Hermann Hesse’s relationship to music is as many-faceted as the man and poet himself, and cannot be reduced to a common denominator. Even today, it is the topic of numerous essays, articles, and entire dissertations. Thus, only selected aspects of Hesse’s ideas on music can be discussed here: I. Hesse’s Musical Influences; II. Hesse’s Poetry as Musical Expression; III. Musical Forms in Hesse’s Prose Works; IV. Hesse’s Opinions on Music; and - an extended summary - V. Hesse’s Musical Development.

I. Hesse’s Musical Influences

This statement of Hesse’s suggests that he never progressed musically beyond the dilettantism of Hausmusik. The question is not that simple. Hesse’s fundamentally verbal talents were linked even in early life with a highly developed sense for the language of music, which he inherited from his mother and her family, especially from his grandfather, Dr. Hermann Gundert (1814-93), the noted philologist, lexicographer, and expert on Indian culture and Sanskrit. Gundert not only knew numerous languages of India and Europe, but also composed over 200 hymns, mainly in the Malayalam language, including the instrumental accompaniments. Hesse’s mother, Marie, who wrote remarkable religious poetry, enjoyed singing and playing music with her family frequently. Both of Marie’s sons from her first marriage were fine singers and first acquainted Hermann with the songs of Schubert and Schumann. One half-brother, Theodor Isenberg, in fact, strove to become an opera singer before he became a pharmacist. Hesse’s uncle, Friedrich Gundert, who directed the association of church choirs in Calw, made a lasting impression with performances of the great classical oratorios, in particular J. S. Bach’s Passions according to St. John and St. Matthew. Hesse corresponded with his nephew, Carlo Isenberg, a philologist, musician, and musicologist, on musical matters, and consulted him while preparing to write Das Glasperlenspiel (The Glass Bead Game), in which Isenberg’s name appears in Latinized form as “Carlo Ferromonte” (HM 159-60).