Open Access

Anna Teresa Macías García

• El papel de los instrumentos musicales en la obra de Johann Wolfgang von Goethe todavía no ha sido estudiando en profundidad por la Germanística. El presente Trabajo de Grado se ha centra en la presencia y función del arpa y arpa eólica en la obra literaria de este autor; Anna Teresa Macías García plantea la hipótesis de que actúan como motivos literarios y por ello presentan un significado concreto. Éste podría ser heredado de la tradición literaria anterior o bien personal, es decir, propio del autor: las experiencias de Goethe con estos instrumentos a lo largo de su vida habrían ejercido una influencia determinada en el significado personal de estos instrumentos en su obra literaria.
• Two hypotheses were set for this work: the role of the harp and Aeolian harp as literary motifs in the oeuvre of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and their concrete meanings. These would be either inherited from the literary tradition or personal. The two aims of this work were the confirmation of both hypotheses and the identification of the different kinds of harps that Goethe knew throughout his life. The meaning of the harp as motif is almost always inherited from the literary tradition; it can also work as a metonymy of poetry. Goethe met some of the most famous harpists of his time; most of them played single-action harps. He was also familiar with the phenomenon of the wandering harpists, who used hook-harps. These personal experiences led to a personal meaning of this instrument in some of his literary works, such as the character of the harpist in Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre. The most original meaning of the harp can be found in two fantastic tales: Märchen and Der neue Paris, where this instrument works as attribute of fantastic creatures that show positive features. The Aeolian harp always works as a literary motif in Goethe’s oeuvre and has several meanings: the spiritual world in Faust, the musicality of Serbian folksongs in “Über serbische Lieder”, or the spiritual union and sensitiveness of the human soul in Äolsharfen. Therefore, the different meanings of the harp and Aeolian harp in Goethe’s work practically vary from work to work: some are inherited from the literary tradition and others are personal of the author. It is precisely in this diversity of meanings where the richness of these literary motifs is based.