Andrew Talle
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780252040849
- eISBN:
- 9780252099342
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5622/illinois/9780252040849.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
This book investigates the musical life of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Germany from the perspectives of those who lived in it. The men, women, and children of the era are treated here not as extras in ...
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This book investigates the musical life of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Germany from the perspectives of those who lived in it. The men, women, and children of the era are treated here not as extras in the life of a famous composer but rather as protagonists in their own right. The primary focus is on keyboard music, from those who built organs, harpsichords, and clavichords, to those who played keyboards recreationally and professionally, and those who supported their construction through patronage. Examples include: Barthold Fritz, a clavichord maker who published a list of his customers; Christiane Sibÿlla Bose, an amateur keyboardist and close friend of Bach’s wife; the Countesses zu Epstein, whose surviving library documents the musical interests of teenage girls of the era; Luise Gottsched, who found Bach’s music less appealing than that of Handel; Johann Christoph Müller, a keyboard instructor who fell in love with one of his aristocratic pupils; and Carl August Hartung, a professional organist and fanatical collector of Bach’s keyboard music. The book draws on published novels, poems, and visual art as well as manuscript account books, sheet music, letters, and diaries. For most music lovers of the era, J. S. Bach himself was an impressive figure whose music was too challenging to hold a prominent place in their musical lives.Less
This book investigates the musical life of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Germany from the perspectives of those who lived in it. The men, women, and children of the era are treated here not as extras in the life of a famous composer but rather as protagonists in their own right. The primary focus is on keyboard music, from those who built organs, harpsichords, and clavichords, to those who played keyboards recreationally and professionally, and those who supported their construction through patronage. Examples include: Barthold Fritz, a clavichord maker who published a list of his customers; Christiane Sibÿlla Bose, an amateur keyboardist and close friend of Bach’s wife; the Countesses zu Epstein, whose surviving library documents the musical interests of teenage girls of the era; Luise Gottsched, who found Bach’s music less appealing than that of Handel; Johann Christoph Müller, a keyboard instructor who fell in love with one of his aristocratic pupils; and Carl August Hartung, a professional organist and fanatical collector of Bach’s keyboard music. The book draws on published novels, poems, and visual art as well as manuscript account books, sheet music, letters, and diaries. For most music lovers of the era, J. S. Bach himself was an impressive figure whose music was too challenging to hold a prominent place in their musical lives.
Peter Szendy
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780823267057
- eISBN:
- 9780823272303
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823267057.003.0016
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Aesthetics
The père Castel’s Ocular Harpsichord or Polcarpe Poncelet’s Organ of Flavors gesture toward the horizon of a general organology of the senses.
The père Castel’s Ocular Harpsichord or Polcarpe Poncelet’s Organ of Flavors gesture toward the horizon of a general organology of the senses.
Carol A. Hess
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195383584
- eISBN:
- 9780199864768
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195383584.003.0006
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
In the aftermath of World War I, many composers continued to revive baroque and classical procedures: counterpoint, sonata form, reduced performing forces, and the use of generic rather than poetic ...
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In the aftermath of World War I, many composers continued to revive baroque and classical procedures: counterpoint, sonata form, reduced performing forces, and the use of generic rather than poetic or impressionistic titles. By clothing these time-honored formal abstractions in bold new harmonies and arresting timbres, moreover, composers could be “modern” and traditionalist at the same time. Essentially anti-Teutonic in origin, neoclassicism, as the movement increasingly came to be known, also eschewed overt programmatic references (such as those found in Richard Strauss's symphonic poems), as well as nationalist or populist allusions. In El retablo de Maese Pedro and the Harpsichord Concerto, Manuel de Falla, like his contemporaries, created spare textures and astringent harmonies. But instead of turning to 18th-century models he dug even deeper into the past, exploring the 13th-century Cantigas de Alfonso X, “El Sabio” (The Wise), the 17th-century guitar treatises of Gaspar Sanz, and other examples of Spain's rich medieval and Renaissance heritage. Falla's use of modality marked a suggestive new path for neoclassicism while subtly asserting Spanish identity, even in this presumably “universalist” context.Less
In the aftermath of World War I, many composers continued to revive baroque and classical procedures: counterpoint, sonata form, reduced performing forces, and the use of generic rather than poetic or impressionistic titles. By clothing these time-honored formal abstractions in bold new harmonies and arresting timbres, moreover, composers could be “modern” and traditionalist at the same time. Essentially anti-Teutonic in origin, neoclassicism, as the movement increasingly came to be known, also eschewed overt programmatic references (such as those found in Richard Strauss's symphonic poems), as well as nationalist or populist allusions. In El retablo de Maese Pedro and the Harpsichord Concerto, Manuel de Falla, like his contemporaries, created spare textures and astringent harmonies. But instead of turning to 18th-century models he dug even deeper into the past, exploring the 13th-century Cantigas de Alfonso X, “El Sabio” (The Wise), the 17th-century guitar treatises of Gaspar Sanz, and other examples of Spain's rich medieval and Renaissance heritage. Falla's use of modality marked a suggestive new path for neoclassicism while subtly asserting Spanish identity, even in this presumably “universalist” context.
Andrew Talle
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780252040849
- eISBN:
- 9780252099342
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5622/illinois/9780252040849.003.0007
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
Chapter six presents a case study of one of the most famous and influential academic couples of the era: Johann Christoph and Luise Adelgunde Viktorie Gottsched. In addition to Frau Gottsched’s ...
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Chapter six presents a case study of one of the most famous and influential academic couples of the era: Johann Christoph and Luise Adelgunde Viktorie Gottsched. In addition to Frau Gottsched’s successful career as an author, she was also an avid amateur musician. For much of her life, keyboard and lute playing served as a means of expressing optimism that human beings could improve themselves and the world around them by cultivating their unique rational faculties. In later years, as her relationship with her husband began to fray, her faith in rationalist philosophy suffered, and she endured a crisis of both body and spirit. This chapter presents an account her musical activities within the framework of her courtship and marriage. Though Bach was a neighbor and collaborator, the Gottscheds seem to have preferred the music of other composers.Less
Chapter six presents a case study of one of the most famous and influential academic couples of the era: Johann Christoph and Luise Adelgunde Viktorie Gottsched. In addition to Frau Gottsched’s successful career as an author, she was also an avid amateur musician. For much of her life, keyboard and lute playing served as a means of expressing optimism that human beings could improve themselves and the world around them by cultivating their unique rational faculties. In later years, as her relationship with her husband began to fray, her faith in rationalist philosophy suffered, and she endured a crisis of both body and spirit. This chapter presents an account her musical activities within the framework of her courtship and marriage. Though Bach was a neighbor and collaborator, the Gottscheds seem to have preferred the music of other composers.
