = [Latin] counterpoint
amicus = [Latin] friend

p. 150 Gradus ad Parnassum by Fux = [Latin] a manual written in Latin in 1725 to teach
counterpoint; by Johann Joseph Fux (1660-1741)
in praxi = [Latin] in practice, in ordinary usage
per aversionem = [Latin] completely, totally
zelo virtutis = [Latin] manly zeal
Vale. Iam satis est = [Latin] Farewell. I am satisfied

p. 152 Freischtz = 1821 opera by Karl Maria von Weber (1786-1826)
ars metrificandi = [Latin] the art of writing verse

p. 153 Jespre vous voir. = [French] I hope to see you this evening, but this moment
is capable of causing me to go mad

Chapter XVIII
p. 160 particella = [Italian] a score with full solo or vocal parts, but with the orchestral
parts written just for piano.

p. 161 H-E-A-E-Es = [German musical notation for the notes B-E-A-E-E-flat]

Chapter XX
p. 171 for a synopsis of Loves Labours Lost, see
http://www.mcgoodwin.net/pages/otherbooks/ws_loveslaborslost.html

pp. 176f Schaffgosch Quartet; Lautensack; Bermeter = [fictitious names]

Chapter XXI
p. 184 to play va banque = [French] to bet all ones chips

p. 185 Lebensraum = [German] room to live = term employed by the Nazis to justify
the seizing of land to the East

p. 189 Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643), Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583-1643), Giacomo
Carissimi (1605-1674), Dietrich Buxtehude (1637-1707)
musica reservata = a kind of 17
th
-century polyphonic music that emphasized emotional
expression

p. 190 Herr Ansermet = Ernest Ansermet (1883-1969), founder of LOrchestre de la
Suisse Romande

p. 191 corno di bassetto = [(Italian) an old wind instrument, similar to a clarinet]

pp. 194ff Clemens Brentano (1778-1842), romantic poet.

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p. 196 Schott in Mainz = [a famous music publisher]
Volkmar Andrea (1879-1962), Swiss conductor and composer

Chapter XXII
pp. 205ff strict style To learn more about Schnbergs 12-tone system:
www.nytimes.com/2007/10/14/arts/music/14tomm.html
http://www.schoenbergmusic.com/videos/arnold-schoenbergs-twelve-tone-method.htm
http://library.thinkquest.org/27110/noframes/periods/twelvetone.html
B-E-A-E-E-flat [see p. 161]

Chapter XXIII
p. 209 Harmonium = a small, free-standing organ powered by foot pedals

p. 215 bel tage = [French] the second story of a building, containing the most expensive
apartments

p. 216 sit venia verbo = [Latin] please excuse the expression

p. 217 Victory Gate = Siegestor = the victory arch that marks the southern edge of
Schwabing, Munichs traditional bohemian quarter

Chapter XXIV
p. 227 Melone = [German] melon

p. 228 lavvocato = [Italian] lawyer
campagna = [Italian] countryside
questuomo = [Italian] this man
distinti forestieri = [Italian] distinguished guests
libero pensatore = [Italian] free thinker; free spirit

p. 229
governo = [Italian] government
fa sangue il vino = [Italian] the wine makes blood

p. 231 melisma = [Italian] singing a single syllable while moving through a succession of
notes

p. 234 bevi! = [Italian] drink!

Chapter XXV
p. 238 in eremo = in the hermitage

p. 239 poveretto = [Italian] poor thing
pranzo = [Italian] lunch
Kierkegaard and Mozarts Don Juan. In Either / Or, Sren Kierkegaard (1813-1855)
maintains that Don Giovanni leads an aesthetic existence, living for the immediate
12
satisfaction of his senses. He lacks the ability to reflect, which is characteristic of the
spirit (or: intellect [Geist]), and hence he has no inner life, no subject. Kierkegaard
sees music as the best way to express such an aesthetic existence, since both are pure
experience, existing only in the present.

p. 242 Dicis et non facis = [Latin] you who speak but do not act on your words
Dicis et non es = [Latin] you who speak but do not exist

p. 243 carcer = [Latin] prison
exitium = [Latin] destruction, ruin
confutatio = [Latin] something that confutes, proves false
pernicies = [Latin] pest, bane, curse, disaster
condemnatio = ([Latin] in Roman law) that which gives the judge the authority to
condemn

p. 245 respice finem = [Latin] look to the end

p. 246 Andersens little mermaid = the novels first mention of Hans Christian
Andersen's fairy tale of "The Little Mermaid." You can find the story at:
http://hca.gilead.org.il/li_merma.html

p. 247 spirochaeta pallida = [Latin] spiral-shaped bacteria (including those that cause
syphilis)
Flagellum Haereticorum Fascinariorum, by Nicholas Jacquier ([Latin] written 1458,
published 1581), defined witchcraft as a new heresy.
fascinarii = [Latin] to cast a spell on

p. 248 faunus ficarius = [Latin] a kind of faun (a type of lustful Roman god)

p. 249 The Philosopher, De anima = [(Latin) The original Greek title: "#$% &'()*]
Aristotle and his treatise on living things
Malleus = Malleus Maleficarum = [Latin] The Hammer of Witches, a treatise written
in 1486 by Heinrich Kramer, who sets out to refute all arguments against the existence
of witches and to aid magistrates in identifying them.

p. 250 provocatio = [Latin] a citation before a higher tribunal
sine pudore = [Latin] without shame, without offense to modesty

p. 252 Si Diabolus non esset mendax et homicida = [Latin] if the devil were not a liar and
murderer
ingenium = [Latin] innate character or talent
non datur = [Latin] it is not given

p. 253 meilleur = [French] best

259 salva venia = [Latin] with your indulgence, if youll pardon my language
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lgrment = [French] lightly

p. 260 pernicies = [Latin] pest, bane, curse, disaster
confutatio = [Latin] something that confutes, proves false

p. 262 attritio cordis = [Latin] abrasion, suffering of the heart
contritio = [Latin] repentance

p. 263 figuris, characteribus, and incantationibus = [Latin] image, characterization, and
enchantment = the three forms of conjuration

p. 264 ab dato recessi = [Latin] from today

p. 265 giornali = [Italian] journals

Chapter XXVI
p. 270 semper idem = [Latin] always the same

Chapter XXVII
p. 280 Festival of Spring (Die Frhlingsfeier), written in 1759, is the best-known poem
by Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock (1724-1803). Its description of a powerful
thunderstorm was famously alluded to in Goethes Sufferings of Young Werther (1774).

p. 288 une fleur du mal = [French] allusion to Les Fleurs du Mal (Flowers of Evil), the
1857 collection of poems by Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867)
Homo Dei = [Latin] man as Gods creation

p. 289 Hermann von Helmholtz (1821-1894), physicist

Chapter XXVIII
p. 292 chaconne = [Italian] a form of dance music in slow triple time
sarabande = [Italian] another, stately form of dance in triple time
plaisir damour = [French] the pleasures of love, a classical French love song
Attilio Malachia Ariosti (1666 1729), Italian composer
viola di bordone = [Italian] a kind of viola da gamba

p. 294 Zeitgeist = [German] spirit of the time

Chapter XXX
p. 316 la guerre, quel grand malheur = [French] war, what a great misfortune

p. 320 Jen ai assez jusqu la fin de mes jours = [French] Ive had enough to last till the
end of my days

p 322 Gesta Romanorum, a Latin collection of anecdotes and tales, compiled around
1300
14

p. 323 Pierre Monteux (1875-1964), conductor

p. 324 sotto voce = [Italian] spoken quietly, not to be overheard

p. 325 allusion to ber das Marionettentheater (On the Marionette-Theater), written by
Heinrich von Kleist (1777-1811) in 1810. The essay interprets the Fall from Paradise as
the acquisition of consciousness and posits a theoretically possible breakthrough
return to a state of grace.

Chapter XXXI
p. 327 mchant = [French] wicked, vicious

p. 333 Decameron = a collection of novellas by Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375)

p. 334 pice de rsistance = [French] the most notable part

p. 337 sacerdotal = priestly

Chapter XXXII
P 345 comme il faut = [French] correctly, as it should be
Leopold von Ranke (17951886), Ferdinand Gregorovius (1821-1891), German
historians

p. 346 une jeune fille accomplie = [French] an accomplished girl

Chapter XXXIII
p. 357 la gloire = [French] glory

p. 362 little mermaid see p. 246
Bertel Thorvaldsen (1768-1844), Danish sculptor, creator of the little mermaid
sculpture in the Copenhagen harbor

p. 367 Manuel de Falla (1876-1946), Spanish composer

p. 369 Frederick Delius (1863-1934), Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953), composers
(including of violin concertos)
allegro molto = [Italian] in very brisk tempo
adagio = [Italian] in slow tempo

Chapter XXXIV
p. 373 like John the Martyr in his cauldron of oil. St. John the Evangelist was martyred
in boiling oil, pictured in Drers series of woodcuts, Apocalipsis cum figuris
(Apocalypse with Pictures) see picture at the end of this document, p. 23.

15
p. 375 filia hospitalis = [Latin] innkeepers daughter; in student slang, a servant girl in
a student boarding house
Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum ([Latin] Ecclesiastical History of the English
People), written by Bede around 731

p. 376 Ezekiel = a prophet,whose preachings are recorded in the Book of Ezekiel in the
Hebrew Bible

p. 383 Daniel zur Hhe, his Proclamations, with its Christus Imperator Maximus, is
fictional character who had already appeared in Thomas Manns short story Beim
Propheten (At the Prophets), written 1904. He is based on the Catholic mystic
Ludwig Derleth (1870-1948), who wrote a work entitled Proklamationen in 1904.

p. 385 Georges Sorel (1847-1922), a French revolutionary syndicalist, wrote Rflexions
sur la violence (Reflexions on Violence) in 1908.

p. 386 sacrificium intellectus = [Latin] sacrifice of the intellect (to faith)

p. 394 glissando = a continuous slide between two notes
Barabbas was a criminal who was condemned to die at the same time as Christ. When
Pontius Pilate offered to spare one of them crucifixion, the crowd shouted out its
choice, Barrabas! This cry forms a dramatic part of Bachs St. Matthew Passion.

p. 396 Otto Klemperer (1885-1973) conductor

p. 397 fortissimo tutti = a passage performed loudly by all the voices and instruments
together

Chapter XXXV
p. 400 cidevant = [French] former

p. 401 boche = French pejorative for German

p. 402 entrevue = [French] meeting, interview

p. 404 Je taime. Une fois je tai tromp, mais je taime. = [French] I love you. I
cheated on you once, but I love you.
dsol = [French] sorry; disconsolate
et maintenant comme a = [French] and now it is like this

Chapter XXXVI
p. 408 sans-culottism = an extreme revolutionary movement (the sans-culottes [without
breeches] were a lower-class radical group in the French Revolution that embraced the
Terror)

p. 409 Bruno Walter (1876-1962), conductor
16

p. 411 Meister = [German] maestro

Chapter XXXVII
p. 418 Arrangements musicaux. Reprsentant de nombreux artistes prominents =
[French] Organisation of musical events. Representative of numerous prominent atists.

p. 419 Cher Matre Monsieur le professeur = [French] My dear Maestro, how happy,
how moved I am to meet you! Even for someone as spoiled, as jaded as I, it is a moving
experience to meet a great man. Im delighted, Professor.
Vous maudirez lintrus de manque = [French] You will execrate my intrusion, dear
Mr. Leverkhn, but to me, being already in Munich, it was impossible to avoid
Du rest, je suis convaincu = [French] Further, I am convinced
Mais aprs tout = [French] But after all
Matre Mais oui, certainement merci, mille fois merci = [French] Maestro but
indeed, certainly, thanks, a thousand times thanks

p. 420 et puis charment! = [French] And then this house, so full of dignity, with its
so maternal and capable hostess, Madame Schweigestill. But that [the name
Schweigestill] means, I know how to be silent. Silence, silence! How charming that
is!
Cest tonant = [French] its astonishing
Figurez-vous = [French] imagine
ridiculement exagre = [French] ridiculously exaggerated
Cest la vrit pure, simple et irrfutable = [French] it is the pure, simple, and irrefutable
truth
A qui le dis-je? Au commencement tait le scandale = [French] But to whom am I saying
this? At the beginning there was the scandal [Refers to the premiere in Paris of
Stravinskys Rite of Spring in 1913]
la longue = [French] over time
vis--vis = [French] face to face (i.e. the person Im talking to)
un creux, une petite caverne = [French] a hollow, a small cave
nomm Thtre des fourberies gracieuses = [French] called the Theater of the Graceful
Deceptions

p. 421 je vous assure = [French] I assure you
Ah, madame, oh, madame, que pensez-vous, madame, on me dit, madame, que vous tes
fanatique de musique? = [French] Ah, Madam, oh, Madam, what do you think, I am
told that you are fanatic about music?
enfin = [French] finally
jy trouve ma satisfaction et mes dlices = [French] I find my satisfaction and delight
et nous nous rencontrons dans ce dsir = [French] and we meet each other in this desire
qui fournit le sujet = [French] this topic offers
Insulte! Impudence! Bouffonnerie ignomineuse! = [French] Insult! Impudence!
Ignomious buffoonery!
Erik Satie (1866-1925), Virgil Thomson (1896-1989), avant-garde composers
17
Quelle prcision! Quel esprit! Cest divin! Cest suprme! = [French] What precision!
What ingeniousness! It is divine! It is supreme!

p. 422 un boche qui par son gnie appartient au mond et qui marche la tte du progrs
musical = [French] a Kraut who through his genius belongs to the world and marches at
the head of progress
Ah, a cest bien allemand, par example! = [French] Oh, that is so very German, for
example!
Et que vous enchanez votre art dans un systme de rgles inexorables et noclassiques =
[French] And how you subject your art to a system of inexorable and neoclassical rules
grossiret = [French] roughness
en effet, entre nous = [French] indeed, between you and me
Non, jen suis sr = [French] No, Im sure of it
Cest boche dans un degr fascinant = [French] It is Kraut to a fascinating degree
normment caractristique = [French] enormously characteristic

p. 423 ce cosmopolitisme gnreux et versatile = [French] this generous and versatile
cosmopolitanism
Cher Matre, je vous comprends demi mot = [French] Dear Maestro, I understand you,
even if you do not express it clearly
Mais cest dommage, pourtant = [French] But it is a pity nevertheless
particulirement Paris = [French] especially in Paris
Tout le mond sait, madame, que votre jugement musical es infaillible = [French]
Everyone knows, Madam, that your musical judgment is infallible

p. 424 Dites-moi donc = [French] Tell me then
sverit = [French] severity; gravitas
un tat dme solennel et un peu gauche = [French] a solemn and somewhat awkward
emotional state
ce refuge trange et rmitique = [French] this strange and hermitic refuge
demi-fous excentriques = [French] half-crazy eccentrics
une espce dinfirmier, voil! = [French] a kind of nurse, there you have it!
dans quelle manire tout fait maladroite = [French] in such a clumsy fashion

p. 425 destin / destines = [French] fate; destiny
pnible = [French] hard; painful
anantissement = [French] annihilation
le dernier ennui = [French] the most extreme boredom
avec quelque raison = [French] with some justification
qui sont simplement stupfiants = [French] which are simply stupifying
Tout cela est un peu embarrassant, nest-ce pas? Une confusion tragique = [French]
Thats all a bit embarrassing, is it not? A tragic confusion.

P. 426 A la bonne heure = [French] as is right
18
Karl von Piloty (1826-1886) and Hans Makart (1840-1884) were popular painters of
elaborate historical and exotic themes. Makart-bouquets were a popular form of
dried-flower arrangement.
Ah, ah, comme cest mlancolique, tout a! = [French] oh, how sad it all is!
sincrement = [French] sincerely
pour saluer un grand homme = [French] to salute a great man
rpugnance = [French] repugnance
en psychologue = [French] as a psychologist
valse brillante = [French] brilliant waltz (title of Chopins opus 18)

p. 427 volkstmlich = popular; of the people
que est essentiellement anti-smitique = [French] which is essentially anti-Semitic
pour prendre cong = [French] to take my leave
une marguerite = [French] [a kind of] daisy; also the French form of the name Margarete
(Gretchen), the heroine of Goethes drama Faust. Charles Gounods opera, Faust
(1859), is loosely based on Part 1 of Goethes drama. In one scene,
Marguerite/Margarete plucks petals from a flower, presumably a daisy, playing he-
loves-me-he-loves-me-not. Jules Massenets opera, Werther (1892), was loosely based
on Goethes novel The Sufferings of Young Werther (1774)
Laisse-moi, laisse-moi contempler [ton visage] = [French] a quotation from Gounods
Faust: Let me, let me contemplate [your face]
lui aussi = [French] he, too
Comme cest respectable! Pas prcisment humain, mais extrmement respectable =
[French] How respectable that is. Not exactly human, but extremely respectable

p. 428 une analogie frappante = [French] a striking analogy
nom de guerre = [French] an assumed name under which one engages in an activity such
as war
je vous le jure = [French] I assure you
mdiateur = [French] mediator
Mais cest en vain. Et cest trs dommage = [French] But it is in vain. And that is a great
pity.
jetais enchant. Jai manqu ma mission = [French] I was enchanted. I have failed in my
mission
Mes respects, Monsieur le professeur. Vous mavez assit trop peu, mais je ne vous en
veux pas. Mille choses Madame Schwei-ge-still,. Adieu, adieu = [French] My
respects, Professor. You have assisted me too little, but I am not angry with you. A
thousend greetings to Madam Schwiegestill. Farewell, farewell

Chapter XXXVIII
p. 430 andante amoroso = [Italian] somewhat slow, in a tender manner
parlando = [Italian] expressive, done in the manner of speech
Charles Auguste de Briot (1802-1870), Henri Vieuxtemps (1820-1881), Henryk
Wienawski (1835-1880) violin virtuosi

19
p. 431 bel tage = [French] the second story of a building, containing the most expensive
apartments

p. 432 Pflzer = [German] from the Palatinate

p. 433 mon coeur souvre ta voix = [French] my heart opens itself up to your voice

Chapter XXXIX
p. 437 Paul Sacher (1906-1999), conductor

Chapter XL
p. 445 Linderhof Castle, built by King Ludwig II of Bavaria (Ludwig the Mad) near
Oberammergau between 1863 and 1886.

Chapter XLVII
p. 523 figuris, characteribus, formis coniurationum = [Latin] image, characterization,
forms of conjuration (see p. 263

p. 524 nigromantia, carmina, incantatio, veneficium = [Latin] black art, magical songs,
augury, mixing of poisons
20

VARIOUS ILLUSTRATIONS



Drers Melancholia
21


Detail from Drers Melancholia the magic square. Any four numbers in a straight
line add up to 34.

22

Drers Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse from Apocalipsis cum figuris
23


Drers The Martyrdom of St. John from Apocalipsis cum figuris