Moritz Kelber, Franz Körndle, Alanna Ropchock Tierno, Sascha Wegner (Hrsg. / eds.): Musik und Reformation im deutschen Sprachraum. Klangräume, Repertoires, Jubiläen (Music and Reformation in German Speaking Lands: Soundscapes, Repertoires, Jubilees), München, 2021
Im Zentrum der Studie steht die Verwendung des Chorals protestantischer Provenienz als kompositor... more Im Zentrum der Studie steht die Verwendung des Chorals protestantischer Provenienz als kompositorisches Idiom in der Symphonik des 19. Jahrhunderts mit besonderer Berücksichtigung der Finalgestaltung. Anhand der "Reformationssymphonie" von Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy und der Religions- und Kulturpolitik in Preussen in der ersten Hälfte des 19. Jahrhunderts werden einige Eigentümlichkeiten in der noch ungeschriebenen Geschichte des symphonischen Chorals beleuchtet. Jene schlichten Melodien, unisono oder im Kantionalsatz, erhalten als musikalisches Erbe der Reformation im 19. Jahrhundert eine fundamentale Bedeutung für die Musik auch außerhalb des Kirchenraums. Vor dem Hintergrund der gleichzeitigen ästhetischen Erhöhung der Instrumentalmusik am Ende des Jahrhunderts markieren die strukturellen Eigenheiten in der Faktur des Chorals als distinktes kompositorisches Idiom somit auch den Übergang vom Liturgischen und Geistlichen hin zum Charakteristischen und Programmatischen.
The study focuses on the use of the chorale of Protestant provenance as a compositional idiom in 19th century symphonic music, with special attention to the design of finale. With reference to the "Reformation Symphony" by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy and the religious and cultural politics in Prussia in the first half of the 19th century, some peculiarities in the still unwritten history of the symphonic chorale are illuminated. Those simple melodies, in unison or four-part setting, are given fundamental importance for music outside the church as well, as a musical legacy of the Reformation in the 19th century. Against the background of the simultaneous aesthetic elevation of instrumental music at the end of the century, the peculiarities in the structure of the chorale as a distinct compositional style thus also mark the transition from the liturgical and sacred to the characteristic and programmatic idiom.
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Papers by Sascha Wegner
While the significance of the prophet Samuel from the perspective of religious history and theology has been widely discussed, the present contribution raises the question of what traces Samuel and the stories around him left behind in the history of music. The challenge is to draw a dividing line between his character and the much more prominent David or Saul in the books of Samuel, which is sometimes problematic. In addition to basic remarks on the methodology of a music-historical search for traces of Samuel, a number of examples from recent musical reception will be presented, which illustrate both differences and similarities to the older European art-musical tradition in dealing with Samuel and his stories. Subsequently, the music-dramatic potential of the figure and story of Samuel, in opera, oratorio and cantata from the 17th to the early 20th centuries, is in the foreground, with focus on the scene in En-Dor (1Sam 28), which inspired compositional fantasies in special ways. Some examples are explained in more detail, also in order to question the respective significance of Samuel in different cultural-historical contexts.
This contribution takes a critical look at the famous encounter between Clementi and Mozart in 1781 from a historiographical perspective. The most significant sources, well-known reports, anecdotes and estimations between 1781 and 1880, are discussed in detail. This essay traces their reception and consequences for positioning Mozart and Clementi within German-speaking music history.
The study focuses on the use of the chorale of Protestant provenance as a compositional idiom in 19th century symphonic music, with special attention to the design of finale. With reference to the "Reformation Symphony" by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy and the religious and cultural politics in Prussia in the first half of the 19th century, some peculiarities in the still unwritten history of the symphonic chorale are illuminated. Those simple melodies, in unison or four-part setting, are given fundamental importance for music outside the church as well, as a musical legacy of the Reformation in the 19th century. Against the background of the simultaneous aesthetic elevation of instrumental music at the end of the century, the peculiarities in the structure of the chorale as a distinct compositional style thus also mark the transition from the liturgical and sacred to the characteristic and programmatic idiom.
Although the majority of the presumably five annual cycles of cantatas by the Strasbourg music director Johann Christoph Frauenholtz (1684-1754) seems to have been lost, it has never been completely neglected by research. However, due to a lack of sources, the findings to date remain within manageable limits. Nearly 100 documented works (in Strasbourg, Karlsruhe, but also Salzburg) raise questions not only about the position of his cantatas in the south-western German repertoire (and beyond). Frauenholtz's double function as a poet and composer is even more interesting when the relationship between text and music or, ultimately, the strategies of composition in the context of different simultaneous cantata principles in the early 18th century and their dissemination are brought into focus.
With the term "Finalproblem" (problem of finale) the music sociologist Paul Bekker at the beginning of the 20th century sought to characterize a general problem of composition in the just past 19th century. In particular, he was concerned with the symphony between Beethoven and Mahler. Bekker's approach is at the centre of a historiographical paradigm which, as an implicit as well as explicit "problem history of composing" (as in the case of Carl Dahlhaus, for example), shows a specific consequence for the German-speaking academic view of music and music historiography. In other words: What does it actually mean when we speak of a problem history of composing? And what role does the Finalproblem play? The paper examines various stages in the development of a methodologically established problem historiography before discussing the significance of a problem history of composing and its consequences for the music historiographical discourse. Finally, the historiographical problems and perspectives of the compositional design of musical finale, which appear to be condensed in the term "Finalproblem", are subjected to a critical revision.
The essay is designed as an attempt to relate individual aspects of Wagner's popular cultural reception to one another on the basis of the Ride of the Valkyries. To this end, the first part of the study outlines certain forms and foundations of Wagner's popular cultural reception. In a second step, some examples of the appropriation of Wagner are presented in more detail, in order to be able to bring together the observations at the end.
What narratives—in both written and non-written cultures—sought to recount the origins of music; which myths, legends, and historical tales were and are constructed, indeed inspired by music? Questions about the origins of music make it possible to deduce the origins of thinking about music and its historiographic depictability. The consequences of myth and legend for music history then become apparent. A few of the many discursive functions and versions of the origin of music are discussed from the historiographic perspective. What place did the origin of music as conceptual notion, as methodological construct, or as poetic metaphor have in general music historiography (focusing mainly on German-language studies)? What place, if any, can it still hold and/or productively claim? How much does it influence general and specific musicological imagery? What conclusions about music can emerge from a close look at its multiply imagined origin? The answers require the scrutiny of origin as a term, an idea, and a concept. To this end, representative observations are presented, their historiographical consequences are investigated, and a critical historiography of the origin of music is then outlined.
While the significance of the prophet Samuel from the perspective of religious history and theology has been widely discussed, the present contribution raises the question of what traces Samuel and the stories around him left behind in the history of music. The challenge is to draw a dividing line between his character and the much more prominent David or Saul in the books of Samuel, which is sometimes problematic. In addition to basic remarks on the methodology of a music-historical search for traces of Samuel, a number of examples from recent musical reception will be presented, which illustrate both differences and similarities to the older European art-musical tradition in dealing with Samuel and his stories. Subsequently, the music-dramatic potential of the figure and story of Samuel, in opera, oratorio and cantata from the 17th to the early 20th centuries, is in the foreground, with focus on the scene in En-Dor (1Sam 28), which inspired compositional fantasies in special ways. Some examples are explained in more detail, also in order to question the respective significance of Samuel in different cultural-historical contexts.
This contribution takes a critical look at the famous encounter between Clementi and Mozart in 1781 from a historiographical perspective. The most significant sources, well-known reports, anecdotes and estimations between 1781 and 1880, are discussed in detail. This essay traces their reception and consequences for positioning Mozart and Clementi within German-speaking music history.
The study focuses on the use of the chorale of Protestant provenance as a compositional idiom in 19th century symphonic music, with special attention to the design of finale. With reference to the "Reformation Symphony" by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy and the religious and cultural politics in Prussia in the first half of the 19th century, some peculiarities in the still unwritten history of the symphonic chorale are illuminated. Those simple melodies, in unison or four-part setting, are given fundamental importance for music outside the church as well, as a musical legacy of the Reformation in the 19th century. Against the background of the simultaneous aesthetic elevation of instrumental music at the end of the century, the peculiarities in the structure of the chorale as a distinct compositional style thus also mark the transition from the liturgical and sacred to the characteristic and programmatic idiom.
Although the majority of the presumably five annual cycles of cantatas by the Strasbourg music director Johann Christoph Frauenholtz (1684-1754) seems to have been lost, it has never been completely neglected by research. However, due to a lack of sources, the findings to date remain within manageable limits. Nearly 100 documented works (in Strasbourg, Karlsruhe, but also Salzburg) raise questions not only about the position of his cantatas in the south-western German repertoire (and beyond). Frauenholtz's double function as a poet and composer is even more interesting when the relationship between text and music or, ultimately, the strategies of composition in the context of different simultaneous cantata principles in the early 18th century and their dissemination are brought into focus.
With the term "Finalproblem" (problem of finale) the music sociologist Paul Bekker at the beginning of the 20th century sought to characterize a general problem of composition in the just past 19th century. In particular, he was concerned with the symphony between Beethoven and Mahler. Bekker's approach is at the centre of a historiographical paradigm which, as an implicit as well as explicit "problem history of composing" (as in the case of Carl Dahlhaus, for example), shows a specific consequence for the German-speaking academic view of music and music historiography. In other words: What does it actually mean when we speak of a problem history of composing? And what role does the Finalproblem play? The paper examines various stages in the development of a methodologically established problem historiography before discussing the significance of a problem history of composing and its consequences for the music historiographical discourse. Finally, the historiographical problems and perspectives of the compositional design of musical finale, which appear to be condensed in the term "Finalproblem", are subjected to a critical revision.
The essay is designed as an attempt to relate individual aspects of Wagner's popular cultural reception to one another on the basis of the Ride of the Valkyries. To this end, the first part of the study outlines certain forms and foundations of Wagner's popular cultural reception. In a second step, some examples of the appropriation of Wagner are presented in more detail, in order to be able to bring together the observations at the end.
What narratives—in both written and non-written cultures—sought to recount the origins of music; which myths, legends, and historical tales were and are constructed, indeed inspired by music? Questions about the origins of music make it possible to deduce the origins of thinking about music and its historiographic depictability. The consequences of myth and legend for music history then become apparent. A few of the many discursive functions and versions of the origin of music are discussed from the historiographic perspective. What place did the origin of music as conceptual notion, as methodological construct, or as poetic metaphor have in general music historiography (focusing mainly on German-language studies)? What place, if any, can it still hold and/or productively claim? How much does it influence general and specific musicological imagery? What conclusions about music can emerge from a close look at its multiply imagined origin? The answers require the scrutiny of origin as a term, an idea, and a concept. To this end, representative observations are presented, their historiographical consequences are investigated, and a critical historiography of the origin of music is then outlined.
The Institute of Musicology at the University of Bern, Switzerland, warmly invites you to celebrate its 100 year anniversary in form of a four-day inter- and intra-disciplinary conference, which will take place from 5 to 8 September 2021 at the University of Bern. Deadline for submissions: 1st February 2021
The year 2017 marked the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther’s release of his 95 Thesis, which is still regarded as the beginning of a movement that radically changed religious and cultural life in many parts of Europe. The present volume examines the music-historical dynamics of the Reformation in German-speaking lands. It investigates the influence of the movement on sonic environments and musical repertoires of the 16th and early 17th centuries. From different perspectives, the contributions show how institutional and liturgical reorganisation of spiritual life permanently altered early modern soundscapes. Furthermore, the papers examine how new Protestant musical practices emerged and interacted with traditions of the pre-Reformation period. Another focus is the role of music in the context of Reformation anniversaries of the last 500 years. Magnificent celebrations of the anniversaries of important milestones have been resounding events throughout the centuries, revealing specific contemporary perspectives on cultural issues and on the Reformation as a historical phenomenon.
As a " temporal art", music is constantly confronted with the question of how to shape its end, where it cannot be managed. This volume is dedicated to musical finale as a fundamental problem of compositional design. Various approaches to this compositional debate, which have been developed and reflected upon in the course of European music history, move in the field of tension between dissolution and tearing down, fulfilment and refusal, triumphant apotheosis and dying out. The problems involved in musical closure are in turn not only of formal or structural provenance, but also of an aesthetic nature and often only become visible in cultural-historical contexts. It is from them that the conclusion can acquire its particular significance. These problems relate to the question of which explicit or implicit notions of 'temporality' and '(in)finiteness', 'tension' and 'dissolution' or 'coping' and 'resignation' inscribe themselves in the finale in a particular historical context. The individual contributions in this volume outline systematic, historical and music-theoretical perspectives on the problem of closure. The field under investigation extends from the Middle Ages to the 20th century and, in addition to examples that can be assigned to the concept of "work" in the tradition of European art music, also includes reflections on the final composition in music theatre and jazz improvisation.
The border between instrumental and vocal music is broken again and again in the history of symphony. Especially in the design of finale, vocal-musical melodies, imaginary chorales or entire choral tableaus are conspicuously frequent. What compositional structures and ideas underlie them, what cultural-historical significance do they have? At the centre of the survey are exemplary studies devoted to individual 'vocal-musical models', which attempt to appreciate their conditions, effects and stories in greater detail.
Much has already been thought about the origin of music, which has been handed down in numerous myths, legends and stories between cult and religion. But also the emergence of new musical genres, composition techniques, aesthetics or theories are often accompanied by myth-like narratives of an apparently objective historiography, some of which still exist today. Original stories, for example, are repeatedly sought where the 'new' in music or the decline of aesthetic paradigms announce themselves. These myths, legends and stories of origin also determine our relationship to contemporary and past music in many ways. The collected contributions are dedicated to the task of fundamentally and exemplarily rethinking the origin of music between mythology and historiography in the European and non-European context.
German:
Grundsätzlich darf aus musikhistorischer Perspektive das Phänomen der Arbeitsteiligkeit in der Produktion musikalischer Werke (etwa Kompositionen) und der daraus resultierenden Vielschichtigkeit der Autorschaft als ein substantielles, in der Kunstform Musik selbst begründetes Problem begriffen werden. Musik, schon während, aber auch nachdem sie einmal geschaffen wurde, schwebt nicht im luftleeren Raum. Vielmehr bedarf es über ein komponierendes Subjekt hinaus immer mehrerer Akteure, um Musik zu ästhetischer Präsenz zu bringen. Die Frage musikalischer Autorschaft ist demnach eine Frage nach dem Verhältnis zwischen Komponist*innen und Werken, Musiker*innen, Bearbeiter*innen, Librettist*innen oder auch Akteuren im Verlagswesen. Zum Beispiel: Welcher Grad an Autorschaft kommt Joseph Eybler und Franz Xaver Süssmayr bei der Vollendung von Mozarts Requiem zu? Wie sind die massiven Eingriffe durch den Verleger in den Notentext der Pastoral-Sinfonie von Beethoven, etwa bei den Satzüberschriften, zu bewerten, zumal wenn sie von den ausdrücklichen Wünschen der Komponisten abweichen, jedoch bis heute ein rezeptionsgeschichtliches Eigenleben zeitigen? Weshalb taucht Mozarts Bearbeitung von Händels Messiah als eigenes Werk in seinem Werkverzeichnis auf, nicht aber Mendelssohn Bartholdys unter vergleichbaren Bedingungen erstellte Bearbeitung von Bachs Matthäuspassion? Der Vortrag möchte die komplexe Beziehung zwischen den verschiedenen Akteuren in der Musikgeschichte seit dem 18. Jahrhundert anhand exemplarischer Beispiele diskutieren.
Frühere Verleger zeigen häufig ein hohes Mass an Kreativität hinsichtlich der Zuschreibung einzelner musikalischer Werke zu bestimmten Autor*innen. So sind deutlich mehr Symphonien Joseph Haydn zugeschrieben als er tatsächlich komponiert hat. Erst durch den stärker werdenden direkten Kontakt und vertragsähnliche Vereinbarungen zwischen Komponisten und Verlegern erlangen Musiker zunehmend mehr Kontrolle über Autorschaft, Druckbild und Verbreitung ihrer Werke. Einerseits erzählt diese, im ausgehenden 18. Jahrhundert immer enger werdende Beziehung zwischen Verleger und Komponist eine scheinbar lineare Geschichte der Autonomie des frei schaffenden ‚Tondichters‘. Andererseits ist das musikalische Publikationsgeschäft auch noch im 19. Jahrhundert Verhandlungsort zwischen mehreren Parteien für zum Teil gravierende Eingriffe in die Substanz dessen, was ästhetisch als autonomes, absolutes Kunstwerk begriffen wird: Abschnitte werden gestrichen, Noten verändert, Paratexte hinzugefügt, Sätze vertauscht, Bearbeitungen erstellt, Neukompositionen angeregt. Der Vortrag möchte diese komplexe Beziehung zwischen Autor, Werk und Verleger von der Frühen Neuzeit bis zur Moderne anhand exemplarischer Beispiele diskutieren.
This paper investigates the relationship between those aesthetic and intellectual attitudes that are historiographically associated with "Sentimentalism", "Sturm und Drang" [Storm and Stress] and "Enlightenment", focusing in particular on the multi-talented musician, theorist and writer Joseph Martin Kraus. Published in 1778, "Something of and about Music: for the Year 1777" not only reveals a radicalism in form, linguistic style and value judgement that is peculiar even to the literary protagonists of Sturm und Drang, but also shows an enlightening impulse that is directed equally against the dilettantism and intellectualism of the musical discourse led by bourgeois music lovers and scholars. The poetological refraction, that can be observed in Kraus's treatise, stands as an example of the intellectual and aesthetic tensions of the 1770s and 1780s, which, with Enlightenment, Sentimentalism or Sturm und Drang (not to mention 'Vorklassik' ['Pre-Classicism']), are only inadequately captured as historiographical alternatives. In this respect, Kraus's extreme poignancy must be seen as an expression of a situation of upheaval in the history of ideas and culture.