J. W. von Goethe’s Ideas of Natural Philosophy in N. K. Medtner’s Virtual Vocal Cycle

The study aims to substantiate that the commonality of themes and the features of the tonal scheme of three songs by N. K. Medtner based on J. W. von Goethe’s poems “In Passing by”, “Found”, “The Violet”, united by the ideas of natural philosophy, suggest the possibility of mentally combining them into a single cyclic work with three parts – a virtual vocal cycle. The paper presents the idea of Goethe’s natural philosophy about the problem of the relationship between man and nature, reflected in his poetic works; analyses the musical content of three songs by N. K. Medtner based on J. W. von Goethe’s poems “In Passing by”, “Found”, “The Violet”. The scientific novelty of the study lies in determining the musical means of combining three songs by N. K. Medtner based on J. W. von Goethe’s poems “In Passing by”, “Found”, “The Violet”. As a result, it has been proved that Goethe symbolically depicts the problem of the relationship between man and nature in his poems in three versions – positive, neutral and dismissive; the integrity of the virtual cycle proposed by us is ensured not only by the tonal scheme, but also by the plot logic of Goethe’s poems.