Andreas Werckmeister's Musicalische Paradoxal-Discourse (eBook)

A Well-Tempered Universe

eBook Download: EPUB

2017
174 Seiten
Lexington Books (Verlag)
978-1-4985-6635-3 (ISBN)

Infos

This book provides extensive commentary and an English translation of 17th-century German music theorist Andreas Werckmeister’s final treatise, the Musicalische Paradoxal-Discourse. Topics discussed include theological reflections on music, numerology in musical intervals, music notation and solmization, and tunings.

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Andreas Werckmeister (1645 1706), a late seventeenth-century German Lutheran organist, composer, and music theorist, is the last great advocate and defender of the Great Tradition in music, with its assumptions that music is a divine gift to humanity, spiritually charged yet rationally accessible, the key being a complex of mathematical proportions which govern and are at the root of the entire universe and all which that embraces. Thus understood, music is the audible manifestation of the order of the universe, allowing glimpses, sound-bites of the very Creator of a well-tempered universe, and of our relationship to each other, our environment, and the divine powers which placed us here. This is the subject matter of the conversation which Werckmeister wishes to have with us, his readers, particularly in his last treatise, the Musicalische Paradoxal-Discourse. But he does not make it easy for today's readers. He assumes certain proficiencies from his readers, including detailed biblical knowledge, a fluency in Latin, and a familiarity with treatises and publications concerning music, theology, and a number of related disciplines. He writes in a rather archaic German, riddled with obscure references which require a thorough explanation. With its extensive commentary and translation of the treatise, this book seeks to bridge Werckmeister's world with that of the twenty-first century. Werckmeister wrote for novice and professional musicians alike, an author who wanted to consider with his readers the basic and existential questions and issues regarding the wondrous art of music, questions as relevant then as they are now.

Autor

Dietrich Bartel is associate professor of music at Canadian Mennonite University.

Inhalt

Table of ContentsSeries Editor’s ForewordPrefacePart I Introduction to the Musicalische Paradoxal-DiscourseWerckmeister BiographyWerckmeister TreatisesContents and Sources of the Musicalische Paradoxal-Discourse Part IITranslation of the Musicalische Paradoxal-DiscourseTitle page and dedicatory commentsPrefaceIndex and contents of the chaptersChapter 1An introduction to this work: the division of the musical proportionsChapter 2A testimonial through mathematics and Holy Scriptures themselves, that the course of the heavens are harmonicChapter 3How the mortal body and soul are harmonically created, and furthermore, on the influence of the starsChapter 4Why humans find such pleasure in music, and whence composers and musicians ariseChapter 5As the image of God, humans are to praise the Creator with music. Buildings and eras in scripture are also harmonic wonders of spiritual music.Chapter 6On the abuse of music, which the authorities could abolishChapter 7How the inclination of a people determines its attitude towards music, and how the heathens were so scattered in their views on musicChapter 8On the music of the early Christians, and the subsequent changesChapter 9The great difficulties arising out of solmization and the linear staff-systemChapter 10Proof that the linear staff system is accompanied by great difficultiesChapter 11Proof of how everything can be played or sung through the twelve note-namesChapter 12Further proof, that the linear staff system has many more variants than the twelve note-namesChapter 13How the temperaments can be examined, and on German tablatureChapter 14How the chromatic system is to be applied to the tempered keyboardChapter 15On the disorder of hymn singingChapter 16On the simplicity of old organsChapter 17How the musical modes can be differentiatedChapter 18On the nature and property of the harmonic numeralsChapter 19On the hidden meaning of the numeralsChapter 20On the properties of the harmonic numerals, when they themselves are subdividedChapter 21On the subdivision of the harmonic numeralsChapter 22On the properties of the dissonant musical numeralsChapter 23How the harmonic radical numerals are transformed into a tempered tuning, and of their hidden meaningChapter 24A comparison of incorrect tempered tuning with false ChristianityChapter 25How the temperament can be perfect or imperfect, and how the same can be compared with ChristianityChapter 26The Lord’s Prayer in the musical proportional numeralsBibliographyAbout the author

Produkt-Details

• Reihe/Serie: Contextual Bach Studies
• Übersetzer: Dietrich Bartel
• Zusatzinfo: 34 Illustrations including: - 33 Black & White Illustrations; - 1 Tables.
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Kunst / Musik / Theater ► Musik ► Klassik / Oper / Musical
• Themenwelt: Kunst / Musik / Theater ► Musik ► Musiktheorie / Musiklehre
• Schlagworte: Baroque music • music • music theory • Theology
• ISBN-10: 1-4985-6635-9 / 1498566359
• ISBN-13: 978-1-4985-6635-3 / 9781498566353