(Monographs in Musicology) Bruce MacIntyre, George Feder - Music Philology - An Introduction To Musical Textual Criticism, Hermeneutics, and Editorial Technique-Pendragon Press (2011)

 

MUSIC P H I L O L O G Y

Musical Textual Critici Criticism sm Hermeneutics and Editorial Technique

n Introduction to

 

MUSI

PHILOLOGY

n Introduction t o Musical Textual Criticism

Hermeneutics and Editorial Technique

GEORG

FE

ER

Translated by Bruce C Macintyre

MONOGR

PHS I N MUSICOLOGY No

14

PENDRAG PEN DRAGON ON PR PRES ESS S HILLSDALE NY

 

Other Titl es in the Serie Seriess

MONOGR

PHS I N

MUSICOLOGY

No 2

La Statira ry Pietro Otto boni and Alessandro Scarlatti The Textual Sources by William C. Holmes 1983)

No. 6

The

No.

Piano and Song Didactic and o l e m i c a ~ by Friedrich Wieck The Collected Writings of Clara Schumann r Father and On/y

rt

Russolo lo 1987 1987)) of Noises by Luigi Russo

Teacher 1988)

No. 10 Confraterni and Carnevale at San Giovanni Evangelista) Florence) 1820 19 24 by Aubrey S. Garlington 1992) No. 11 Franz S chuberts Music in Peiformance Compositional Ideals) Notational Inten0 Historical Realities) Pedagogical Foundations by David Montgom Montgomery ery 20 2003 03)) No. 12 Revolving Embrace: The Waltz as Sex) Steps) and Sound by Sevin H. Yaramin 2002) No. 13 The Era fter the Baroque: Music Music and the Fine Robert ert Tallant Lau Laudon don 20 2008 08)) 1750 1900 by Rob

r ts

Cover design by Stuart Stua rt Ross

Library

of

Congress Cataloging Cataloging in Publication Data

Feder, Georg. [Musikphilologie. [Musikphilo logie. English] Music philology : an introduction to musical textual criticism, hermeneutics, and editorial technique / [George Fed Feder] er] ; translat translated ed b by y Bruc Brucee C Macintyre. cm.. -- Mon Monogr ograph aphss in mu musicolo sicology; gy; n no. o. 14) p. cm Translation Transl ation o of: f: Musikphilologi Musikphilologiee / Ge Geor org g Feder Feder.. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-57647-113-5 alk. paper) 1. Music--Editing. I Title. ML3797.F3713 2011 780.1>49--dc23 2011037123

Copyright 201 2011 1 Pen Pendra dragon gon Press

 

Table o

ontents

Foreword

v

Translator's Translato r's Preface and Acknowledgments

Vll

I. Presuppositions A. Music and Language 1

Parallel Para llelss and Diverg Divergences ences

2. Syntag Syntagma ma an d Paradigma B

Tradition and Understanding

5 7

1

Systematic Considerations

7

2

Historical Considerations

10 13

C. The Work and the Text

the Musi Musical cal Work

13

2. Awareness o f Textual Correctness

18

1 The Concept o f

II. Definition

3

A. Narrowest and Broadest Sens Sensee o f the Term

3

Musical Philology B

Bibliographical, Bibliogra phical, Antiquarian, Philo Philologic logical, al, aand nd

29

Historical Music Research III. Foundations

33

A. Sources

33

Context

34

B

C. Competence IV

38

Textual Criticism

41

Digression : Reproaches o f Positivism

43

A. Source Criticism

45

1

Specialized Sour Specialized Source ce Studies 2. Source Description a

Paper

47

b

Fascicles and bindings

49

c

Handwriting

50 52

d. Prints 3

46 47

Evaluation o f Sources

5

v  

MUSI

B

PHILOLOGY

Lower Criticism 1 Collation

58 58

Statistical Methods Methods,, codex optimus 2 Eclectic, Statistical copy-text

C

59

Guiding Manuscrip Manuscriptt

3 Filiation

63

4 Interpretation

68

5 Conjectural Criticism

69

6 Criticism with Vocal Texts

70

Higherr Crit Highe Critici icism sm and Histor History y o f the Work

71

1 Authenticity Criticism

72

2 Dating

75

3 Genre Determinati Determination on

76

Occasion, on, Purpose, aand nd 4 Determination o f Occasi

76

Performance Conditions 5 History

of

Influence

78

6 History

of

the Creative Process

80

Digression 2: Roman Romantic tic and Empirici Empiricist st Theory

81

of

Creativity 7 History

of

Influence

83

V Hermeneutics

85

A Concept and Method 1 Definition 2

n

Objection from fr om Philo Philosophi sophical cal Hermeneutics

88

3 Hermeneutic Rules (Canons)

91

4 Criticism

93

B Objects

1

85 85

Exegesis

Understanding: Methods

of

The

of

Meaning

of

of

Explanation

97

the Music Musical al Tex Text: t: Tran Transcri scription ption

97

and Performan Performance-Pract ce-Practice ice Interpreta Interpretation tion a Scoring and arrangement

b

Note

of

staves

99

formss and valu form values es

100

c Clefs

101

d Bar (measure) and bar line

102

e Diastematics

103

accidentals als f Key signature and accident

103

g Rhythm

104

h. Un-mathematical practices

of

notation

105

Vl

 

T

BLE

OF CONTENTS

i Ligature Ligaturess and colorations

10 105 5

tional nal ridd riddles les j Nota tio

10 105 5

k Annot Annotatio ations, ns, vocal tex texts, ts, text underlay

10 106 6

Figured bass

1

107

m. Performance of

of

ornaments, improvisation

appoggiaturas, cadenzas, cadenzas, embell embellishments ishments

n. Dynamics, articulation, temp tempo, o, agogics, agogics, playing play ing technique, expression

108

o Scor Scoring ing and instru instrumentati mentation on

10 109 9

p q

mount o f Th e

scoring

110

historica histo ricall instru instrument ment

111

r Tuning (temper (temperament), ament), tuning standard,

111

s Placement

111

transposition

t 2

10 108 8

Th e

Th e

of

musicians and conducting

acoustical properties the hall

and

lighting o f

Composition's Meaning [The Meaning

of

112 the

113

Work ] a For Formal mal ana analysi lysiss

113

b His Histor torica icall anal analysis ysis

117

Digression : Th e Mus Musica icall C oncep onceptt c

Content

of

Time

analysi ana lysiss an and d semant semantic ic

interpretation (herm (hermeneutic eneuticss

119 119

in

the

narrower sense) d. Pragmatic explanation and inte interpret rpretatio ation n

122

from broader contexts e

Th e

dema nd for the explanation based

on

123

''effective history'' C Addressees

of

Explanation and and Its Forms

of

125

Communication VI. Work Critici Criticism sm

127

Digression 4: Musica Musicall Aesthet Aesthetic ic

of

the Variant

131

VII. Editorial Tec Technique hnique

137

A. Facsimile

137

B Diploma Diplomatic tic Editio n

140

Vil

 

MUSI

C

Edition

D

Critical Critic al Edi Editio tio n

of

the Corrected Text

Comment on the Use E.

Th e

F The

G

H.

PHILOLOGY

141

142 of

the Com Compute puterr

14 148 8

Historical and Criti Critical cal Edi Editio tion n

149

Scholarly and Practical Edi Edition tion

152

Urtext Urte xt Edition Th e

the Histo History ry

15 155 5

the History o f Textual Criticism in Music

159

emand

of

VIII. Remarks

for an Edition Based Transmission

on

154 15 4 on

Selected Bibliography

163

Index

of

Persons

169

Index

of

Topics and Term Termss

178

Geo rg Feder (1927(1927-2006) 2006)

195 19 5

Vlll

 

  oreword Music philology o r musical philology (Ger. Musikphilologie is a term that occasion sionally ally enco untere d but not generally ado adopte pted. d. Certainly its linguistic is occa propriety can be debated. Indis Indisputab putable le is the fact tha t a philologi philological cal met method hod,, used d with music. I n addition, there is essentially o r whatever one calls it, can be use unanimity with regard to the method's method' s appl application. ication. Nevertheles Nevertheless, s, in musicol musicologi ogi cal literature prior to the present study's initial publication, there had been no book describing the philologica philologicall method and its musical applications, aside from Guido Adler's appraisal in i n his Methode der Musikgeschichte (1919). The following introduction to the subject was written at the suggestion o f the Wissenschaftli Wissenschaftli che Buchgesellschaft, which published its original German version in 1987. I t was the first attempt to fill this lacuna. Detailed consideration o f all questions cannot be expected in such an introduction that is, by necessity, limited in si size ze.. Inde ed, I have att emp empted ted a systematic description o f the main points o f view. Musica practica is the center o f focus throughout.

t

goes without saying that texts o n music theory, as far

as they are verbal text texts, s, can be examined with philo philological logical methods. Because o f

the composite source situation in voca vocall composit ions i.e. a transmission that is both literary and musical) there will be only brief treatment o f questions per

taining t o the examination o f son song g tex texts. ts. essays ys ref referr erred ed to in the text are are mentioned in the foot The books and essa notes. A selection o f them is also compiled i n the bibliography at the end, togeth er with some additi additional onal publ publications ications not referred to in th thee text. All title titless are present ed witho ut biblio bibliographi graphical cal pretensions and as concisely as possible.

The preparation o f this book was assisted by its presentation in draft form to musicology students at Indiana University (Bloomington) in the spring

semester o f 1985, as well as by the discussion o f some o f its ideas with my colleague Horst Walter at the Haydn Institute (Cologne).

Horst Walter and

Robert von Zahn were also also helpfu helpfull in locating literature. HansHans-Jurge Jurgen n Horn

kindly looke d through several chapters in manuscript. o f ,Mannheim University kindly Margret Weitenste Weitensteiner iner o f

rftstadt helped by word and deed in the revisions,

as did Horst Walter. To all helpers and advisors, both named and unnamed, I

express my sincere thanks thanks.. I a m particularly grateful t o Bruce Macintyre for his preparation o f the present English translation, which is based o n a slightly revised version o f the original book. Cologne, Cologn e, March 19 1986 86 - March 1987 and October 2003 - October 2005 Georg Feder

lX

 

Translator s

reface

Acknowledgments The transla translator tor wa wass fort fortunate unate and privile privileged ged to know and work with Georg Feder

over several years, first as a contributor to the Joseph Hqydn Werke edition o f Haydn s st string ring trios (Rei (Reihe he X XI) I) aand nd tthe hen n as a doctoral student working at the Haydn Institute in Cologne, Germany, o n a DAAD fellowship (1978-80) t o research eightee eighteenth-cent nth-century ury Viennese conce concerted rted mas masses. ses. As each page o f the present book demonstrates, Dr. Feder was an awesomely gifted, erudite, and impeccable scholar and music editor o f the highest standards. The translator remains eternally grateful to his dissertation advisor, the late Barry S. Brook (The Graduate Center o f C.U.N.Y), for introducing him to Haydn scholarship in 1975 and for paving the way for him to become acquainted with and work closely with Dr. Feder in the decades following. Every page o f this compact but incredibly informative

handbook

demonstrate demon stratess Dr Dr.. Peder s impressive musician musicianship, ship, precision, acumen, and as as tute pedagogy. Three passag passages es th that at exemplify his high p professio rofessional nal yet musical and practical standards o f scholarly editing, as witnessed by th this is translator first first hand, inclu include: de: The power o f imagination o r fantasy is required not only from

composers but al also so,, in decreasing de degree grees, s, from later perf perform orming ing musicians, from textual critics and elucidators, as well as in general from each reader o f the musical text and even fro from m listeners. listeners. (Ch (Ch.. I, section C/1, The Concept o f the Musical Wor Work) k) Musical competence is the ability o f thin thinking king musically (musical logic) and judging musically (the sense for musical aesthetic worth and musical sty style le). ). Such compet competence ence also includes mastery o f the traditional tradit ional mus musical ical language (ski (skill ll in reading, playing, and singing

music, as well as in harmony and counterpoint) and knowledge o f the repertoire. repertoire. (C (Ch. h. III, section C Competence) U p until the late eighteenth century, however, their notation [i.e.

dyna dy nami mics cs]] rema remains ins incomplete wh en compar ed with our present day expectations. Often they appear inexactly inexactly placed in the part partss o r score. We should nonetheless judge with the ear not the

rye

(Ch. V

secton B/1, The Meaning o f th thee Music Musical al Tex Text: t: Transcr Transcripti iption on and Performance-Practice Performance-Pract ice Interpretation)

x  

TRANSLAT OR S PREFA PREFACE CE,, A CKNOWLEDGMEl\TTS For example, after spending spe nding hour s (or d day ays) s) po nde ring ri ng a tho thorny, rny, philol philological ogical

ly ambiguous, and ultimat ultimately ely unsolvable pa passage ssage i n one o f Haydn's string trios, Dr. Feder, despite his thorough understanding o f musico-philological methods and concepts, would ofte n smil smile, e, turn to this editor, and say:

But Haydn was

always a practical man. Then we would agree to select the most practical and edition. ion. music l variant as the solution for the edit The translator was delighted when Georg Feder accepted his his offer of fer to under

take the pre sent English trans translatio lation. n. H e was assisted with initial transla translation tion o f chapter I V (section (sectionss A an and d B by the followin following g students from a doctoral seminar at The Graduate Center o f The City University o f New York in spring 1989: Hector Colon, Eliza beth Gaver, Don Hulbert, Linda Kobler, Thomas Leff, An

thony Netz, Rebecca Pechefsky, and Mary (Robin) (Robin) Thomas . Spec Special ial thanks also go to Dr. Stephen C. Fisher who completed an initial translation o f chapter V (section A in 1995. I n addition to the above-named persons, the translator thanks the Rutgers

University musicology students o f Professor Rufus Hallmark's spring 2009 mu sic-editing seminar who in so carefully read through the penultimate translatio translation n and discussed the work with him. The suggestions o f Timothy L. Cochran and Joanna Gibson from that seminar were espe especial cially ly helpful to the translator in the

final review o f the manuscript. The trans translator lator als also o apprec appreciates iates th e partial-pay fellowsh fellowship ip leav leavee o f 2002-

2003 from Brooklyn College o f The City University o f New York that, among other things, allowed him the time to complete the translation's first complete

draft and begin discussing its content (and related questions that arose) with Dr. Feder over the ensuing two years. Indeed, in 2003-2005 Georg Feder read, clarified, and amended the entire manuscript (inc (includ luding ing the notes and bibl bibliogr iography aphy), ), which benefited enormousl y from his meticulous review. correct

(How could it be otherwise in a

book o n music philology philology?) ?)

philologically

Dr. Feder was assisted in his review o f

the English Engl ish version by hi hiss friend Margr Margret et Weitenste Weitensteiner. iner. Additio Additional nal thanks go now to Ortrud Feder for supporting this posthumous publication o f this long

germinating translation o f her father's monograph. The translator also deeply appreciates the support, assistance, and extended

patience o f Robert Kessler o f Pendragon Press in getting this long promised, important musicological study finally into print. Georg Feder died o n December 11, 2006, at the age o f 79.

Nonetheless,

publication o f this English Engli sh version ful fulfi fill llss a co colleg llegial ial pro mis misee th that at the ttransla ransla tor made to t he a uthor over two decade decadess ago ago.. H e remains eternally grateful that the author entrusted him with the honor o f bringing this critical critical text text's 's wis wisdom dom and

Xl

 

MUSI

PHILOLOGY

depth to English-s English-speaking peaking profe professional ssionalss in the pe rformi ng arts and humanities

o f the th e twenty-first ce century. ntury. May its philological principles and provocative dis

cussions inspire musical scholars for years to come. RUCE C MacINTYRE

Brooklyn Broo klyn College (C.U.N (C.U.N.Y) .Y) August 2011 Brooklyn, N.Y

eneral comments

Readers should keep in mind that Dr. Feder was writ

ing with the perspe perspective ctive o f a musicologist in th thee late 1 1980 980s. s. Working with Dr. Feder, the translator has made some emendations and additions when more recent disc discover overies, ies, ne w publications, or electronic technologies warrant them. Most translator annotations o r commen comments ts appear in br bracke ackets ts [ ] in the text or

after the abbreviation Tr.

note

in the footno footnotes. tes.

For improved transparen transparency cy o f documen documentation tation for the text, the separate bi bib b

liography in the origin original al German version has essen essentia tially lly been mov moved ed into the text's text 's foot footnote notess where tthe he references ar aree now full citations. The short, two-part bibliography at the end o f this volume, which supplements sources found in the notes, is a new one o ne pro provided vided by Dr. Feder in 20 2005. 05. German style o f source citation is is p preserved reserved there.

xii

 

I

PRESUPPOSITIONS A

1

Parallel Paral lelss and

usic

and an d Language Languag e

ive iverge rgence ncess

Philology is love o f words and the mental im images ages manifested in words. Accord ing to AUGUST BOECK.H's paradoxical sounding formulation, philolog philology y is the recognition o f that whic h has been recognized. 1 By recognize d Boeckh refer referss to all objectified intellectual and artistic productions, chiefly the language itself and then the wri tten works o f poets, thinkers, speakers speakers,, and historians. Accord ingly, philologists concern themselves with the grammar and dictionary o f the language, with the explanation and criticism o f individual written works, with the creativ creativee output o f authors, and with literary history i n general. As paleogra phers, philologists als also o deciph decipher er texts texts.. Quite ana analog logou ously sly,, mus music ic philology concerns it self wi th t hat which has been musically form formulat ulated. ed. Music is not only a pleasant stimulation o f the audi tory nerves but also, according to semiotic theory, a system o f communica tion, a language. Like language, music evolves over time 2 ; similarly, music also exhibits intellectually conceived structures (e.g., rhythms) and makes use o f a written notation. Compose rs think and wri write. te. Thei r act activi ivity ty i s

in

EDUARD

HANSLICK's words- mind's work in a medium made for the mind.

3

They

use a notat ion which, li like ke Wester Western n writing writing,, moves horiz horizontally ontally fro from m left to rig right ht4 (indeed with vertical protrusions and, in scores, multi-layered). From this nota tion the composition can be performed or, by the specially gifted and trained, read in the abstract (though with greater difficulty than a literary work). The musical musi cal tex texts ts t hat have been genera ted over the centuri centuries es with the help o f nota tion constit constitute ute our musical literature,

5

whose ultimate purpose indeed is not

August Boeckh, Enryklopadie und Methodologie der philologischen Wissenschaften, ed. E. Bratuscheck; 2nd ed., ed. R Klassmann (Leipzig, 1886), 10f. 1

Thrasybulos Georgiades, Georgiades, Kleine S chriften (Tutzing, 1977), 7 4

2

ein Arbeiten des Geistes in geistfahigem Material Material ; Eduard Hanslick, Vom Musikalisch-S Musikalisch-S chiinen: Ein Beitrag zur Revision der Asthetik der Tonkunst (Leipzig, 1854; reprint ed., Darmstadt, 1965), 35. 3  

Heinrich Besseler Besseler and Peter Giilke, Giilke, S chtijtbild der mehrstimmigen Musik from the series Musikgeschichte in Bildern I I I / 5 (Leipzig, n.d.), 12.

4

5

this word's use co mpare, e. e.g. g.,, C F Whistling's Handbuch der musikalischen Uteratur, oder allgemeines .rystematisch geordnetes Verzeichnis gedruckter Musikalien (Leipzig, 1817); Emil Vogel, Bibliothek der gedruckten weltlichen Vocalmusik Italiens: us den Jahren 1500-1700 enthaltend die Utteratur der Frottole Madrigale, Canzonette Arien, Opern etc., I (Berlin, 1892); W Altmann's Orchester-Uteratur-Katalog, 2nd ed. (Leipzig, 1926). [Tr note: In English, musi c literatur e also refers to writings about music as 0n

well as the musical repertoire itself.]

1

 

MUSIC PHILOLOGY

to be read, but to be sung, playe played, d, and he heard. ard. Sometimes indivi individual dual musical works-just like literary works-refer to one another through musical quota

tions. According to LEO TREITLER musical paleography yields the following re sult: I t is unmista unmistakable kable th that at music musical al notat notation ion [in the shapes o f the first

neumes o f the nin ninth th century century]] originated with a very close rel relation ation ship to language, to the writing o f language, and to the teaching o f language. 7 ERNST MACH, o n the other hand, describes a mathematical side o f musical

notation: A nota ted musi musical cal compositi composition on is a geometric representation by means o f a curve in which the durations are presented as the ab scissas, the logarithms o f the sound frequencies as ordinates.

8

These two explanations point to musi musicc theory' theory'ss dual dualism ism between the mathemat ical and the linguistic explanation. The mathematica mathematical-physical l-physical theory o f music, which Mach advocates, is better established and has an older tradition than the linguistic type, yet it explains le less. ss. Such mathemati mathematical-physical cal-physical theo theory ry does not go beyond the fundamental, which in antiquity and in the th e Middle A Ages ges wa wass the t he art o f interval calculation expressed as mathematical proportions o n the mono chord. Such the theor ory y also stri strives ves to explain from a speculative perspective, e. e.g. g.,, the harmony o f the spheres. spheres. This mathematical explanation o f music resounds in LEIBNIZ's ofte n quote d senten sentence: ce: Musica est exercitium arithmeticae occultum nescientis

s

numerare animi.  

(Music is the hid hidden den arithmetical exerc exercise ise o f a mind unconscious that it is calculating.) Nevertheless, complicated compl icated musical structures have scar scarcel cely y ever been explained by mathematics, but more often by analogy with language. That was already Cf

Gernot Gruber,

Das musikalische Zitat als historisches und systematisches Problem,

Musicologica Austriaca I (1977). 7

Leo Treider, Die Entstehung der abendlandischen Notenschrift, Die Musikforschung 37 (1984): 261; cf idem The Early History o f Music Writing in the West, Journal ef the American Musicological Sociery 35/2 (Summer 1982): 237. Ernst Mach,

8

Uber die anschauliche Darstellung einiger Lehren der musikalischen Akustik,

fiir Mathematik und Pf}ysik 10 (1865): 427. Zeitschriftfiir Zeitschrift

See Rudol f Haase: Leibniz in Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart ed. F Blume (1960), 8: 500, who cites a Leibniz letter of 1712 as the source source for the quotation. quotation. Source for the English translation of the quotation is R Haase, Leibniz, The New Grove (1980), 10: 627. 9

2

 

1 PRESUPPOSITIONS

the case in the Middle Ages, the heyday o f mathematical music theory. For example, HUCBALD ca.900 designated the closing section o f a song with the rhetorical term clausula, 10 and in the thirteenth t hirteenth century the music theorist J 0 HANNES D E GARLANDIA, borrowing from rheto rhetoric, ric, named the repetitions repetitions o f a section o f melody colores. I n the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, music as one o f the seven liberal arts approached even more strongly the artes dicendi [spoken art arts] s] o f the Trivium (grammar, rhetoric, and dialectics Uogic] 12 with out giv giving ing up its place in the Quadri Quadrivium vium (al (along ong with wit h arithmetic, ge geometry, ometry, and astronomy). JOACHIM BURMEISTER was the first to analyze composi

tions according to rhetorical fig figur ures es.. Thes Thesee we were re referred to by Sc Schiit hiitz's z's pupil CHRISTOPH BERNHARD (after 1657) as an explanation o f the then modern musical style, which he described as an enrichment o f the old old,, stri strict ct contrapun tal style style thr ou ough gh mu musical-rhet sical-rhetorical orical figu figures res.. GUIDO ADLER [1911] borrowed today's toda y's historic historically ally desc descriptive riptive co conce nce pt o f musical style style fro from m art a rt history, the field in which ALOIS RIEGL had successfully established such an approach during the nineteent nineteenth h ce centu ntury ry.. 13 ) According to ATHANASIUS KIRCHER, the anal ogy with rhetoric r hetoric als also o exi exists sts i n the compositional composit ional process. Lik Likee the writing o f a speech, the process o f composition can be broken down into inventio) dispositio, and elocutio. (Rhetorical figures are part o f the elocutio.) The composition itself was viewed as similar to the structure o f a speech. Cont Continuin inuing g from the ffirst irst attempts made by GALLUS DRESSLER in the sixteenth century, JOHANN MATTHESON, in naming the sect sections ions o f a musica musicall composition, chose terms that describe the parts o f a speech: exordium (introduction), narratio (report), propositio (discourse), confirmatio (corroboration), confutatio (confutation; refuta tion), and peroratio (conclusion) .14 Since the late eighteenth century music has been explained less by parallels with rhetoric than by parallels with feeling, as well as with thinking and lan guage in general. IMMANUEL KANT and his contemporaries called music the Sprache der Affekt Affektee ( languag languagee o f the emotions ) which carries out the

Cf. Siegfr Siegfried ied Schmalzriedt, Schmalzriedt, Clausula in Handwiirterbuch der musikalischen Terminologie, ed. H. H. Eggebrecht.

C£ Riemann Musiklexikon (Sachteil), 12th ed. (Mainz, 1967), 179; also M. Bielitz, Musik und Grammatik: Studien zur mittelalterlichen Musiktheorie (Munich, 1977). 1977). Tr. note: note : In the first century BCE, the Roman orator Cicero and others had compared a painter's use o f color to rhetorical ornamentation. 11

12

Cf. Martin Ruhnke, Joachim Burmeister: Ein Beitrag zur Musiklehre um 1600 (Kassel, 1955), 132ff.; Rolf Dammann, Der Musikbegriff im deutschen Barock (Cologne, 1967), 93££.; George]. Buelow, Rhetoric and Music Music in The New Grove (1980), vol. 15. 13

C£ H. Bauer, Kunsthistorik: Eine kritische Einfiihrung in das S udium der Kunstgeschichte (Munich, 1976), 74££. 4Tr. note: See Johann Mattheson,

er

vollkommene Capellmeister (Hamburg, 1739), Pt. II, ch. 14,

par. 4££.

3  

MUSIC PHILOLOG Y

delivery o f an excited tone o f speech with all its emphasis.

15

The general term

Tonsprache ( musical language ) 16 came into use, which then allowed music to

be com pared partly with poetry a nd partly with pro prose. se. 17 Ever since the classic period perio d in Weima Weimarr and Vienna, one has spoken o f musica musicall turn turnss o f phrase, ideas, and thoughts, 18 o f harmony as th thee logic o f music, o f th thee logic o f the structure (Satz), and o f musical logic 19 and grammar. 20 During the nineteenth century it became customary to speak o f musica musicall thinking and o f thinking in tones (Den ken in Tonen), 21 o f tone poets (Tondichter), 22 o f symphonic poems (FRANZ LISZ1), and o f tone poems (RICHARD STRAUSS). Ideally, one would like to draw exact parallels between music and language, musical art and poetic art, the musical work and the literary work, so that com mon theore theoretical tical concepts could be used as precisely as possible. Unfortunately

this is feasible to only a limited extent, for several o f the par parall allels els interse intersect ct each other. This limitation iiss prob probably ably because the boundaries b betwee etween n mu musical sical logic as the teaching o f musical thinking), thinking), music musical al gram mar as the teaching o f musiImmanuel Kant, Kritik der Urteilskraft, 3rd ed. (1799), ed. K. Vorlander (1927; Hamburg, 1954) §53; c£ Paul Moos, Die Philosophie der Musik von Kant bis Eduard von Hartmann, 2nd ed. (Stuttgart, 1922), 24. 15

C£ Klaus W Niemoller, Der sprachhafte Charakter der Musik in: Vortrage o f the Rheinisch Westfalische Westfalisc he Akademie der Wissenschaften, Geisteswissenschaften, G 244 (Opladen, 1980); 1980); Fritz Reckow, Tonsprache in Handwiirterbuch der musikalischen Terminologie, ed. Eggebrecht. Cf., e.g., Ingmar Bengtsson, Bengtsson, 'Verstehen': 'Verstehen': Prolegomena zu einem einem semiotisch-hermeneutischen semiotisch-hermeneutischen Ansatz in: P. Faltin and H.-P. Reinecke, ed., Musik und Verstehen: Aufsdtze zur semiotischen Theorie, Asthetik und S oziologie der musikalischen Rezeption (Cologne, 1973), 16; 16; H. Dan Danuser user,, Musikalische Prosa in Handwih1erbuch der musikalischen Terminologie, ed. Eggebrecht. 7

For early evidence o f using turns o f phras phrasee [Ger. [Ger. Wendungen ] there is Tiirk 178 1789; 9; cf. J MS 36 (1983): 213. Once I had seized O n ideas consider, e.g., Haydn's declaration: upon an idea, my whole endeavor was to develop and sustain it in keeping with the rules o f art. See Griesinger (1810), p. 114 [Gotwals trans. p. 61].-The term thou ghts [G [Ger er.. Gedanken ] has been used at least since J A Birnbaum's 1739 defense o f JS. Bach, particularly particularly in: in: keyboard keyboa rd works where with much pleasure one encounters not common but rare ideas and thoughts. See Bach-Dokumente II: 347.-Friedrich Schlegel (1798) saw a certai certain n tendency toward philosophy in all all purely instru instrumental mental music : Must not the purely instrumental music itself create a text? And is not its theme thus developed, established, varied, and contrasted like the topic meditated upon in a philosophical train o f ideas? (Fragmente, 144). 18

19

C£ Hugo Riemann, Musikalische Logik Hauptziige der physiologischen und p.rychologischen Begriindung unseres Musik.rystems, Leip Leipzig, zig, n.d. (187 (1873); 3); Hans Han s Heinrich Eggebr echt, Musik als Tonsprache, Archiv iir Musikwissenschaft 18 (1961): 96; Hermann Beck, Methoden der Werkana{yse in Musikgeschichte und Gegenwart (Wilhelmshaven, 1974), 120ff. See Otto Jahn, Beethoven Beet hoven und die die Ausgaben seiner Werke, Werke, Die Grenzboten, Jg. 23, I Semester, vol. I (Leipzig, 1864): 271 ff.; Hugo Riemann, Musikalische Syn taxis: Grundrij einer harmonischen Satzbildungslehre (Leipzig, 1877), xiv; Egge brecht bre cht (19 (1961) 61),, 95. 2

Riemann (1877), (1877), 24, 24, 119; 119; Guido Gui do Adler, Adler, Umfang Umfang,, Methode Metho de und Ziel der Musi Musikwissenschaft, kwissenschaft, Vierte Jahrschriftfiir Musikwissenschcift 1 (1885): 14; c£ Eggebrecht (1961), 75.

21

22

Cf. Moos (1922), 61.

4

 

1

PRESUPPOSITIONS

cal language), and musical poetics, rhetoric, and style as the teachin teachings gs o f musi cal structure) are themselves unclear. Let us take, for example, a grammatical concept like

syntax.

HUGO RIEMANN (1877) understood musical syntax

as the teaching o f harmo nic progressions, which earl earlier ier authors had designated 23

as musical logic. Other writers understood syntax as the formal organizat organization, ion,

which, according to older tradition e.g., in ALEXANDRE CHORON [1808]), had belonged wit h musi musical cal rhetoric rhetoric,, whil whilee R iemann characterized such structure

as musical rhythm and metrics.

4

The linguist ROMAN JAKOBSON offers an apparent solution to the prob

lem o f finding parallel parallelss b betwe etween en music and language when he says that music's conventions are only phonological. 25 Probably more correct, however, is the observation o f the aesthetician ROBERT ZIMMERMAN who confers an in dependent value [i.e. status] to the phonetic element i n music, but not to the

phonetic element in poetry. 26

,

2 Synta Syntagma gma and Paradigma Certainly music involves a special kind o f artificial language: The composer invents and think thinks. s. But, remo removed ved from all objective

reality, he invents and thinks in tones. (HANSLICK) 27 I n this way musical semantics-the teaching o f the abstract meaning o f mu

sic-remains most controversial. One side joins BORIS ASAF'YEV in point

ing out that certain intonations -such as

individual short motives, favorite

successions o f intervals, beginnings and closing formulas (cadences) that have become obligatory''-are comparable to words, 28 carrying certain connotations

along with themselves. For others, music without words is also without con cepts, and its content is not translatable into another language.   9 Still the lin guistic character o f musical expression cannot be denied. If, following ROUS SEAU, 30 a dictionary-like compil ation o f musi musical cal inton atio ns is considered 23

Niemoller (1980), 8, speaks o f the

formal-syntaktische Gliederung

[ forma formal-synta l-syntactical ctical

structure ] o f music. Hugo Riemann, System der musikalischen Rhythmik und Metrik Leipzig, 1903. 5

See Ian D. Bent,

' ~ n a l y s i s

in The New Grove (1980), 1: 365.

26

Cf. Cf. Moos (1922 (1922), ), 258. Recent publications publication s on the linguistic aspects o f music include J P. Fricke, ed., ie Sprache der Musik Kolner Beitrage zur Musikforschung, 165 (Regensburg, 1989).

Hanslick (1854), 102£. Der Componist dichtet dichtet und denkt. Nur dichtet und denkt er, entriickt aller gegenstandlichen Realitat, in Tonen. 7

28

B.W. Assafjew-Glebow,

29

Cf. Niemoller (1980), 18, 21.

30

Ibid., 11.

T s c h a i k o w s ~ s

Eugen Onegin (Potsdam, 1949), 22, 18, 126.

5

 

MUSIC PHILOLO GY

possible, i f on onee speaks hypothetically o f an int intonat onat ion vocabu vocabulary, lary,

31

o f a copia

Jormularum [supply o f formulae] analogous to a copia verborum [supply o f words],

and i f one demands a musical lexikon formularum modeled after a lexikon phraseologicum,32 a dictionary o f typical musical formulae, 33 then this suggests that

music has collective ideas 34 which return uniformly or in a continuous evolu tion and mutation

35

within one style o r even over the centuries, from compo

sition to composition, whether o r not these ideas actually carry a conceptual meaning along with them.

This phenomenon, whic which h is dec decisive isive for music's linguistic charact character er and co com m prehensibility, is best underst un derstood ood wit with h concepts from lin lingui guisti stics cs and litera literary ry hi his s tory. Since FERDINAND D E SAUSSURE, linguistics has distinguished the associative associat ive (what L. HJELMSLEV call callss the t he paradigma paradigmatic) tic) relationships ffrom rom the syntagmatic (which H. FREI calls discursive). 36 The syntagmatic [or syntactical] relationship o f linguistic elements is that resulting resulting from their position within the sentence; the paradigmatic relationship includes words that can be associated with a particular word. 37 To demonstrate this distinction a literary scholar uses a musical example: he compares the .ryntagma with the succes succession sion o f harmonies in a chorale, the paradigma with all the inversions o f a G major chord. 38 Thus the paradigma

is not

a specific model but rather a class o f expressions that are

equivalent in some way and fr from om wh which ich o one ne express expression ion iiss sele selected cted.. The .ryntagma is

the combination o f the selected expressions in the temporal order o f the 39

composition's structure. The concept o f topos in rhetoric is related to the grammatical concept o f paradigma. I n music, however, the boundaries between these two concepts are

blurred. WILIBALD GURLITT (1941) characterizes the investigation o f musiB.W Assafjev-Glebow, Die musikalische Form als Prozefl, ed. 1976), 286; Assafjev (1949), 18. 31

D

Lehmann and E. Lippold (Berlin,

Guido Adler, Methode der Musikgeschichte (Leipzig, 1919), 33, 34, 107.

32

Denes Bartha, Thematic Themat ic Profile Profile and Character in the Quartet-Finales o f Joseph Haydn, Haydn, Studia Musicologica 11 (Budapest, 1969), 35£ 33

  Collective concep con ceptio tion n [or mental men tal image ; Ger. kollektive Vorstellung] Vorstellung] is a notion that seems to go back to Emile Durkheim; see Th. M Scheerer, Ferdinand de Saussure: Rezeption und Kritik (Darmstadt, 1980), 131. 34

Assafjev (1976), 23. C£ H. E. Brekle, Der Theorienpluralismus in der Linguistik in: A. Diemer, ed., Der Methodenund Theorienpluralismus in den Wissenscheften Studien zur Wissenschafts Theorie, vol. 6 Q\ieisenheim, 1971), 261; Scheerer (1980), 53, 59; c£ H. Flechsig, Studien zu Theorie und Methode musikalischer Ana yse (Munich, 1977), 55ff. 35

36

37

Scheerer (1980),

38

J

39

M

101£

Link, Literaturwissenschaftliche Grundbegriffe (Munich, 197 4), 39. Maren-Griesbach, Methoden der Literaturwissenschaft (Munich, 1970;

th

ed., 1977), 113ff.

°Wilibald Gurlitt, N achwort to Arnold Arno ld Scherin Schering, g, Das Symbol in der Musik (Leipzig, 1941), 184.

6

 

1

PRESUPPOSITIONS

cal topos as the recognition o f the reuse, modification, and revision o f certain typical themes, formulae, and turns o f phrase which Asaf Asaf'yev 'yev means with intonati on.

40

thus

almost the same thing

Sin Since ce ERNST ROBERT CURTIUS

1948), literary scholarship has described topol' as the content-driven cont ent-driven literar literary y mo

tifs which have recurred repeatedly since antiquity. I n music history-where in deed the time spans are much shorter-there are similar correspondences, namely topoi like like the chasse and the pastorale

opera. 4

41

o r the typical typical march-duet in gran grand d

I n this this wa way y the co concept ncept o f topos connects with the conc ept o f genre.

Consequently the paradigmatic-in a sense that includes both topoi and genres-occurs at all levels o f composition: from the smallest building parts

( elementary signs in the parlance o f information theory43) to the large struc tures (or super signs ), the genres (symphony, (symphony, opera, mas mass, s, etc. etc.). ). Toge the therr

with the syntagmatic as the framework o f musical thought, the paradigmatic establishes the language-like character o f music.

B Traditio Tradition n and Understandi Unders tanding ng 1

Systematic Considerations Musical understanding presupposes that the

stereotypes o f the imagina

tion 44 corresponding t o the paradigmata are much the same for the composer, performer, and listener.

The composer freely shapes the syntagmatic fore

ground as he reproduces, varies, o r evades the paradigmata (in the language o f information theory theory::

sign models ) more o r less unconsciously. The listener

succeeds i n comprehending a piece o f music by the fact that he more o r less unconsciously anticipates, recognizes, or implicates in his hearing the latently present background paradigmata. Information theor theory y expresses it in this way:

The models contained in the sign structures presented must coin

cide wholly o r in part with the sign models that are already stored in the brain. 45 41

0n

the chasse see: Alexand er Ringer, The Chasse as Musical Topic o f the 18th Century, Journal

o the American Musicological Society 6 (1953); on the pastorale see: H. Jung, Die Pastorale: Studien

Z14r

Geschichte eines musikalischen Topos (Bern, 1980). Leopold Kantner, Zur Genese d er Marschduette in der Grand Opera, Anzeigerderiisterreichischen Akademie der Wissenschajten Philosophisch-historische Klasse Jg. 113, no. 15 (1976). 42

43

Herbert W. Franke, Phiinomen Kunst: Die kybernetischen Grundlagen der Asthetik (Cologne, 1974).

44

2 . Lissa, Uber die Prozessualitat im Musikwerk in: B. M. Jarustowski, ed., Intonation und Gestalt in der Musik, Beitrage und Abhandlungen der Musikwissenschafter sozialistischer Lander

(Moscow, 1965), 371. 45

Fran ke (1974), 122.

7

 

MUSI

PHILOLOGY

Accordingly, the creation and understanding o f music can be represented schematically as in diagrams 1 and 2. To a greater o r lesser degree, a musician has the additional capability o f being able to transform a musical text prima vista (at sight) into int o music, as well as to transform music that is heard or imagined into a cor-

responding musical text. The notated transmission speaks to him because the oral, audible, colloquial tradition enl enlive ivens ns and an d supplements it.46

traditional stereotypes o f the imagination

repetition, modification, avoidance

fom1ative action fom1ative acti on fantasy iagram

:

of

The Creation o f Music

traditional

auditory

stereotyp ster eotypes es of o f the

impression

imagination

comparative comprehension iagram

2:

The Understanding Understanding

Inversely, he can notate music because notation at his disposal.

he

o f Music

has an obligatory, traditional

Charles Seeg Seeger, er, Prescriptive and Descriptive Music Music Writing, Writing, The Musical Quarter J 44 19 58): 18 186; 6; Geo rg von Dadelsen, Uber das Wechselspiel von Musik und Notation in: Festschrift Walter Gerstenberg zum 60. Geburtstag, ed. G. v. Dadelsen and A. Holschneider (Wolfenbiittel, 1964), 18.

46

 

1 PR

SUPPOSITIONS

(Whether new notational systems that are occasionally proposed could simp simplify lify score reading is doubtful for traditional music music.. I t remains to be seen whether in dividualized graphic notations, with which various various c omposer omposerss sin since ce about 19 50 have set down their avant-garde compositions, will lead to a new tradition.) The dependence o f mus musical ical understandi ng o n tradition is important for both the ethnographical and the historical perspecti perspectives. ves. Musical under understan standing ding is not

the result o f mere manipulation as believed by one emancip atory music ped agogy47 that encourages a cosmopolitan consumption o f sound recordings. 48

Rather, musical understanding rests upon a living transmission connected to a community o f substance and tradition

[ Substa Substanznz- und Traditionsgemein

schaft ]49 and to a particular cultural sphere. 50 Like the training in one's mother tongue and its literature, musical

educat education ion is-according to WITTGEN 51

STEIN's ''language-play theory'' (Sprachspieltheorie)

  the

training i n a living cultural cultur al activity (encultur (enculturation). ation). Log Logica ically lly,, ethno ethnomusic musicology, ology, whic which h studies the diversity o f traditional music cultures, has questioned the existence o f musical universals and has replaced the idealistic concept o f one general musical lan

guage with the many empirical, regional music languages encountered through out the world. 52 I n order to not experience oriental music as merely an exotic

attraction but rather to be able to understand i t as an insider, we must learn it

like a foreign language, not just theoretically but, to a cert certain ain degree, pract practica ically lly,, through as far-reaching an acculturation as possible, for the comprehension o f

the music's cultural function is als also o important . I n contrast to musical cultures elsewhere, Western art music presents a unity that is stronger than European folk music and different from national literatu literatures. res.

Accordingly, unlike the philological fie fields lds o f Roma Romance nce languages languages,, Germanic lan guages, Slavic languages, etc., Western music does not need any sub-divisons in

Cf. N Linke, Wertproblem und Musikerziehung: Empirische Untersuchungen und Materialien Zflr Begriindung einer Wertdidaktik der Music. (\Volfenbiittel, 1977), e.g., 23. 47

48

Cf.

N

Linke, Philosophie der Musikerziehung (Regensburg, 1976), 80.

Heinrich Besseler, Grundfragen der Musikasthetik,'' Musikasthetik,'' Jahrbuch der Musikbibliothetk Peters fur 1926, Jg. 33 (Leipzig, 1927), 78. 49

Barry S. Brook, Music, Musicology, Musicology, and Related Disciplines: O n Perspective and Interconnectedness in: A Musical Offering: Essqys in Honor o Martin Bernstein, ed. E. H. Clinkscale and C Brook (New York, 1977), 77. 50

Ludwig Wittgenstein, Philosophische Untersuchungen (1953; Frankfurt am Main, 1977); see Jurgen Habermas, Zur Logik der Sozialwissenschaften, Philosophische Rundschau Beiheft 5 (Tiibingen, 1967), 151£. 51

the expression Musiksprache see the remark o f Otto Kinkeldey in: in: I.M.S. Kongrejlbericht New York 1961 (Kassel, 1962), II: 157; Mantle Hood, Music, the Unknown in: Musicology, ed. F LL Harrison, M. Hood, C V Palisca (Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1963; reprint ed., Westport, CT, 1974), 244£.; K. P. Wachsmann, ''African Music, Musica Indigena (197 5 : 36££. 52

0n

9

 

MUSI

PHILOLOGY

its music phil philology. ology. Specializations in the philol philology ogy o f music can be made, how ev ever er,, according to th thee provenance provenan ce o f musica musicall sources and other useful materials, the various langu languages ages o f the texts set to music, and the historical documents, as well as according to the need for attention to national sensitivities. 2 Historic al Considerations

A generation ago, a division into older and newer music history was suggested,53 correspon corre sponding ding to the divisi division on int into o older and newer Germ Germani anicc stu studie dies. s.

This dis dis

tinction made sense because, as gene generally rally understandable as Western art music can be in a synchronous cross-section, it is poorly understood in the diachronous lat eral view [[over over several periods]. As the or oral al trad traditi ition on bec become omess weaker over time, comprehe comp rehensio nsion n diminis diminishes, hes, and the stereotypes o f imagination fade indeed

n

a stronger stron ger measure tthan han wit with h liter literary ary tra tradition. dition. W e can understand Luther's transla tion o f the Bible as soon as we read up o n several modes o f style and expression thatt have bec tha become ome u unfamil nfamiliar. iar. Certainly we can feel that the music o f Luther's time e.g., the song settings o f HEINRICH ISAAC and LUDWIG SENFL) is part o f

our tradition and cul cultur ture. e. The church modes in which such musi musicc is written are so norously attractive, but the aesthetic meaning o f its form and content con tent seems seems remote to us. With the assistance o f historical studies we come to a rational understanding o f the particular placement o f a mode's half steps, its ambitus [range o f pitches],

its characteristic reciting tone repercussio or tenor), or its particular cadential tone fftnahs] The question remains remains wheth whether er we can also have a sufficiently sympathetic

understandi unders tanding ng for expre expressive ssive distinctions as they were felt felt at th that at time e.g., between authentic and an d plag plagal al modes). Fo Forr ear earlier lier epoch epochss mus musical ical unders understandi tanding ng becomes even mor moree cha challe llengi nging. ng. Th Thee historia historian n o f lang language uage can learn enoug enough h Midd Middle le Hi High gh German Germ an to understand the Son Song g o f the Nibelung. Nibelung. Underesti Underestimating mating the possib possibilities ilities o f philological research for all old music, however, TIBOR KNEIP mak makes es a poin pointt

that is quite valid for musical works o f the thirteenth century: Later o n it becomes uncertain to which concrete musical circum stances stan ces the com composer poser wa wass tied and no less uncertain from which mu sica sicall circ circumstances umstances he distanced himsel himselff in h his is wor work. k. To the ext extent ent that o ur knowledg knowledgee o f these matters is fragmentary, the comprehen sion o f the work's intentions inten tions remains lik likewi ewise se incomplete. 54 Difficulties with musical texts worsen as we go furth further er back in hi histo story. ry. As the difficulties o f reading the music increase, understanding becomes very prob53

  Memo ran dum i.ibe i.iberr die Lage der Musikwissenschaft Musikwissenschaft in der Bundesrepubl Bundesrepublik ik Deutschland, Die Musikforschung 29 (197 6), item no. V 5

4Tibor Kneif, ''Anleitung zum Nicht verstehen eines Klangobjekt s 4Tibor (1973), 163.

in: in: Faltin and Re Reinec inecke, ke,

10

 

1

PRESUPPOSITIONS

lematic. While literary monuments in Old High German are essentially read lematic. able and comprehensible to historians o f language and literature, the staffless neumes o f monophonic liturgical songs from the ninth century (the period o f the Hildebrand-Lied55) create real puzzles for the music historian. The music o f anti antiqui quity, ty, which was simil similarl arly y monop hon ic, is almos almostt unknown to us.

According to pictorial representations that go back to ca. 5000 B.C.

there was a musical practice in ancient Egypt and the other high cultures o f the Orient, yet no trace has been found o f any kind o f musical notation56 (aside perhaps from one example in cuneiform from the second millennium B.C. 57  . What a rich view we have o f Greek and Roman literature compared with the

poor view we have o f music fro m the same period

To be sure, ancient music

had a notati on beginning in the fifth o r fou rth cent century ury B B.C .C.. (ac (actua tually lly ther theree were

two: vocal and instrumental notati notation), on), and BOETHIUS wro te ca. 50 500 0 A.D. that melodies "endure in the memory o f descendants" i f they are are not ated beside the text. 58 Nonetheless, in the extant copies e.g., o f Greek dramas) the melodies were not considered essential and not notated. 59 The reason that books and essays can be written today about Greek and Roman music is because the liter ary and pictorial sources still say a great deal about the musical life and music theory o f that time. The few, insignificant musical monuments can certainly be transcribed to some extent, but a reconstruction o f their so und and mus musical ical

meaning is hardly possible. 60 With the renewed creation o f a musical notation since the ninth century, its

increasing precision, and its regular use, our knowledge o f past music gradually grows. The possibility o f understanding this earlier music increases thanks to what also remains alive in the traditions o f composition and performance. I n

this way we arrive at the maximum o f such possib possibilities ilities in music o f the eigh

teenth and nine teen th centuries wi th its re relat lative ively ly rational and detailed notation. For the most part its "oral" tradition has remained alive up to the present day, and our own stereotypes o f imagination are related to those o f music listen55

Tr note: The Hildebrand-Lied is the oldest surviving manuscript o f German epic (or heroic)

poetry. Tappolet, Notenschrift und Musizieren: Das Problem ihrer Beziehungen vom Fruhmittelalter bis ins 20. ]ahrhundert (Berlin-Lichterfelde (Berlin-Lichterfelde,, 1967), 7. 57

Frieder Zaminer, "Theoretische Elemente in der friihmittelalterlichen Musikaufzeichnung" in: Th. Gollner, ed., Notenschrift undAef.fuhrung Miinchener Veroffentlichungen zur Musikgeschich Musikgeschichte, te, vol. 30 (futzing, 1980), 43. 58

Cf. Zaminer (1980), 46.

59

E. Pohlmann,

Zur Friihgeschichte der Uberlieferung Griechischer Biihnendichtung und

Biihnenmusik" in: Festschrift M. Ruhnke zum 65 Geburtstag (Neuhausen/Stuttgart, 1986). 6

°Frieder Zaminer, "Griechische Musikaufzeichnungen" in: Thrasybulos Georgiades, ed., Musikalische Edition im Wandel des historischen Bewujtseins (Kassel, 1971), 21 ff.1

11

 

MUSI

PHILOLO

Y

ers from those two centuries. Thus we are persuaded per suaded by the prov en simil similari arity ty between the effects then and now o f many works performed from the same musical texts. The presuppositions o f understanding in the twentieth century are another

story. sto ry. Av Avant-gard ant-gardists ists succe succeeding eding ARNOLD SCHOENBERG SCHOENBERG have gone so far composition on they must invent a new mus musical ical lan as to maintain that for each new compositi guage, o r els elsee they rrenoun enounce ce altoget altogether her any lin linguist guistic ic quali qualities ties for their music music.. The results are reser reserved ved for ssmall mall cir circl cles. es. Who Whoeve everr beli believes eves tha t a sch ool o f listening can bring about a broader understanding o f this music 61 overestimates the power o f ped pedago agogy. gy. Whoeve Whoeverr ttak akes es the opposite path, i.e. legitimizes the absence o f

understanding62 and des desires ires to cons construc tructt a duali dualism sm between conceptualiz conceptualized ed and imaginative music in orde or derr to expla explain in the separateness o f the mental images o f composers and liste listener ners, s,63 makes a virtue out o f the necessity o f our day. I t is unclear why a period's musical style-what the eighteenth century termed

taste and fashion-changes compar comparativel atively y rap rapidl idly. y. Also uncle unclear ar is why, in the timee befor e BEETHOVEN, only new music was played as a rule, but old music, tim so it seems, was soon forgotten i f it did not have to fulfill specific functions, as did certain older church music like the motet collection Flonlegium Portense

from 1603/21 until BACH's day. Since at least the time o f LULLY, CORELLI, PERGOLESI, and HANDEL, a number o f works have certainly had an af

terlife-several enduring until our own d a y - f o r purely aesthetic reasons. But most o f the countless historical works performed today are newcomers i n the

repertory; they had been for gotten a nd wer weree reviv revived ed in the ninet eenth and twen tieth centuries. Thus the thesis o f ERNST ROTH's On the Transitory in Musi/1   is substantiated. W e do not know whet her musica musicall art works designat designated ed as clas sics will survive as valued treasures for millenia as classic works o f literature and the fine arts have done) or whether they will ultimately fall into obscurity.

Music philologists have every reason to concern themselves with such musical works and to contribute to their appropriate understanding, not for the sake o f hero worship or out o f a Eurocentric bias, and not because it concerns mu

sic o f their own social class. 65 No, musi musicc philolo philologists gists study such c ompositions because they are part o f the most precious and most irreplaceable achievements o f our culture and should endure. 61

W. Gieseler, Uber die Schwierigkeit, N eue Mus Musik ik zu horen,

62

I