The inability fully to come to grips with the novel’s
musical code can hardly be attributed to the failings of any particular
commentator. The reasons for such failure are rather to be sought in factors of
a historical and cultural sort. Mann’s novel inhabits a cultural sphere that is
much farther removed from the world we inhabit than is suggested by the time
lapse since it’s publication of four score years ago. Classical music, to take
an obvious example , no longer occupies the elevated place it enjoyed in the world of Thomas Mann,
who came to think of himself as the
literary heir not only of Nietzsche but
also of Richard Wagner, and who could count on contemporary readers to decode
without difficulty the musical subtext
of his work. Today , in Europe and to an even greater degree in America,
cultural literacy no longer requires a familiarity with the canon of Western
music. Today, in America, talk of the decline of classical music is everywhere.
“Politically suspect”
Music on the Magic
Mountain
Hans Rudolf Vaget
