Felix Diergarten
Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Musik, Faculty Member
- Felix Diergarten obtained diplomas in conducting and music theory in Dresden, where he studied with Ludwig Holtmeier ... moreFelix Diergarten obtained diplomas in conducting and music theory in Dresden, where he studied with Ludwig Holtmeier and Clemens Kühn and went on to study "Theorie der Alten Musik" at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis with Markus Jans. He holds a Dr.phil. from Dresden Hochschule für Musik "Carl Maria von Weber" where he wrote a dissertation on Haydn. At the University of Würzburg his Habilitation thesis on French Fourteenth-Century song was accepted in 2017. He was active as repetiteur, assistant-conductor and conductor at various theatres, including the Nederlandse Opera Amsterdam and the Sächsische Staatsoper Dresden. He received sholarships from "Cusanuswerk" and the "Richard-Wagner-Verband". From 2009 to 2016 he taught "Satzlehre" and "Theorie der Alten Musik" (music theory, history of theory and analysis) at the Schola Cantorum in Basel. Since 2016 he is professor for Music Theory and Musicology in Freiburg. He was Guest Faculty Member of the International Orpheus Academy for Music & Theory 2013 at the Orpheus Instituut in Gent (Belgium). edit
Zumeist ist der Blick der Öffentlichkeit auf die zweite Lebenshälfte Anton Bruckners gerichtet, auf die großen Messen und Sinfonien der Linzer und Wiener Zeit. Deshalb werden in diesem Band erstmals die frühen Jahre des Komponisten... more
Zumeist ist der Blick der Öffentlichkeit auf die zweite Lebenshälfte Anton Bruckners gerichtet, auf die großen Messen und Sinfonien der Linzer und Wiener Zeit. Deshalb werden in diesem Band erstmals die frühen Jahre des Komponisten umfassend behandelt. International renommierte Forscher:innen fördern eine Erkenntnisfülle aus jener St. Florianer Welt zutage, in die der Dreizehnjährige nach dem frühen Tod des Vaters als Sängerknabe kommt. Das Stift ist entgegen landläufiger Annahme ein Hort aufgeklärter Kultur und Wissenschaft und bleibt prägend für Bruckners weiteres Leben. Man erfährt ihn als Lehrer und Organisten, sieht seine konflikthafte Entwicklung zum Musiker, nimmt Anteil an den kompositorischen Studien und ersten Kompositionen sowie an den zahlreichen Urlauben im Stift. Und findet sich schließlich vor seinem Grabmal. Der Band repräsentiert den neuesten Stand der Wissenschaft, ergänzt um überaus kostbares Bildmaterial: zeitgenössische Ansichten der Orte, Fotografien von Bruckners Zeitgenossen, eigenhändige Partituren und Briefe Bruckners, Hefte des Schülers und Lehrers sowie viele weitere sprechende Dokumente aus dem Stiftsarchiv. Alles in allem: ein unentbehrliches Buch für die unzähligen Menschen, die sich für Anton Bruckner und seine Zeit interessieren.
Research Interests:
Englisch below Zum 200. Geburtstag von Anton Bruckner legt Felix Diergarten die lang erwartete, grundlegend neu recherchierte Biographie vor. Zugänglich und anschaulich geschrieben, werden alte und neue Bruckner-Bilder anhand der... more
Englisch below
Zum 200. Geburtstag von Anton Bruckner legt Felix Diergarten die lang erwartete, grundlegend neu recherchierte Biographie vor. Zugänglich und anschaulich geschrieben, werden alte und neue Bruckner-Bilder anhand der Quellen überprüft. Jedes der 25 chronologisch angeordneten Kapitel beleuchtet eine Lebensphase, eine Begebenheit, einen Ort oder ein besonderes Thema aus Bruckners Leben mit Musik. Das Buch macht so erfahrbar, wie sich Bruckners Kompositionen in seine Lebenswelten fügen: vom oberösterreichischen Dorf in die Metropolen Europas, vom Dorfschulhaus an die Universität, von der Dorfkirche an den neugotischen Dom, von den Dorfmusikanten zu den Wiener Philharmonikern.
• Mit einem Geleitwort von Herbert Blomstedt
• Grundlegend neu recherchiert anhand der Originalquellen
• Anschaulich und zupackend geschrieben
• Dicht an der Musik
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On the occasion of the 200th birthday of Anton Bruckner, Felix Diergarten presents the long-awaited, fundamentally newly researched biography. Accessibly and vividly written, old and new images of Bruckner are examined against the sources. Each of the 25 chronologically arranged chapters illuminates a phase of Bruckner's life, an incident, a place, or a particular theme in his life with music. The book thus makes it possible to experience how Bruckner's compositions fit into the worlds in which he lived: from the Upper Austrian village to the metropolises of Europe, from the village schoolhouse to the university, from the village church to the neo-Gothic cathedral, from the village musicians to the Vienna Philharmonic.
- With a foreword by Herbert Blomstedt
- Fundamentally newly researched on the basis of the original sources
- Descriptive and engagingly written
- Close to the music
Zum 200. Geburtstag von Anton Bruckner legt Felix Diergarten die lang erwartete, grundlegend neu recherchierte Biographie vor. Zugänglich und anschaulich geschrieben, werden alte und neue Bruckner-Bilder anhand der Quellen überprüft. Jedes der 25 chronologisch angeordneten Kapitel beleuchtet eine Lebensphase, eine Begebenheit, einen Ort oder ein besonderes Thema aus Bruckners Leben mit Musik. Das Buch macht so erfahrbar, wie sich Bruckners Kompositionen in seine Lebenswelten fügen: vom oberösterreichischen Dorf in die Metropolen Europas, vom Dorfschulhaus an die Universität, von der Dorfkirche an den neugotischen Dom, von den Dorfmusikanten zu den Wiener Philharmonikern.
• Mit einem Geleitwort von Herbert Blomstedt
• Grundlegend neu recherchiert anhand der Originalquellen
• Anschaulich und zupackend geschrieben
• Dicht an der Musik
-------
On the occasion of the 200th birthday of Anton Bruckner, Felix Diergarten presents the long-awaited, fundamentally newly researched biography. Accessibly and vividly written, old and new images of Bruckner are examined against the sources. Each of the 25 chronologically arranged chapters illuminates a phase of Bruckner's life, an incident, a place, or a particular theme in his life with music. The book thus makes it possible to experience how Bruckner's compositions fit into the worlds in which he lived: from the Upper Austrian village to the metropolises of Europe, from the village schoolhouse to the university, from the village church to the neo-Gothic cathedral, from the village musicians to the Vienna Philharmonic.
- With a foreword by Herbert Blomstedt
- Fundamentally newly researched on the basis of the original sources
- Descriptive and engagingly written
- Close to the music
Research Interests:
(Englisch below) Als sich Anton Bruckner im Alter von fünfzig Jahren auf eine Kapellmeisterstelle in Wien bewarb, schrieb er stolz, er sei „bei der Kirchenmusik aufgewachsen“. Kaum ein sinfonisches Konzerthaus, in dem die f-Moll-Messe... more
(Englisch below)
Als sich Anton Bruckner im Alter von fünfzig Jahren auf eine Kapellmeisterstelle in Wien bewarb, schrieb er stolz, er sei „bei der Kirchenmusik aufgewachsen“.
Kaum ein sinfonisches Konzerthaus, in dem die f-Moll-Messe oder das Te Deum noch nicht erklungen wären, kaum ein Kirchenchor, der nicht das Ave Maria, das Christus factus est oder das Locus iste im Programm hätte. Aber ein Großteil seines geistlichen Werkes ist unbekannt. Wer weiß schon, dass Bruckner das Ave Maria und das Christus factus est je drei Mal vertonte, in unterschiedlichen Lebensphasen und in verschiedenen Stilen? Wer kennt Bruckners deutschsprachige Chöre für Trauungen, Beisetzungen und Namenstage?
Seine Musik liegt bis auf den heutigen Tag verschüttet unter Klischees – dem vom ,frommen‘ und ,tiefgläubigen‘ Organisten oder jenem vom komponierenden Professor, der mit seinem Katholizismus aus Zeit und Welt gefallen scheint.
Dieser Werkführer bietet erstmals fundierte Informationen zu Bruckners geistlichem Gesamtwerk, kritisch und mit einem frischen Blick. Sämtliche Werke werden vor ihrem sozialen, religiösen und liturgischen Hintergrund geschildert, verbunden mit aufführungspraktischen Hinweisen.
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When Anton Bruckner applied for a position as Kapellmeister in Vienna at the age of fifty, he proudly wrote that he had "grown up with church music".
There is hardly a symphonic concert hall in which the F minor Mass or the Te Deum have not been heard, hardly a church choir that does not have the Ave Maria, the Christus factus est or the Locus iste in its program. But a large part of his sacred work is unknown. Who knows that Bruckner set the Ave Maria and the Christus factus est to music three times each, in different phases of his life and in different styles? Who knows Bruckner's German-language choruses for weddings, funerals and name days?
To this day, his music lies buried under clichés - that of the 'pious' and 'deeply religious' organist or that of the composing professor who, with his Catholicism, seems to have fallen out of time and world.
This work guide offers for the first time well-founded information on Bruckner's complete sacred works, critically and with a fresh eye. All works are described against their social, religious, and liturgical backgrounds, combined with practical performance advice.
Als sich Anton Bruckner im Alter von fünfzig Jahren auf eine Kapellmeisterstelle in Wien bewarb, schrieb er stolz, er sei „bei der Kirchenmusik aufgewachsen“.
Kaum ein sinfonisches Konzerthaus, in dem die f-Moll-Messe oder das Te Deum noch nicht erklungen wären, kaum ein Kirchenchor, der nicht das Ave Maria, das Christus factus est oder das Locus iste im Programm hätte. Aber ein Großteil seines geistlichen Werkes ist unbekannt. Wer weiß schon, dass Bruckner das Ave Maria und das Christus factus est je drei Mal vertonte, in unterschiedlichen Lebensphasen und in verschiedenen Stilen? Wer kennt Bruckners deutschsprachige Chöre für Trauungen, Beisetzungen und Namenstage?
Seine Musik liegt bis auf den heutigen Tag verschüttet unter Klischees – dem vom ,frommen‘ und ,tiefgläubigen‘ Organisten oder jenem vom komponierenden Professor, der mit seinem Katholizismus aus Zeit und Welt gefallen scheint.
Dieser Werkführer bietet erstmals fundierte Informationen zu Bruckners geistlichem Gesamtwerk, kritisch und mit einem frischen Blick. Sämtliche Werke werden vor ihrem sozialen, religiösen und liturgischen Hintergrund geschildert, verbunden mit aufführungspraktischen Hinweisen.
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When Anton Bruckner applied for a position as Kapellmeister in Vienna at the age of fifty, he proudly wrote that he had "grown up with church music".
There is hardly a symphonic concert hall in which the F minor Mass or the Te Deum have not been heard, hardly a church choir that does not have the Ave Maria, the Christus factus est or the Locus iste in its program. But a large part of his sacred work is unknown. Who knows that Bruckner set the Ave Maria and the Christus factus est to music three times each, in different phases of his life and in different styles? Who knows Bruckner's German-language choruses for weddings, funerals and name days?
To this day, his music lies buried under clichés - that of the 'pious' and 'deeply religious' organist or that of the composing professor who, with his Catholicism, seems to have fallen out of time and world.
This work guide offers for the first time well-founded information on Bruckner's complete sacred works, critically and with a fresh eye. All works are described against their social, religious, and liturgical backgrounds, combined with practical performance advice.
Research Interests:
ENGLISH below »Kaum kann Jemand berühmter sein als er«, hielt Robert Schumann 1836 in der Neuen Zeitschrift für Musik fest. Gemeint war Johann Baptist Cramer (1771-1858), Spross einer kurpfälzischen Musikerfamilie. Heute ist Cramer... more
ENGLISH below
»Kaum kann Jemand berühmter sein als er«, hielt Robert Schumann 1836 in der Neuen Zeitschrift für Musik fest. Gemeint war Johann Baptist Cramer (1771-1858), Spross einer kurpfälzischen Musikerfamilie. Heute ist Cramer höchstens noch durch seine Klavieretüden bekannt, zu Lebzeiten war er (geboren ein Jahr nach Beethoven, gestorben im Jahr der Fertigstellung des ersten Tristan-Aktes) eine öffentliche Gestalt der europäischen Musikwelt, und zwar nicht nur als Pianist, Komponist und Lehrer, sondern auch als Unternehmer im Klavierbau und Verlagswesen. Durch diese Mehrfachfunktion, wie sie viele ›Pianistes Compositeurs‹ seiner Zeit ausfüllten, kam es zu Wechselwirkungen zwischen verschiedenen Bereichen des Musiklebens, zwischen instrumentaler Technologie, menschlicher Fingertechnik und musikalischer Ästhetik, zwischen Unternehmertum, Kanonbildung und Populärkultur. Der vorliegende Band fasst die Beiträge eines Symposions zusammen, das anlässlich von Cramers 250. Geburtstag im Jahre 2021 stattfand. Cramers Leben, Werk und Umfeld werden aus verschiedenen Perspektiven untersucht. Die Beiträge weiten den Blick auch auf andere Akteurinnen und Akteure dieser Zeit und geben Anregungen für Aufführungs- und Improvisationpraktiken heute.
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"Hardly anyone can be more famous than he," Robert Schumann noted in 1836 in the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik. He was referring to Johann Baptist Cramer (1771-1858), scion of a family of musicians from the Electoral Palatinate. Today, Cramer is known at most for his piano etudes; during his lifetime, he (born one year after Beethoven, died in the year of the completion of the first Tristan act) was a public figure in the European music world, not only as a pianist, composer, and teacher, but also as an entrepreneur in piano manufacturing and publishing. Through this multiple function, as many 'pianistes compositeurs' of his time fulfilled, interactions occurred between different areas of musical life, between instrumental technology, human fingering, and musical aesthetics, between entrepreneurship, canon formation, and popular culture. This volume brings together the papers presented at a symposium held to mark Cramer's 250th birthday in 2021. Cramer's life, work, and environment are examined from a variety of perspectives. The contributions also broaden the view to other actors of the time and provide suggestions for performance and improvisation practices today.
»Kaum kann Jemand berühmter sein als er«, hielt Robert Schumann 1836 in der Neuen Zeitschrift für Musik fest. Gemeint war Johann Baptist Cramer (1771-1858), Spross einer kurpfälzischen Musikerfamilie. Heute ist Cramer höchstens noch durch seine Klavieretüden bekannt, zu Lebzeiten war er (geboren ein Jahr nach Beethoven, gestorben im Jahr der Fertigstellung des ersten Tristan-Aktes) eine öffentliche Gestalt der europäischen Musikwelt, und zwar nicht nur als Pianist, Komponist und Lehrer, sondern auch als Unternehmer im Klavierbau und Verlagswesen. Durch diese Mehrfachfunktion, wie sie viele ›Pianistes Compositeurs‹ seiner Zeit ausfüllten, kam es zu Wechselwirkungen zwischen verschiedenen Bereichen des Musiklebens, zwischen instrumentaler Technologie, menschlicher Fingertechnik und musikalischer Ästhetik, zwischen Unternehmertum, Kanonbildung und Populärkultur. Der vorliegende Band fasst die Beiträge eines Symposions zusammen, das anlässlich von Cramers 250. Geburtstag im Jahre 2021 stattfand. Cramers Leben, Werk und Umfeld werden aus verschiedenen Perspektiven untersucht. Die Beiträge weiten den Blick auch auf andere Akteurinnen und Akteure dieser Zeit und geben Anregungen für Aufführungs- und Improvisationpraktiken heute.
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"Hardly anyone can be more famous than he," Robert Schumann noted in 1836 in the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik. He was referring to Johann Baptist Cramer (1771-1858), scion of a family of musicians from the Electoral Palatinate. Today, Cramer is known at most for his piano etudes; during his lifetime, he (born one year after Beethoven, died in the year of the completion of the first Tristan act) was a public figure in the European music world, not only as a pianist, composer, and teacher, but also as an entrepreneur in piano manufacturing and publishing. Through this multiple function, as many 'pianistes compositeurs' of his time fulfilled, interactions occurred between different areas of musical life, between instrumental technology, human fingering, and musical aesthetics, between entrepreneurship, canon formation, and popular culture. This volume brings together the papers presented at a symposium held to mark Cramer's 250th birthday in 2021. Cramer's life, work, and environment are examined from a variety of perspectives. The contributions also broaden the view to other actors of the time and provide suggestions for performance and improvisation practices today.
Research Interests:
Guillaume de Machaut vertritt in der allgemeinen Vorstellung beispielhaft das Neue und Epochemachende des französischsprachigen Liedsatzes im 14. Jahrhundert. Weithin offen allerdings blieb bis heute die Frage nach dem Liedschaffen seiner... more
Guillaume de Machaut vertritt in der allgemeinen Vorstellung beispielhaft das Neue und Epochemachende des französischsprachigen Liedsatzes im 14. Jahrhundert. Weithin offen allerdings blieb bis heute die Frage nach dem Liedschaffen seiner Zeitgenossen, mithin die Frage nach dem stilistischen Kontext, in dem das Liedschaffen Machauts zu sehen ist. Die Liedsätze des Codex Ivrea (eine Sammelhandschrift der Machaut-Zeit) bieten die Chance, die einseitige Konzentration auf Machaut zu relativieren, stilistische Kontexte zu skizzieren und Grundfragen des Komponierens in den Zeiten Machauts zu thematisieren.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
»Vom Menuett zur Symphonie« – das ist der Leitspruch, unter dem in diesem Lese- und Arbeitsbuch vom Kleinen zum Großen fortschreitend die wichtigsten Formen galanter, klassischer und romantischer Instrumentalmusik erklärt werden. Nach... more
»Vom Menuett zur Symphonie« – das ist der Leitspruch, unter dem in diesem Lese- und Arbeitsbuch vom Kleinen zum Großen fortschreitend die wichtigsten Formen galanter, klassischer und romantischer Instrumentalmusik erklärt werden. Nach welchen Formprinzipien haben die Komponisten dieser Epochen ihre Werke entworfen? Was zeichnet die Sonatenformen aus? Welche Formen haben die Sätze des klassischen und romantischen Konzerts? Diese und viele weitere Fragen beantwortet das Buch in einem reichhaltigen historischen Kontext und gewährt so Einblicke in die kreative Werkstatt der Komponisten. Zahlreiche Aufgaben geben Anregungen zum weiterführenden Selbststudium.
Online-Materialien zum Buch finden sich hier:
https://www.academia.edu/40145308/Materialien_zur_Formenlehre
Online-Materialien zum Buch finden sich hier:
https://www.academia.edu/40145308/Materialien_zur_Formenlehre
Research Interests:
Die Musik der Renaissance spiegelt und verkörpert die vielfältigen Geschichten einer schillernden Epoche. Auf neuartige und anschauliche Weise schildert Felix Diergarten, Dozent an der Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, die zentralen... more
Die Musik der Renaissance spiegelt und verkörpert die vielfältigen Geschichten einer schillernden Epoche. Auf neuartige und anschauliche Weise schildert Felix Diergarten, Dozent an der Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, die zentralen kompositions- und geistesgeschichtlichen Tendenzen des 15. und 16. Jahrhunderts: Ausgehend von sechs bedeutenden musikalischen Quellen wird der Leser in den Alltag jener Menschen geführt, die in ihren unterschiedlichen und vielschichtigen Lebenswelten Musik hörten, dachten, spielten und sammelten. Der Band eignet sich deshalb nicht nur für Musikwissenschaftler und Studenten höheren Semesters, sondern auch für Studienanfänger, Schüler und Laien (Verlagstext).
Hier bestellen: www.laaber-verlag.de
Schlagwörter: Renaissancemusik Renaissance Musik Epoche Komponisten Merkmale Buxheimer Orgelbuch Dufay Binchois Petrucci Amerbach Musik Reformation
Hier bestellen: www.laaber-verlag.de
Schlagwörter: Renaissancemusik Renaissance Musik Epoche Komponisten Merkmale Buxheimer Orgelbuch Dufay Binchois Petrucci Amerbach Musik Reformation
Research Interests:
Für die Analyse musikalischer Werke, die zwangsläufig jeder unternimmt, der sich interpretierend, hörend oder sprechend mit Musik auseinandersetzt, steht heutzutage ein ganzes Füllhorn an Methoden, Perspektiven und Terminologien zur... more
Für die Analyse musikalischer Werke, die zwangsläufig jeder unternimmt, der sich interpretierend, hörend oder sprechend mit Musik auseinandersetzt, steht heutzutage ein ganzes Füllhorn an Methoden, Perspektiven und Terminologien zur Verfügung. Um diese Vielfalt der Zugänge kenntlich und für ein besseres Musikverständnis nutzbar zu machen, haben der Herausgeber Felix Diergarten und die beteiligten Autoren elf unterschiedliche Ansätze auf die Analyse elf bedeutender Werke der Musikgeschichte angewandt. Der Band versucht damit, gleichzeitig Anleitungen und Anregungen zur Schulung des eigenen Nachdenkens über Musik zu geben. (Verlagstext)
Buch bestellbar unter www.laaber-verlag.de
Buch bestellbar unter www.laaber-verlag.de
Research Interests:
Buch bestellbar unter www.laaber-verlag.de
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Eine ungewöhnliche Musikgeschichte in Schlaglichtern: "Wann wurde die Notenschrift erfunden, und warum ist die Musik, die wir heute im Konzertsaal hören, ohne sie nicht denkbar? Was verbirgt sich hinter dem Mythos Beethoven, wie wurde... more
Eine ungewöhnliche Musikgeschichte in Schlaglichtern:
"Wann wurde die Notenschrift erfunden, und warum ist die Musik, die wir heute im Konzertsaal hören, ohne sie nicht denkbar? Was verbirgt sich hinter dem Mythos Beethoven, wie wurde der Lkw-Fahrer Elvis Presley zum „King of Pop“, und warum bezeichnete man die Cembalistin Wanda Landowska als ersten Star der „Alten Musik“? Welche Bedeutung hatten Jam Sessions für die Anfänge des modernen Jazz? Ist „Barock“ ein Schimpfwort oder eine Epochenbezeichnung? Wie veränderte die Erfindung von Schallplatte, Radio, CD und Internet unseren Umgang mit Musik? Diese ungewöhnliche Musikgeschichte in Schlaglichtern bietet eine Antwort auf diese und viele andere Fragen. In rund zweihundert erzählenden Kurzkapiteln auf jeweils einer Doppelseite werden zentrale Entwicklungen, Ereignisse, Werke und Personen vorgestellt: anschaulich, verständlich und auf neuestem wissenschaftlichen Stand." (Verlagstext)
Zu diesem Werk durfte ich die folgenden 13 Kapitel beisteuern:
Ein strahlender Meteorit: Musik des Trecento
Meister Francesco
Immer wieder neu: Binchois und die höfische Chanson
Der große Gesang und der bewaffnete Mann – Formen der Messe
Die Sängerkapellen – Umschlagpunkte der Musikgeschichte
Die Kapelle des Ercole d'Este die Krone aufsetzen – Josquin de Prez in Ferrara
Ein Geschenk Gottes – Musik und Reformation
Alles aus einer Hand – Musiklehre und Musiklernen
Allein und gedankenschwer – Ein Madrigal von Giaches de Wert
Singen über dem Buche – Improvisierter Kontrapunkt
Dies sanctificatus – Eine Motette Palestrina
Ein Kosmopolit in München – Orlando di Lasso
Geistliche Sinfonien – Venedig, der Markusdom und die Mehrchörigkeit
"Wann wurde die Notenschrift erfunden, und warum ist die Musik, die wir heute im Konzertsaal hören, ohne sie nicht denkbar? Was verbirgt sich hinter dem Mythos Beethoven, wie wurde der Lkw-Fahrer Elvis Presley zum „King of Pop“, und warum bezeichnete man die Cembalistin Wanda Landowska als ersten Star der „Alten Musik“? Welche Bedeutung hatten Jam Sessions für die Anfänge des modernen Jazz? Ist „Barock“ ein Schimpfwort oder eine Epochenbezeichnung? Wie veränderte die Erfindung von Schallplatte, Radio, CD und Internet unseren Umgang mit Musik? Diese ungewöhnliche Musikgeschichte in Schlaglichtern bietet eine Antwort auf diese und viele andere Fragen. In rund zweihundert erzählenden Kurzkapiteln auf jeweils einer Doppelseite werden zentrale Entwicklungen, Ereignisse, Werke und Personen vorgestellt: anschaulich, verständlich und auf neuestem wissenschaftlichen Stand." (Verlagstext)
Zu diesem Werk durfte ich die folgenden 13 Kapitel beisteuern:
Ein strahlender Meteorit: Musik des Trecento
Meister Francesco
Immer wieder neu: Binchois und die höfische Chanson
Der große Gesang und der bewaffnete Mann – Formen der Messe
Die Sängerkapellen – Umschlagpunkte der Musikgeschichte
Die Kapelle des Ercole d'Este die Krone aufsetzen – Josquin de Prez in Ferrara
Ein Geschenk Gottes – Musik und Reformation
Alles aus einer Hand – Musiklehre und Musiklernen
Allein und gedankenschwer – Ein Madrigal von Giaches de Wert
Singen über dem Buche – Improvisierter Kontrapunkt
Dies sanctificatus – Eine Motette Palestrina
Ein Kosmopolit in München – Orlando di Lasso
Geistliche Sinfonien – Venedig, der Markusdom und die Mehrchörigkeit
Research Interests:
(english below). Das Jahr 1885 war mit der Münchner Aufführung der Siebten im März ein Wendepunkt in Bruckners Leben als Symphoniker; in seinem Leben als Kirchenkomponist war es ein Höhepunkt: Während der Bistumsfeierlichkeiten in Linz... more
(english below). Das Jahr 1885 war mit der Münchner Aufführung der Siebten im März ein Wendepunkt in Bruckners Leben als Symphoniker; in seinem Leben als Kirchenkomponist war es ein Höhepunkt: Während der Bistumsfeierlichkeiten in Linz erklangen im Oktober nicht weniger als sechs Werke Bruckners, zunächst das Locus iste und das Tantum ergo WAB 41/1, am Vormittag des 4. Oktober dann, dem Schlusstag der großen Jubelwoche, erklangen an einem Vormittag in den beiden Domen mit den vereinigten Kräften der Stadt vier weitere Werke Bruckners, neben der e-Moll-Messe und dem Ave Maria waren das die Uraufführungen des Ecce sacerdos und des Virga jesse, Bruckner selbst spielte die Orgel, wenige Tage darauf erschien das Te Deum (WAB 45) im Druck. So wurde das Jahr 1885 für die Stadt Linz, für die Katholiken Oberösterreichs und für den Komponisten Bruckner ein wahres annus mirabilis.
The year 1885, with the Munich performance of the Seventh in March, was a turning point in Bruckner's life as a symphonist; in his life as a church composer it was a climax: during the diocesan celebrations in Linz in October no fewer than six of Bruckner's works were heard, first the Locus iste and the Tantum ergo WAB 41/1, on the morning of October 4. On the morning of October 4, the final day of the great jubilee week, four more works by Bruckner were heard in the two cathedrals with the combined forces of the city. In addition to the E minor Mass and the Ave Maria, these were the first performances of the Ecce sacerdos and the Virga jesse, Bruckner himself played the organ; a few days later the Te Deum (WAB 45) appeared in print. Thus the year 1885 became a true annus mirabilis for the city of Linz, for the Catholics of Upper Austria and for the composer Bruckner.
The year 1885, with the Munich performance of the Seventh in March, was a turning point in Bruckner's life as a symphonist; in his life as a church composer it was a climax: during the diocesan celebrations in Linz in October no fewer than six of Bruckner's works were heard, first the Locus iste and the Tantum ergo WAB 41/1, on the morning of October 4. On the morning of October 4, the final day of the great jubilee week, four more works by Bruckner were heard in the two cathedrals with the combined forces of the city. In addition to the E minor Mass and the Ave Maria, these were the first performances of the Ecce sacerdos and the Virga jesse, Bruckner himself played the organ; a few days later the Te Deum (WAB 45) appeared in print. Thus the year 1885 became a true annus mirabilis for the city of Linz, for the Catholics of Upper Austria and for the composer Bruckner.
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Schumann’s Eichendorff songs have been the subject of many musicological studies and musical analyses: Schumann’s interventions in the lyrical text, his musical reactions to the text, the question of cyclicality and non-cyclicality,... more
Schumann’s Eichendorff songs have been the subject of many musicological studies and musical analyses: Schumann’s interventions in the lyrical text, his musical reactions to the text, the question of cyclicality and non-cyclicality, Schumann’s harmony: all this has been discussed so much that a history of song-analysis can be written on the basis of Schumann-analyses. Despite this, or precisely because of it, this article takes up the first song of the Liederkreis op. 39 (“In der Fremde”) once again and presents it against the background of some recent developments in historically informed analysis, including in particular the use of figured bass, rule of the octave and schemata, in order to take a look at present-day possibilities of analysis. Certain aspects of the texture that have always evoked color metaphors among analysts can be well described in this way. Particular attention is paid to Schumann’s own reworkings of the song. Connected with this are some general reflections on the methodology of musical analysis.
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Giuseppe Paolucci's Arte pratica di contrappunto (1765–72) is a collection of analyses of forty-two compositions from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century. It offers insights into eighteenth-century practices of music analysis as... more
Giuseppe Paolucci's Arte pratica di contrappunto (1765–72) is a collection of analyses of forty-two compositions from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century. It offers insights into eighteenth-century practices of music analysis as well as into historical concepts of counterpoint and fugue. Two analytical readings by Paolucci are translated and commented upon in this essay. Paolucci's analysis of Antonio Caldara's motet Peccavi super numerum is valuable for its references to rhetoric and the visual arts. The analysis of Handel's fugue "Then shall I teach thy ways" (from the Chandos Anthem HWV 248) exemplifies the high esteem in which contemporary writers and composers held Handel's compositional techniques, which Paolucci describes meticulously, bar by bar. Paolucci's reading of Handel's fugue, which is similar to Italian partimento fugues of that time, also provides material for the still-unwritten history of eighteenth-century Italian fugal t...
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Anton Bruckner's last composition for the church is the Vexilla regis: composed, premiered and printed within a few weeks in the spring of 1892, four and a half years before Bruckner's death. The reason for the following reflections are... more
Anton Bruckner's last composition for the church is the Vexilla regis: composed, premiered and printed within a few weeks in the spring of 1892, four and a half years before Bruckner's death. The reason for the following reflections are some misunderstandings that stand in the way of a proper understanding of the work to this day. First of all, there is a misquoted Bruckner letter on the history of the work's creation, there are still misleading statements about the musical arrangement, and finally (and above all) there is an incorrect text that is still sung by most choirs today.
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Josquin’s motet Ecce tu pulchra es took pride of place in Petrucci’s print Misse Josquin of 1502, where it was the sole motet published together with five polyphonic mass cycles. The piece fell from grace, however, in the 20th century.... more
Josquin’s motet Ecce tu pulchra es took pride of place in Petrucci’s print Misse Josquin of 1502, where it was the sole motet published together with five polyphonic mass cycles. The piece fell from grace, however, in the 20th century. While it showcases the whole gamut of cantus firmus free imitative counterpoint in magnificent elegance and beauty (probably the reason why Petrucci published it in such a prominent position), Josquin’s motet is rather reserved in its rhetoric – the likely cause for the disappointment it inspired in many 20th-century listeners. In: Musik Konzepte Sonderband Josquin Des Prez, München 2021 https://www.etk-muenchen.de/search/Details.aspx?sid=09313311&sort=5&desc=1&ISBN=9783967073973
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Ein neu aufgefundenes Dokument bestätigt Bruckners Besuch auf der Rigi im Jahre 1880.
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Ein Brief von Felix Weingartner an Hermann Levi mit Kommentaren zu Bruckners Achter Symphonie wird hier erstmals im originalen deutschen Wortlaut veröffentlicht.
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This article takes a fresh look at Anton Bruckner's poetic remarks on his Fourth symphony by contextualizing them within the notorious 19th-century quarrel between the New German school and the proponents of so-called absolute music.... more
This article takes a fresh look at Anton Bruckner's poetic remarks on his Fourth symphony by contextualizing them within the notorious 19th-century quarrel between the New German school and the proponents of so-called absolute music. Bruckner – not recognized as an ally by either of them – initially adressed his remarks to Wilhelm Tappert, an apologist for program music; when adressing the poet Paul Heyse, it was in his own defense against a critique by Heinrich Porges, who had described Bruckner as an epigonic composer of absolute music. While phrasing his remarks to please one party, he kept them unobstrusive enough to not provoke the other.
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Mit Blick auf die Rondos im Kitzler-Studienbuch wird hier eine neue Interpretation der sogenannten "Adagio-Form" Bruckners dargelegt.
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A Stream of General Mirth and Rejoicing: A New Perspective on Beethoven’s Arietta Variations in op. 111 – In this essay, Beethoven’s arietta variations from op. 111 are analysed with reference to figured bass and schemata (Satzmodelle).... more
A Stream of General Mirth and Rejoicing: A New Perspective on Beethoven’s Arietta Variations in op. 111 – In this essay, Beethoven’s arietta variations from op. 111 are analysed with reference to figured bass and schemata (Satzmodelle). The text focuses on a compositional constel- lation that Beethoven presents in the arietta. A sighing figure comes into conflict with the sustained note g, which plays an important role in the first part of the arietta. Beethoven harmonises this sigh in nine different ways in the course of the variations. Only at the end, in the coda, is the conflict between the sigh and the sustained note resolved: a triumphant breakthrough that recalls older interpretations of the sonata. Until the early twentieth century, the variations were interpreted less as a gesture of farewell than of persevering and con- tinuing. The author also ties analytical questions to matters of performance practice, which have become trapped in a circular relationship in the sonata’s reception history: musicians play what exegetes tell them, but exegetes describe what musicians play to them.
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While there is little dispute regarding the large-scale form of Bruckner’s outer symphonic movements, which obviously follow a sonata form with three subjects, development, and recapitulation (for which we even have Bruckner’s own... more
While there is little dispute regarding the large-scale form of Bruckner’s outer symphonic movements, which obviously follow a sonata form with three subjects, development, and recapitulation (for which we even have Bruckner’s own terminology), the form of Bruckner’s slow symphonic movements seems to be less clear. While scholars do agree that there is a “typical” Brucknerian “adagio-form” in five parts that roughly follows the schema A–B–A–B–A, there is no general consensus as to how Bruckner conceived of the formal function of these five parts or how this form should be designated. While Anglo-American scholarship favors explanations without reference to sonata-form (“five-part rondo,” “five-part song form”), German-language scholarship has broadly accepted the view of a “strophic sonata form,” where the first AB is the exposition, the second AB the development and the last A an incomplete recapitulation.
While there is little dispute regarding the large-scale form of Bruckner’s outer symphonic movements, which obviously follow a sonata form with three subjects, development, and recapitulation (for which we even have Bruckner’s own terminology ), the form of Bruckner’s slow symphonic movements seems to be less clear. While scholars do agree that there is a “typical” Brucknerian “adagio-form” in five parts that roughly follows the schema A–B–A–B–A, there is no general consensus as to how Bruckner conceived of the formal function of these five parts or how this form should be designated. While Anglo-American scholarship favors explanations without reference to sonata-form (“five-part rondo,” “five-part song form” ), German-language scholarship has broadly accepted the view of a “strophic sonata form,” where the first AB is the exposition, the second AB the development and the last A an incomplete recapitulation. The first two terms risk downplaying the obvious sonata-like elements in this form, but the traditional sonata-explanation has its own problems: Why should the development start with the main subject in the tonic and why should the secondary subject return during the development, transposed down a fifth as in a recapitulation? Why should the recapitulation be considered (counterintuitively) as “incomplete”? What has gone unnoticed thus far is the fact that Bruckner’s Kitzler-Studienbuch provides a clear solution to all these problems. The rondos composed and discussed in the Studienbuch make absolutely clear that this five-part form was indeed understood as being in dialogue with sonata form, but not in the way outlined above. Rather, it was considered a specific and actually well-known sonata-rondo-mixture: a sonata form without development but with an extended recapitulation and a third statement of the main subject. In 2017, Gabriel Ignacio Venegas Carro has already come to this interpretation by purely analytical means and without knowledge of the explanations in the Studienbuch. The Studienbuch, however, has even more to offer than an explanation of Bruckner’s “adagio-form”. It in fact contains and explains all the slow-movement forms Bruckner used in his early symphonies, as I will show in the following.
Full text availabe at https://brucknerjournal.com/
While there is little dispute regarding the large-scale form of Bruckner’s outer symphonic movements, which obviously follow a sonata form with three subjects, development, and recapitulation (for which we even have Bruckner’s own terminology ), the form of Bruckner’s slow symphonic movements seems to be less clear. While scholars do agree that there is a “typical” Brucknerian “adagio-form” in five parts that roughly follows the schema A–B–A–B–A, there is no general consensus as to how Bruckner conceived of the formal function of these five parts or how this form should be designated. While Anglo-American scholarship favors explanations without reference to sonata-form (“five-part rondo,” “five-part song form” ), German-language scholarship has broadly accepted the view of a “strophic sonata form,” where the first AB is the exposition, the second AB the development and the last A an incomplete recapitulation. The first two terms risk downplaying the obvious sonata-like elements in this form, but the traditional sonata-explanation has its own problems: Why should the development start with the main subject in the tonic and why should the secondary subject return during the development, transposed down a fifth as in a recapitulation? Why should the recapitulation be considered (counterintuitively) as “incomplete”? What has gone unnoticed thus far is the fact that Bruckner’s Kitzler-Studienbuch provides a clear solution to all these problems. The rondos composed and discussed in the Studienbuch make absolutely clear that this five-part form was indeed understood as being in dialogue with sonata form, but not in the way outlined above. Rather, it was considered a specific and actually well-known sonata-rondo-mixture: a sonata form without development but with an extended recapitulation and a third statement of the main subject. In 2017, Gabriel Ignacio Venegas Carro has already come to this interpretation by purely analytical means and without knowledge of the explanations in the Studienbuch. The Studienbuch, however, has even more to offer than an explanation of Bruckner’s “adagio-form”. It in fact contains and explains all the slow-movement forms Bruckner used in his early symphonies, as I will show in the following.
Full text availabe at https://brucknerjournal.com/
Research Interests:
Giuseppe Paolucci's Arte pratica di contrappunto (1765-72) is a collection of analyses of forty-two compositions from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century. It offers insights into eighteenth-century practices of music analysis as well... more
Giuseppe Paolucci's Arte pratica di contrappunto (1765-72) is a collection of analyses of forty-two compositions from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century. It offers insights into eighteenth-century practices of music analysis as well as into historical concepts of counterpoint and fugue. Two analytical readings by Paolucci are translated and commented upon in this essay. Paolucci's analysis of Antonio Caldara's motet Peccavi super numerum is valuable for its references to rhetoric and the visual arts. The analysis of Handel's fugue "Then shall I teach thy ways" (from the Chandos Anthem HWV 248) exemplifies the high esteem in which contemporary writers and composers held Handel's compositional techniques, which Paolucci describes meticulously, bar by bar. Paolucci's reading of Handel's fugue, which is similar to Italian partimento fugues of that time, also provides material for the still-unwritten history of eighteenth-century Italian fugal theory.
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This chapters offers a survey of Italian and Frech couterpoint instruction in the 18th and 19th centuries: 1. Die „grande nation” und die „écoles d’Italie”: Zur Einheit des Gegenstandes 2. „Kontrapunkt”: Begriffliche Ab- und... more
This chapters offers a survey of Italian and Frech couterpoint instruction in the 18th and 19th centuries: 1. Die „grande nation” und die „écoles d’Italie”: Zur Einheit des Gegenstandes
2. „Kontrapunkt”: Begriffliche Ab- und Entgrenzungen;
3. Der Übergang aus dem 17. Jahrhundert: Bruschis Regole und Tevos Testore
4. Kontrapunkt und Partimenti: Die neapolitanische Schule
5. Der Iter per exempla I: Nicola Salas Regole del contrappunto Pratico
6. Der Iter per exempla II: Martini und Paolucci
7. Ein Italiener in Paris: Cherubini und die Kontrapunktlehre am Conservatoire
8. Italienische Kontrapunktlehren im 19. Jahrhundert
This is a pre-edited draft of a chapter that will be included in the following volume:
Inga Mai Groote and Stefan Keym (eds.), Musiktheorie in Frankreich und Italien im 18. und 19. Jahrhundert (= Geschichte der Musiktheorie, hrsg. im Auftrag des Staatlichen Instituts für Musikforschung, Bd. 12), forthcoming.
2. „Kontrapunkt”: Begriffliche Ab- und Entgrenzungen;
3. Der Übergang aus dem 17. Jahrhundert: Bruschis Regole und Tevos Testore
4. Kontrapunkt und Partimenti: Die neapolitanische Schule
5. Der Iter per exempla I: Nicola Salas Regole del contrappunto Pratico
6. Der Iter per exempla II: Martini und Paolucci
7. Ein Italiener in Paris: Cherubini und die Kontrapunktlehre am Conservatoire
8. Italienische Kontrapunktlehren im 19. Jahrhundert
This is a pre-edited draft of a chapter that will be included in the following volume:
Inga Mai Groote and Stefan Keym (eds.), Musiktheorie in Frankreich und Italien im 18. und 19. Jahrhundert (= Geschichte der Musiktheorie, hrsg. im Auftrag des Staatlichen Instituts für Musikforschung, Bd. 12), forthcoming.
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Anhand von Schumanns Lied "Ich grolle nicht" wird hier der Frage nachgegangen, inwiefern Musikforschung und musikalische Praxis in einem Wechselverhältnis stehen. Insbesondere geht es anhand von Interpretationsanalysen um die Frage,... more
Anhand von Schumanns Lied "Ich grolle nicht" wird hier der Frage nachgegangen, inwiefern Musikforschung und musikalische Praxis in einem Wechselverhältnis stehen. Insbesondere geht es anhand von Interpretationsanalysen um die Frage, inwiefern die musikalische Praxis die Musikforschung beeinflusst.
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The homophonic passages usually found in fifteenth-century motets to be sung at the culmination of the mass, the elevation, play a paradoxical role in modern scholarship. On the one hand, these passages serve to identify the liturgical... more
The homophonic passages usually found in fifteenth-century motets to be sung at the culmination of the mass, the elevation, play a paradoxical role in modern scholarship. On the one hand, these passages serve to identify the liturgical function of the motets and the cycles surrounding them; on the other hand, they are hardly ever analyzed in detail, not only because their homophonic austerity seems to be of little interest, but also because they defy normal analytical procedures. To explain what happens when ‘nothing’ happens, this paper gathers a repertoire of contrapuntal-harmonic stock formulas distinguishable as clausulae, gymel, and tabula naturalis progressions. These progressions can be seen working in very different ways in elevation motets. To imagine composers with these polyphonic complexes at their disposal is to imagine theoretical and practical ways beyond a simple dichotomy between ‘counterpoint’ and ‘harmony’. In the discussion of elevation motets, questions of compositional design, of theoretical context, of performance, and of cultural context coalesce.
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A symphony of Haydn is the subject of criticism in a polemic by Heinrich Christoph Koch that has received no attention to date. Haydn’s name is not actually mentioned, but it can be demonstrated from the context that the reference is to... more
A symphony of Haydn is the subject of criticism in a polemic by Heinrich Christoph Koch that has received no attention to date. Haydn’s name is not actually mentioned, but it can be demonstrated from the context that the reference is to Haydn’s Symphony No. 60 (“Il distratto”). This insight forces both a re-evaluation of Koch’s relationship with the work of Haydn in the context of contemporary musical aesthetics and a debate on the methodology of “historically informed” analysis.
Bruckners Harmonik wird hier mithilfe von Generalbass und Satzmodellen untersucht.
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This essay examines instances of strikingly dissonant cadences in fourteenth-century French song. These dissonant clashes result not from a lack of dissonance “control” in medieval music, but rather from a deliberately employed musical... more
This essay examines instances of strikingly dissonant cadences in fourteenth-century French song. These dissonant clashes result not from a lack of dissonance “control” in medieval music, but rather from a deliberately employed musical figure that can be found especially in otherwise consonant settings. The history of this musical figure can be traced from the Ars nova across the age of prima prattica counterpoint and into the seconda prattica. At the core of this gesture is the progression from dissonances through imperfect consonances to perfect consonances. Thus, the rhetorical purpose of the dissonance is to intensify the final arrival at a perfect interval. Four case studies will track this figure in pieces by Machaut and his contemporaries. The case studies are augmented by reflections on various historiographic and methodological aspects: medieval three- and four-part counterpoint, strategies and theories of dissonance treatment in the fourteenth century, attempts at a Figurenlehre avant la lettre, and the song repertoire of Machaut’s contemporaries.
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The 18th-century tradition of partimento and thoroughbass exercises has come under intense scrutiny of historians, theorists, and pedagogues during the last years. Much less attention has been paid to the vivid persistence of this... more
The 18th-century tradition of partimento and thoroughbass exercises has come under intense scrutiny of historians, theorists, and pedagogues during the last years. Much less attention has been paid to the vivid persistence of this tradition in the 19th century all over Europe. Not only the education of organists but especially the training of pianiste-compositeurs proved to be fertile ground for the practical training in the partimento tradition: Performances of fantasies, improvisations of cadenzas, interludes, lead-ins and ornaments were part of their daily-business. 19th-century manuals and teachers imparting the skills necessary for this kind of improvisation rely on thoroughbass and partimento exercises almost exclusively. At the same time they refrain from contemporary theories of „modern harmony“. This shall be shown in this paper with the help of three examples: Friedrich Kalkbrenner, Friedrich Hiller and Frédéric Chopin. This 19th-century tradition is of interest not only for historians and theorists; romantic partimenti also open up new approaches and perspectives for a present music theory pedagogy, which in recent years has started to challenge the customary boundaries between theory, composition, improvisation, and performance.
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Programmheftbeitrag Herbstgold Festival 2017
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Quo vadis, eighteenth-century music analysis? This is the question I wish to pose in 2017, a year marking some notable anniversaries. It has been ten years since the appearance of Robert Gjerdingen's Music in the Galant Style (New York:... more
Quo vadis, eighteenth-century music analysis? This is the question I wish to pose in 2017, a year marking some notable anniversaries. It has been ten years since the appearance of Robert Gjerdingen's Music in the Galant Style (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007), a book that opened up a wide range of new perspectives on eighteenth-century music and simultaneously shook Anglo-American music analysis at a time when it was on the look-out for post-Schenkerian alternatives. Likewise, 2017 is the tenth anniversary of Giorgio Sanguinetti's presentation on Neapolitan partimenti at the European Music Analysis Conference in Freiburg, where he addressed an audience that was similarly looking for answers in a post-Riemannian vacuum (but already familiar with diverse approaches to schemata, or Satzmodelle). [….] But now, ten years after these initial events, the time has come to pause for a moment, to re ect and evaluate. Where have we been, and where are we heading? Do we need some course correction and new destinations? I emphatically think that we do, and in what follows I will suggest four directions for further developments:
1) FROM ‘GALANT STYLE’ TOWARDS PRAGMATIC THEORIES OF MUSICAL LANGUAGES
2) FROM ‘PARTIMENTO’ TO ‘GENERALBASS’
3) BEYOND ‘HARMONY’ AND ‘COUNTERPOINT’
4) TOWARDS A HISTORICALLY INSPIRED FORMENLEHRE
1) FROM ‘GALANT STYLE’ TOWARDS PRAGMATIC THEORIES OF MUSICAL LANGUAGES
2) FROM ‘PARTIMENTO’ TO ‘GENERALBASS’
3) BEYOND ‘HARMONY’ AND ‘COUNTERPOINT’
4) TOWARDS A HISTORICALLY INSPIRED FORMENLEHRE
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The "Harmonie(Generalbass)lehre" of Joachim Hoffmann, a contemporary of Schubert, is one of the most fascinating documents of Viennesse thoroughbass-harmony after Emanuel Aloys Förster's "Anleitung zum Generalbass". Thoroughbass is... more
The "Harmonie(Generalbass)lehre" of Joachim Hoffmann, a contemporary of Schubert, is one of the most fascinating documents of Viennesse thoroughbass-harmony after Emanuel Aloys Förster's "Anleitung zum Generalbass". Thoroughbass is employed here to teach early romantic harmony. Like Förster, Hoffmann uses arabic numerals to indicate scale degrees in the bass (in the tradition of the rule of the octave). In this article I describe Hoffmann's treatise in historical context and apply his method of analytical figures to the opening of Schubert's last string quartet.
A PDF of this article can be obtained from the author on request.
A PDF of this article can be obtained from the author on request.
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After a comparison of Historische Satzlehre with Historically informed analysis this paper attempts a close and historically informed analytical reading of the fugue (fuga a tre soggetti) in Haydn's symphony no. 70.
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The 18th-century tradition of partimento and thoroughbass exercises has come under intense scrutiny of historians, theorists, and pedagogues during the last years. Much less attention has been paid to the vivid persistence of this... more
The 18th-century tradition of partimento and thoroughbass exercises has come under intense scrutiny of historians, theorists, and pedagogues during the last years. Much less attention has been paid to the vivid persistence of this tradition in the 19th century all over Europe. Not only the education of organists but especially the training of pianiste-compositeurs proved to be fertile ground for the practical training in the partimento tradition: Performances of fantasies, improvisations of cadenzas, interludes, lead-ins and ornaments were part of their daily-business. 19th-century manuals and teachers imparting the skills necessary for this kind of improvisation rely on thoroughbass and partimento exercises almost exclusively. At the same time they refrain from contemporary theories of „modern harmony“. This shall be shown in this paper with the help of three examples: Friedrich Kalkbrenner, Friedrich Hiller and Frédéric Chopin. This 19th-century tradition is of interest not only for historians and theorists; romantic partimenti also open up new approaches and perspectives for a present music theory pedagogy, which in recent years has started to challenge the customary boundaries between theory, composition, improvisation, and performance.
A slightly reworks English version has been published as "Romantic Thoroughbass: Music Theory between Improvisation, Composition and Performance" in: Theoria. Historical aspects of Music Theory, vol. 18 (2011). A PDF may be obtained from the author on request.
A slightly reworks English version has been published as "Romantic Thoroughbass: Music Theory between Improvisation, Composition and Performance" in: Theoria. Historical aspects of Music Theory, vol. 18 (2011). A PDF may be obtained from the author on request.
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Eversince the work by Ursula Günther, Margaret Hasselmann and Wulf Arlt in the 1960s, 70s and 80s, Machaut scholars have articulated a certain suspicion. The suspicion, that a contextualisation of Machaut’s songs in a broader historical... more
Eversince the work by Ursula Günther, Margaret Hasselmann and Wulf Arlt in the 1960s, 70s and 80s, Machaut scholars have articulated a certain suspicion. The suspicion, that a contextualisation of Machaut’s songs in a broader historical picture of 14th-century song could reveal, that Machaut’s songs are an unique and idiosyncratic phenomenon, far from being most representative of their time, as they are still usually announced in music history. This paper is an excerpt from a larger study on anonymous songs written in the times of Machaut. The two case studies presented here (Prenés l’abre and Tant qu’en mon cuer, two anonymous virelais that survive uniquely in the Ivrea Codex) focus on the aspect of reworking. The article argues that both songs are based on preexisting melodies in the tenor. While Tant qu’en mon cuer belongs to the group of “polytextual virelais” as defined by Margaret Hasselman, the tenor of Prénes l’abre is textless but clearly based on a widely distributed 13th-century refrain-melody. Thus, both pieces could be considered an intriguing reminder of the treacherousness of historiographical narratives and theories of genre based on skewed notions of compositional procedures (such as ‘successive’ vs. ‘simultaneous’ or ‘bottom-up’ vs. ‘top-down’). More importantly, however, they are thought-provoking pieces of evidence in the experimental ground of polyphonic song next to Machaut.
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In order to paint a complete and nuanced picture of classical cadences, modern cadence typologies can and should be complemented by a further criterion that has thus far been overlooked: the employment of suspension dissonances in the... more
In order to paint a complete and nuanced picture of classical cadences, modern cadence typologies can and should be complemented by a further criterion that has thus far been overlooked: the employment of suspension dissonances in the cadential process. this criterion also points to a more fundamental problem of music analysis: how much analytical abstraction and reduction of an alleged “surface” is beneficial in the analysis of classical cadences? “harmonic” analyses based on progressions of a basse fondamentale and voice-leading analyses abstracting from dissonances risk neglecting contrapuntal details that were highly important for eighteenth-century musicians. the partitura cadences suggest that we rethink the generally accepted notion that in the eighteenth century, cadential classifications became based primarily on harmony rather than on melodic or contrapuntal interval. As numerous musicians and writers from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries suggest, contrapuntal details played a constitutive role in understanding cadences and their closural implications.
Published in:
Markus Neuwirth and Pieter Bergé (eds.), What is a Cadence? Analytical and Theoretical Perspectives on Cadences in the Classical Repertoire, Leuven: Leuven University Press 2015
http://upers.kuleuven.be/en/book/9789462700154
This paper can be downloaded from my personal homepage.
Published in:
Markus Neuwirth and Pieter Bergé (eds.), What is a Cadence? Analytical and Theoretical Perspectives on Cadences in the Classical Repertoire, Leuven: Leuven University Press 2015
http://upers.kuleuven.be/en/book/9789462700154
This paper can be downloaded from my personal homepage.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
In this paper (given as a keynote to the GMTH in 2012) "Historische Satzlehre" is described as a New Historicism for Music Theory after a preliminary comparison of "Historische Satzlehre" with "Historically informed Performance". A PDF... more
In this paper (given as a keynote to the GMTH in 2012) "Historische Satzlehre" is described as a New Historicism for Music Theory after a preliminary comparison of "Historische Satzlehre" with "Historically informed Performance".
A PDF may be obtained from the author on request.
A PDF may be obtained from the author on request.
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Paper read at the Kölner Mediävistentagung 2014, to be published in Miscellanea Mediaevalia (2015).
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My conclusion: »For me, an outsider in this regard [Schenkerian analysis], but a Haydn devotee, a listener and quondam performer, this book demonstrates only one thing: a “careful consideration of ana- lytical procedures from past... more
My conclusion: »For me, an outsider in this regard [Schenkerian analysis], but a Haydn devotee, a listener and quondam performer, this book demonstrates only one thing: a “careful consideration of ana- lytical procedures from past centuries” (267n10), on the one hand, and an “imaginative approach” not stopping short of “more orthodox application of Schenkerian principles” (205), on the other, are different concerns that (fortunately) resist reconciliation. In the second decade of the twenty-first century, it ought to have become impossible to ponder classical “harmony” in an innovative and rewarding way without incorporating some aspects of a sophisticated post-Gjerdingenian schemata or “Satzmodelle” approach, without incorporating the rule of the octave and all the complex aspects of tonality that go along with it, without considering eighteenth-century (partimento) counterpoint with its rich tradition of sequential and cadential progressions, or without adding any kind of rhetorical or topical contextualisation to the harmonic features of this music."
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This text shows that Adolf Bernhard Marx can be considered the father of the modern Formenlehre in many respects. On the one hand (as is widely known), he codified certain formal schemata and concepts still valid today, but on the other... more
This text shows that Adolf Bernhard Marx can be considered the father of the modern Formenlehre in many respects. On the one hand (as is widely known), he codified certain formal schemata and concepts still valid today, but on the other hand, Marx also left the Formenlehre with a deep-seated distrust towards these same formal schemata, a distrust towards its own object of examina- tion, that still characterizes it on a deeper level to this day. Marx’s far-reaching legacy thus lies not in the formal schemata themselves, which have been progressively differentiated by historically-inspired critique; it lies rather in a diffuse and authoritarian aesthetics of genius and masterworks, where masterworks always go against the supposed ›conventions‹ that allegedly characterize the works of the ›minor masters‹.
Ludwig van Beethoven famously stated that two things were not debatable for him: religion and thoroughbass. This statement has seldom been taken seriously. Research into the partimento and thoroughbass tradition in recent years, however,... more
Ludwig van Beethoven famously stated that two things were not debatable for him: religion and thoroughbass. This statement has seldom been taken seriously. Research into the partimento and thoroughbass tradition in recent years, however, has revealed that »thoroughbass« in the 18th and 19th century was far more than a musical shorthand to support performance practice. Rather, it was the most important method for teaching composition, improvisation, analysis and music theory. Viennese thoroughbass theory in Beethoven’s time provides an excellent basis for a nuanced understanding of classical and early romantic har- mony and counterpoint. This article presents the basic elements of Viennese thoroughbass theory: Arabic numeral analysis, »Satzmodelle« (schemata) and »beste Lage« (outer voice frameworks). There follows an analysis of the first movement of Beethoven’s sonata op. 109 based on this methodology.
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In his autobiographical sketch Joseph Haydn claims to have learned the ‘true fundamentals of composition’ from Nicola Porpora. Porpora (1686–1768) was a student of Gaetano Greco at the Conservatorio dei Poveri in Naples and later himself... more
In his autobiographical sketch Joseph Haydn claims to have learned the ‘true fundamentals of composition’ from Nicola Porpora. Porpora (1686–1768) was a student of Gaetano Greco at the Conservatorio dei Poveri in Naples and later himself became a maestro at the Conservatorio di San Onofrio, where Francesco Durante also taught. That Haydn’s teacher Porpora came from the centre of the partimento tradition, which has attracted increased scrutiny by music theorists in recent years, justifies examining Haydn’s relationship with this long-standing pedagogical method and compositional practice. In this essay I analyse the sources that shed light on Porpora’s relationship to the partimento tradition and on Haydn’s relationship to Porpora. Focusing on partimento counterpoint, I examine several of Haydn’s fugues in contrasting genres in order to illustrate how the principles of thoroughbass and partimento help to explain particular structural procedures in Haydn’s music, as well as the compositional processes that produced them.
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A symphony of Haydn is the subject of criticism in a polemic by Heinrich Christoph Koch that has received no attention to date. Haydn’s name is not actually mentioned, but it can be demonstrated from the context that the reference is to... more
A symphony of Haydn is the subject of criticism in a polemic by Heinrich Christoph Koch that has received no attention to date. Haydn’s name is not actually mentioned, but it can be demonstrated from the context that the reference is to Haydn’s Symphony No. 60 (“Il distratto”). This insight forces both a re-evaluation of Koch’s relationship with the work of Haydn in the context of contemporary musical aesthetics and a debate on the methodology of “historically informed” analysis
While Johann Friedrich Daube’s 1756 treatise on the Generalbass has found its place in the history of music theory thanks to the attention given it by Hugo Riemann, there remains to this day no comprehensive appraisal of either Daube’s... more
While Johann Friedrich Daube’s 1756 treatise on the Generalbass has found its place in the history of music theory thanks to the attention given it by Hugo Riemann, there remains to this day no comprehensive appraisal of either Daube’s 1773 treatise on composition or his 1797 treatise on melody. These latter writings represent not only the sole major works of Viennese music theory between Fux and Albrechtsberger but also the most ambitious and sophisticated attempt in the 18th century to compile a treatise on the freier Satz. Daube’s discourse takes partimento-improvisation as its starting point to cover everything from two- and three-part writing to the composition of string quartets and chamber symphonies. Daube formulates a contemporary theory of thematische Arbeit, as he describes the integration of contrapuntal techniques into the gallant style and develops a process for composing an entire piece through the “fragmentation, repetition, shifting and blending” of just a few motives. His partimento-influenced notion of counterpoint however differs fundamentally from the 19th-century concept of thematische Arbeit. The writings of Daube and a comparison with some of the compositions of Joseph Haydn provide opportunities to close some of the historiographic gaps separating Viennese music theory and Viennese compositional practice in the 18th century.
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Im Vorwort zu seiner Harmonielehre, die den Versuch darstellt, die Riemannsche Theorie zu einem praktischen Lehrgang umzuformen, schreibt Schreyer in diesem Sinne:» Es kam dem Verfasser besonders darauf an, dem Leser so bald als möglich... more
Im Vorwort zu seiner Harmonielehre, die den Versuch darstellt, die Riemannsche Theorie zu einem praktischen Lehrgang umzuformen, schreibt Schreyer in diesem Sinne:» Es kam dem Verfasser besonders darauf an, dem Leser so bald als möglich die Formel
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The idea of »contrasting« film music is as old as the sound film itself; applying this idea to Kubrick's films however as has been done time and time again overlooks the fact that in supposedly »contrasting« scenes one could just as... more
The idea of »contrasting« film music is as old as the sound film itself; applying this idea to Kubrick's films however as has been done time and time again overlooks the fact that in supposedly »contrasting« scenes one could just as easily speak of an »analogy« rather than a »contrast« between image and sound and of »empathy« rather than »alienation«. The Kubrick Soundtracks achieve something apparently contradictory: they both act as a means of empathy and as means of preventing empathy i.e. a means of alienation: they suceed in this because the soundtracks converge emotionally with film events on the one hand but also as pre-existing and usually very popular compositions render a direct empathic involvement with the events in the film problematic. This discrepancy touches on a central theme of Kubrick's work: the potential for music and art in general to be »charged« both morally and immorally.
The opening of Haydn’s Symphony No. 39 in G minor is interrupted by two unusually long grand pauses. These brief suspensions of the time continuum reveal Haydn’s search for new narrative strategies for a genre caught up in the tensions... more
The opening of Haydn’s Symphony No. 39 in G minor is interrupted by two unusually long grand pauses. These brief suspensions of the time continuum reveal Haydn’s search for new narrative strategies for a genre caught up in the tensions between the boisterous concert opener, courtly representation, the bourgeois concert hall and the demands of “connoisseurs.” This use of the Generalpause points toward a period of upheaval in the development of symphonic forms in the 18th century. A comparative analysis examining the primarily “punctuated” concept of form in the 18th century in relation to the primarily thematic concept of form in the 19th century and the synthesis of both in the writings of Anton Reicha can show that the process of developing formal functions becomes especially acute in Haydn’s Symphony No. 39, with the two grand pauses playing a key role. Such a reading of Haydn, which seeks to reconcile “historically informed” analysis with emphatic interpretation, illustrates how the spectacular grand pauses in the Symphony No. 39 can suggest a brief suspension of not only the work’s own immanent time but the historical time of 18th-century music history.
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This is an unpublished talk given in 2010 in celebration of Chopin's 200th birthday. No updates have been made. The text represents the stage of affairs back then. Some elements of this text have been published subsequently in my articles... more
This is an unpublished talk given in 2010 in celebration of Chopin's 200th birthday. No updates have been made. The text represents the stage of affairs back then. Some elements of this text have been published subsequently in my articles «Romantic thoroughbass» and «Handwerk und Weltengrund».
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The year 2014 saw the fortieth anniversary of a groundbreaking – and by now classic – study on medieval counterpoint: Klaus-Jürgen Sachs’s Der Contrapunctus im 14. und 15. Jahrhundert. In his study, Sachs set out to verify thoroughly a... more
The year 2014 saw the fortieth anniversary of a groundbreaking – and by now classic – study on medieval counterpoint: Klaus-Jürgen Sachs’s Der Contrapunctus im 14. und 15. Jahrhundert. In his study, Sachs set out to verify thoroughly a hypothesis by Hugo Riemann: that an early fourteenth-century terminological shift from “discantus” to “contrapunctus” should be considered a symptom of a deeper transformation in counterpoint pedagogy, namely, the transformation into “regulated” and “proper” counterpoint. This transformation in the history of theory, in turn, should be considered a symptom of changes in compositional practice that Riemann and Sachs summarized under the term “ars nova”. There is much to suggest that this bundle of at least three hypotheses needs to be reconsidered and disentangled in favor of alternative pictures: to consider elements concerning conceptual history, history of theory, and histories of compositional practices separately opens new perspectives on the simultaneity of the alleged non-simultaneous.
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The “homophonic” passages usually found in motets to be sung at the culmination of the Holy Mass, the elevation, play a paradoxical role in modern scholarship. On the one hand, these passages serve as an anchor for the identification of... more
The “homophonic” passages usually found in motets to be sung at the culmination of the Holy Mass, the elevation, play a paradoxical role in modern scholarship. On the one hand, these passages serve as an anchor for the identification of the liturgical function of single motets and the cycles surrounding them; on the other hand, they are hardly ever analyzed in detail, because their “homophonic” austerity seems to be of little attraction— but also because they defy usual analytical procedures. So, what happens actually, when “nothing” happens? This is the question I will try to tackle in this presentation.
––– An extended and worked-out written version of this talk (an article provided for publication in 2016/17) will be posted here soon. Anybody interested in a draft of the article, please contact me.
The Prezi presentation with all music examples is still available here: http://prezi.com/aes3txr4iapw/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share
––– An extended and worked-out written version of this talk (an article provided for publication in 2016/17) will be posted here soon. Anybody interested in a draft of the article, please contact me.
The Prezi presentation with all music examples is still available here: http://prezi.com/aes3txr4iapw/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share
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The songs of Gilles de Bins („Binchois“) have proven a conundrum for modern readers and listeners. Although Binchois’ works belong to the most frequently copied and quoted works of the earlier 15th century and are readily available in a... more
The songs of Gilles de Bins („Binchois“) have proven a conundrum for modern readers and listeners. Although Binchois’ works belong to the most frequently copied and quoted works of the earlier 15th century and are readily available in a complete modern edition since the 1950s, they are still considered as „reticent and hermetic works“ that need „far more technical explanation“ . It is the latter I will approach in this seminar by reading Binchois’ counterpoint in historical context with special emphasis on (substitute-)contratenors, dissonance-practice and some contrapuntal commonplaces inherited from vocal „performance composition“ (Treitler). As often, what we consider „reticent“ or „hermetic“ heavily depends on what we measure as ‘normal’ or ‘clear’.
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While Anton Bruckner's musical forms have provoked time and again debates about what should be understood by musical 'form' or musical 'forms' in general and in Bruckner's symphonies in particular, such a fundamental discussion hardly... more
While Anton Bruckner's musical forms have provoked time and again debates about what should be understood by musical 'form' or musical 'forms' in general and in Bruckner's symphonies in particular, such a fundamental discussion hardly took place on Bruckner's 'harmony' . In the following I would like to give some new suggestions fin this direction. I pick up on a recent development in German-speaking music theory, namely the discussion about Generalbass and Satzmodelle. At the center of the following are the main themes of Symphony no. 7.
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Two entries for the Cambridge Haydn Encyclopedia on Haydn's Counterpoint and Compositional Process