Beyond Bach

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Talle
Keyword(s):  
Visual Art ◽  
Close Friend ◽  
Sheet Music ◽  
Musical Life ◽  
Teenage Girls ◽  
Keyboard Music ◽  
Women And Children ◽  
Primary Focus ◽  
Musical Interests

This book investigates the musical life of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Germany from the perspectives of those who lived in it. The men, women, and children of the era are treated here not as extras in the life of a famous composer but rather as protagonists in their own right. The primary focus is on keyboard music, from those who built organs, harpsichords, and clavichords, to those who played keyboards recreationally and professionally, and those who supported their construction through patronage. Examples include: Barthold Fritz, a clavichord maker who published a list of his customers; Christiane Sibÿlla Bose, an amateur keyboardist and close friend of Bach’s wife; the Countesses zu Epstein, whose surviving library documents the musical interests of teenage girls of the era; Luise Gottsched, who found Bach’s music less appealing than that of Handel; Johann Christoph Müller, a keyboard instructor who fell in love with one of his aristocratic pupils; and Carl August Hartung, a professional organist and fanatical collector of Bach’s keyboard music. The book draws on published novels, poems, and visual art as well as manuscript account books, sheet music, letters, and diaries. For most music lovers of the era, J. S. Bach himself was an impressive figure whose music was too challenging to hold a prominent place in their musical lives.

scholarly journals "Moonlight and Roses", and other things they played: Organ Recitals in New Zealand, 1870-1920

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Dianne Halliday
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
World War I ◽  
Primary Source ◽  
Sheet Music ◽  
Musical Life ◽  
Study Approach ◽  
Regular Employment ◽  
Pipe Organs ◽  
Choral Societies ◽  
Primary Focus

<p>The early history of pipe organs in New Zealand, and the music which was played on them, has long been of interest to organists and domestic organ builders alike. The primary focus of this exegesis is the performers themselves and the repertoire they chose to present to the public through the medium of the organ recital during a fifty-year period from 1870–1920. A case study approach is adopted, where two centres, one metropolitan and one provincial, have been selected from each of the two main island of New Zealand. Using primary source materials, including contemporary newspapers and concert programmes, details of a significant selection of organ recitals held in Wellington, Christchurch, Southland, and Hawke’s Bay can be tabulated. This allows for some discernment of trends in musical preferences.  New Zealand was no exception to the world wide practice by organists of utilising in their performances works not originally written for their instrument. In a wider Australasian context, organ recitals were conduits for the dissemination of symphonic, operatic and chamber music, particularly on larger instruments. The balance between transcriptions and works for the organ in these recitals is one of the study’s areas of investigation. This also requires some discussion of the instruments themselves. Another is the extent to which music was considered a formative social influence, particularly since most nineteenth-century recitals were played in churches, rather than civic (secular) auditoria, and were considered to take on the character of the venue.  The research also uncovers details about the origins and career paths of the performers. Some were private teachers, choral and/or instrumental conductors or accompanists. Still others had regular employment as schoolteachers or purveyors of instruments and sheet music, and a third group found primary employment outside the musical sphere either as civil servants or in private enterprise.  Analysis of the wealth of surviving information (concerning organists and their performances) demonstrates that the organ recital was a ubiquitous and popular event in New Zealand prior to World War I. Alongside other musical activities these programmes play a role in the development of society’s musical life, both in its own right and as the accompanying instrument for various choral societies (before the development of fully-fledged orchestral groups). Society was changed with the advent of hostilities; after they ended, there were new norms and expectations.  Outside the main text, the collations of raw data are provided on an accompanying CD, along with biographical details of those who made small contributions to the recital scene, or were present in New Zealand for only a limited time.</p>

scholarly journals "Moonlight and Roses", and other things they played: Organ Recitals in New Zealand, 1870-1920

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Dianne Halliday
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
World War I ◽  
Primary Source ◽  
Sheet Music ◽  
Musical Life ◽  
Study Approach ◽  
Regular Employment ◽  
Pipe Organs ◽  
Choral Societies ◽  
Primary Focus

<p>The early history of pipe organs in New Zealand, and the music which was played on them, has long been of interest to organists and domestic organ builders alike. The primary focus of this exegesis is the performers themselves and the repertoire they chose to present to the public through the medium of the organ recital during a fifty-year period from 1870–1920. A case study approach is adopted, where two centres, one metropolitan and one provincial, have been selected from each of the two main island of New Zealand. Using primary source materials, including contemporary newspapers and concert programmes, details of a significant selection of organ recitals held in Wellington, Christchurch, Southland, and Hawke’s Bay can be tabulated. This allows for some discernment of trends in musical preferences.  New Zealand was no exception to the world wide practice by organists of utilising in their performances works not originally written for their instrument. In a wider Australasian context, organ recitals were conduits for the dissemination of symphonic, operatic and chamber music, particularly on larger instruments. The balance between transcriptions and works for the organ in these recitals is one of the study’s areas of investigation. This also requires some discussion of the instruments themselves. Another is the extent to which music was considered a formative social influence, particularly since most nineteenth-century recitals were played in churches, rather than civic (secular) auditoria, and were considered to take on the character of the venue.  The research also uncovers details about the origins and career paths of the performers. Some were private teachers, choral and/or instrumental conductors or accompanists. Still others had regular employment as schoolteachers or purveyors of instruments and sheet music, and a third group found primary employment outside the musical sphere either as civil servants or in private enterprise.  Analysis of the wealth of surviving information (concerning organists and their performances) demonstrates that the organ recital was a ubiquitous and popular event in New Zealand prior to World War I. Alongside other musical activities these programmes play a role in the development of society’s musical life, both in its own right and as the accompanying instrument for various choral societies (before the development of fully-fledged orchestral groups). Society was changed with the advent of hostilities; after they ended, there were new norms and expectations.  Outside the main text, the collations of raw data are provided on an accompanying CD, along with biographical details of those who made small contributions to the recital scene, or were present in New Zealand for only a limited time.</p>

Introduction to Keyboard Music Practice in the Early Music Era – Principles and Their Practical Implementation

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hedvig Jakab
Keyword(s):  
Practical Implementation ◽  
Sheet Music ◽  
Early Music ◽  
Music Practice ◽  
Keyboard Music ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Late Renaissance

This study focuses on the rich production from the late Renaissance to the Baroque period of early music for keyboard. During the performance of these works, because of the less than reliable sources, a number of problems arise, such as manuscript distribution, and the initial teething problems of printing. Sheet music and its interpretation add another trap for present-day performers for without knowledge of the interpretation practice of that era (articulation, phrasing, agogic, accentuation, ornamentation, fingering, pedalling) coupled with inadequate tools an incorrect style presentation is born. This study provides specific musical examples for the practical implementation of these principles. Keywords: early music, fingering, pedalling, articulation, ornamentation

THE CARDINALS’ MUSIC: MUSICAL INTERESTS AT THE PAPAL CURIA C. 1200–1304

2015 ◽  
Vol 34 ◽  
pp. 97-132 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julian Gardner
Keyword(s):  
Thirteenth Century ◽  
Musical Performance ◽  
Musical Life ◽  
Visual Evidence ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Musical Interests ◽  
Polyphonic Music

AbstractThe papacy and cardinalate in the period between Innocent III (1198–1216) and Benedict XI (1033–1304) can be shown to have had a wide range of musical interests. Papal inventories, testamentary legacies, chronicles and understudied visual evidence allow the piecing together of a lively and wide-ranging concern with music, liturgy and performance. The development of polyphonic music, the growing popularity of bells, and a lively interest among artists in portraying liturgical ceremonies and musical performance at the behest of their ecclesiastical clientele allow us to form a far more nuanced picture of the musical life of thirteenth-century Rome.

scholarly journals A critical reassessment of the reception of early jazz in Britain

Popular Music ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 315-336 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine Parsonage
Keyword(s):  
Musical Theatre ◽  
Sheet Music ◽  
Musical Life ◽  
Late Nineteenth ◽  
Minstrel Shows ◽  
Made In

The Original Dixieland Jazz Band's visit in 1919–1920 has been well documented as the beginning of jazz in Britain. This article illuminates a more complex evolution of the image and presence of jazz in Britain through consideration of the cultural and musical antecedents of the genre, including minstrel shows and black musical theatre, within the context of musical life in Britain in the late nineteenth to early twentieth centuries. The processes through which this evolution took place are considered with reference to the ways in which jazz was introduced to Britain through imported revue shows and sheet music.It is an extremely significant but often neglected fact that another group of American musicians, Will Marion Cook's Southern Syncopated Orchestra, also came to Britain in 1919. Remarkably, extensive comparisons of the respective performances and reception of the ODJB and the SSO have not been made in the available literature on jazz. Examination of the situation of one white and one black group of American musicians performing contemporaneously in London is extremely informative, as it evidences the continuing influence of the antecedents of jazz and the importance of both groups in shaping perceptions of jazz in Britain.

A Silver Merchant’s Daughter

Beyond Bach ◽  
2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Talle
Keyword(s):  
Medical Care ◽  
Young Woman ◽  
Role Model ◽  
Close Friend ◽  
Musical Life ◽  
Successful Career ◽  
Professional Careers

Chapter three uses the musical life of Christiane Sibÿlla Bose, a young woman who lived near the Bach family in Leipzig, as a means of exploring the lives of women of her time and place. Ms. Bose played the keyboard recreationally and was a close friend of J. S. Bach’s wife, Anna Magdalena. Women typically spent time managing the acquisition of food, clothing, and medical care for their households. Playing the keyboard was a means by which they could make themselves more attractive to potential suitors. Pursuing professional careers as musicians, however, was generally discouraged. Ms. Bose likely viewed Anna Magdalena Bach as a role model, not only as a wife and mother, but also as a woman who had transcended cultural prejudices to pursue a successful career as a musician.

Jewish Music Organizations in Interwar Galicia

2020 ◽  
pp. 343-370
Author(s):  
Sylwia Jakubczyk-ŚlĘczka
Keyword(s):  
Jewish Community ◽  
Chamber Orchestra ◽  
Symphony Orchestra ◽  
Musical Life ◽  
Jewish Communities ◽  
Cultural Policies ◽  
South Eastern ◽  
Comprehensive Account ◽  
Jewish Music ◽  
Musical Interests

This chapter provides a comprehensive account of Jewish musical organizations in interwar Galicia. It investigates the various types of Jewish musical organizations and how they implemented their cultural policies. It also shows the wealth and variety of the musical life of the Jewish communities from the four south-eastern provinces of the Second Polish Republic: Lwów, Kraków, Stanisławów, and Tarnopol. The chapter looks into the goal of the Jewish Music Society in Lwów in order to unite the local Jewish musical community and represent the Jewish community in the city's musical life. It analyzes different musical interests and visions of society's cultural role that explain the different activities of symphony orchestra, choir, mandolin orchestra, and chamber orchestra.

Escudero, Vicente (1892–1980)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ninotchka Devorah Bennahum
Keyword(s):  
Visual Art ◽  
Close Friend ◽  
Pablo Picasso ◽  
Dance Theater ◽  
Ballets Russes ◽  
Lasting Influence

Vicente Escudero was a multitalented artist. There is no question that the great bailaor Antonio el de Bilbao, whom he met on a tour of Andalusia and Portugal, had a lasting influence on Escudero, as did the modernist dance-theater of La Argentina, the Ballets Russes, and the visual art revolution. He even became a close friend of the modern master Pablo Picasso. Between 1920 and his debut as a concert dancer in 1927, Escudero honed his craft and his choreography, learning to dance longer works in the cafés cantantes of Madrid. Escudero was particularly known for his famous Farruca solo, and for his performances with Carmita Garcia, who would become his lifelong stage partner. Dancing on a concert stage, Escudero was received by critics like André Levinson, who wrote seriously about his work as a dancer and a choreographer.

“My Business is to Sing”: Emily Dickinson's Musical Borrowings

2014 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 130-166
Author(s):  
GEORGE BOZIWICK
Keyword(s):  
New England ◽  
Emily Dickinson ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Sheet Music ◽  
Musical Life ◽  
Boundary Crossings ◽  
Poetic Voice ◽  
Music Making ◽  
Musical Activities

AbstractThe daily musical activities of poet Emily Dickinson (1830–86)—home performances at the piano, collecting sheet music, and attending concerts—provided a vital and necessary backdrop for her emerging artistic persona. Dickinson's active musical life reveals a great deal about the cultural offerings available to a woman of her time, place, and class. Moreover, her encounters with the music-making of the Dickinson family servants and the New England hymn tradition encouraged artistic borrowings and boundary crossings that had a deep and continuing influence on her writing. Through her engagement with music, Dickinson was able to fashion an identity served by musical longings, one that would ultimately serve a vital role in the formation of her unique poetic voice.

scholarly journals The Other Otto Dresel: Public and Private Musical Identities in a German-American ‘Forty-Eighter’ and his Family, c. 1860–1880

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-33
Author(s):  
Molly Barnes
Keyword(s):  
Musical Culture ◽  
Sheet Music ◽  
Musical Life ◽  
Distinctive Character ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
The Public ◽  
Nineteenth Century America ◽  
The Family ◽  
Civic Virtues ◽  
German American

This essay explores the musical life of a German-American ‘Forty-Eighter’ and his family, with particular attention to their domestic musical preferences as reflected in five surviving sheet-music albums. Otto Dresel, easily confused with the far more prominent German musician of the same name who settled in Boston, was a gifted amateur whose public musical activities, both choral and instrumental, typified those of many German arrivals of that generation. This was a largely male realm of affirmative, expansive ideals; here the stress was on civic virtues, happy fraternal bonds, and the celebration of German musical culture as an elevating force in America. The family albums suggests that the music he shared with his wife and children at home in Columbus, Ohio, served quite different purposes. It was performed intimately, in an often melancholy and even mournful mode that reflected the need for personal consolation and was thus more in keeping with typical Victorian attitudes toward the domestic, womanly sphere. Evidence about the troubled course of Dresel's life helps us understand his growing need to take refuge in his home and family as well as in music that helped him and his loved ones deal – for a time, at least – with deepening feelings of regret, failure and loss. This marked contrast between the public and private sides of the Dresels’ musical lives points to a need for greater attention to the distinctive character and functions of intimate family music-making in nineteenth-century America, especially during the years of widespread disillusionment and cultural reorientation that followed the Civil War.

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