Intertextualität als Weltanschauung und Ästhetik des Epigonalen

Hardly any other body of work could be expected to reveal such a wealth of hidden compositional, intellectual, philosophical and ideological depths as that of the turn-of-the-century pianist, pupil of Liszt, and once-famous Beet-hoven performer and ‘mystic’ Conrad Ansorge (1862-1930). Each individual work opens up intertextual ‘chasms’ which led to digressions into the history of ideas. The central theme, Ansorge’s musically and intertextually generated philosophy of life, is the eternal principle of the ‘cosmogonoic Eros’ which can be traced in three ways: through the Eros philosophy of Stefan George and the ‘Cosmic Circle’, through (Indian) theosophy, and finally through Orphism, the ancient Greek underground religion. Musically Ansorge’s references span the ‘mystic triangle’ of Beethoven-Brahms-Liszt. These references, often concealed in deep structures, form a network which binds the whole work with ist own dynamics – behind it all is a plea for a sovereign and elite aesthetic of mimesis. Ansorge’s instructive and precise ‘Communications’ anticipate insights which would only be verified by musicology in the late 20th century, and shed new light on some works of the three ‘masters’.