scholarly journals Musical interpretation of Hezekiah’s illness in Johann Kuhnau’s Biblical sonata

Menotyra ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Aleksandra Pister
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
18Th Century ◽  
Rhetorical Figures ◽  
Keyboard Music ◽  
Musical Rhetoric ◽  
Compositional Choices ◽  
Musical Interpretation ◽  
Baroque Era ◽  
And Shifts ◽  
Narrative Element

The article discusses Johann Kuhnau’s fourth keyboard sonata, Der todtkranke und wieder gesunde Hiskias (The Mortally Ill and Then Restored Hezekiah), from his last volume of six keyboard sonatas published in Leipzig in 1700, known popularly as “Biblical Sonatas.” Titled as Musicalische Vorstellung einiger biblischer Historien (Musical Representation of Several Biblical Stories), the set presents a remarkably thorough and detailed musical depiction of selected scenes from the Old Testament. This is also a rare collection of keyboard music to provide a detailed narrative commentary, consisting of verbal synopses of selected stories in German, which preface each sonata, and commentaries in Italian written into notation, which underline portrayed situations, events and affections. To examine the plot-based narrative underlying the storyline of this particular sonata, some authentic discourses have been taken into consideration for analytical purposes. These included the composer’s foreword to the collection of his “Biblical Sonatas,” synopsis of the story depicted in the fourth sonata, and a comprehensive theory of musical rhetoric and the doctrine of the affections found in various 17th and 18th century sources. In this article, the author specifies distinct musical-rhetorical figures that resemble (by analogy) or refer to certain extra-musical objects or phenomena and serve as vehicles for creating different moods and establishing the atmosphere. Depending on which narrative element – action or affections – is brought into focus in each of the six sonatas, the author distinguishes between two types of sonatas, namely ‘action sonatas’ and ‘affective sonatas.’ Affections and shifts in mood experienced by Hezekiah make an important narrative element in the storyline of the fourth sonata. Hence this particular sonata falls under the category of ‘affective sonatas.’ The analysis of this sonata revealed that the narrative is constructed therein in several layers. Firstly, there is a verbal layer: to depict the story in detail and with much consistency, the composer thought it necessary to accompany notation with the synopsis of the story and verbal commentaries. Moreover, quotations from the Protestant chorale Ach Herr mich armen Sünder (Ah Lord, poor sinner that I am) imply verbal connotations of their verses. Secondly, it contains a musical-affective layer: musical devices (such as musical-rhetorical figures, key, rhythm, metre, and the like) are employed there to convey the indicated affections, such as wailing (lamento) or, in other words, sorrow, confidence (confidenza) and joy (allegrezza). The author observes that many compositional choices made by Kuhnau adhere to the standard methods of expressing affects as they were defined in the Baroque treatises. Thirdly, there is an associative layer: certain fragments and elements resemble (by analogy) and refer to extra-musical objects and/or phenomena, such as Belshazzar’s face turning pale and his limbs trembling in terror, the sesquialtera ratio (3:2), which symbolizes the numerical proportion of steps on Ahaz’s sundial and the years of Hezekiah’s life. The alternating musical textures, normally associated with sadness (adagio) and merriment (allegro), can be also mentioned as a characteristic narrative feature in this sonata. Although Kuhnau claimed to have depicted Biblical stories according to his own imagination, the analysis revealed that his writing in this sonata does not veer away from the typical musical vocabulary of the Baroque era, which nowadays requires a more sensitive ear and keener insight into compositional conventions of the period.

scholarly journals Sekwencja Stabat Mater we włoskich interpretacjach muzycznych doby XVIII wieku

Sympozjum ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (1 (40)) ◽  
pp. 83-102
Author(s):  
Renata Borowiecka
Keyword(s):  
18Th Century ◽  
Virgin Mary ◽  
Musical Composition ◽  
Harmonic Structure ◽  
Stabat Mater ◽  
Rhetorical Figures ◽  
Blessed Virgin Mary ◽  
Nodal Points ◽  
Musical Rhetoric ◽  
The Common

The Stabat Mater sequence in Italian musical interpretations of the 18th-century The Stabat Mater poem, which describes the suffering of Blessed Virgin Mary under the cross on which Jesus – her Son – is dying, has become a universal theme which inspired composers of various ages and origins and found its expression in numerous musical interpretations. From among over 400 compositions which set the text of the sequence to music, a large proportion are 18th-century works (mostly – late baroque) of Italian provenience. Attempting to interpret a musical composition with text of the 18th century, one has to take into account the theory of affects and musical rhetoric, which make the text dependent on music both on the emotive and symbolic level. The paper will examine the Stabat Mater compositions in the rhetoric context, referring to three main levels: inventio, dispositio and decoratio. The common and individual tendencies will be articulated, evident by the appropriate choice of the key, tempo and rhetorical figures, as well as by some melodic and rhythmic motives or harmonic structure having function of the special illustrative-symbolic signs. The nodal points of the work will be presented as well as the requests of man directed at the Mother (the second part of the sequence) assuming varying intonations of supplication. The function and the message of the compositions are advisable. In contemporary times Stabat Mater of the great composers resound mainly as concert masterpieces in church and secular interiors. The vitality of these interpretations after three hundred years from their creation most certainly bears witness to the composers’ artistry in their works and proves their significance not only for the music of the 18th century but also for the culture and faith of today. Abstrakt Treść poematu Stabat Mater, opisującego postać Matki Bożej cierpiącej pod krzyżem, na którym umiera Jezus – Jej Syn, stała się jednym z uniwersalnych tematów sztuki, zainspirowała kompozytorów różnych wieków i ośrodków, co znalazło swój wyraz w bardzo licznych interpretacjach muzycznych. Spośród ponad 4000 kompozycji do tekstu sekwencji znaczna część to dzieła XVIII-wieczne (najczęściej późnobarokowe), pochodzące z kręgu włoskiego. Chcąc zinterpretować utwór słowno-muzyczny XVIII wieku, nie sposób czynić tego w oderwaniu od teorii afektów i retoryki muzycznej, które uzależniają tekst od muzyki zarówno na poziomie emotywnym, jak i symbolicznym. Referat stanowi próbę oglądu kompozycji Stabat Mater w kontekście retoryki na trzech odpowiadających jej poziomach: inventio, dispositio i decoratio. Wyartykułowane są tendencje wspólne oraz indywidualne, przejawiające się w odpowiednim doborze tonacji, tempa i figur retorycznych, a także pewnych motywów melodycznych, rytmicznych lub struktur harmonicznych funkcjonujących w roli znaku ilustracyjno-symbolicznego. Zaprezentowane zostają punkty węzłowe dzieł oraz prośby człowieka skierowane do Matki (druga część sekwencji) o różnorakiej intonacji błagalnej. Wskazana jest funkcja i przesłanie kompozycji. W czasach współczesnych Stabat Mater wielkich twórców rozbrzmiewają głównie jako dzieła koncertowe we wnętrzach kościelnych lub świeckich. Żywotność tych interpretacji 300 lat od ich powstania świadczy niewątpliwie o kompozytorskim kunszcie utworów oraz o ich znaczeniu nie tylko dla muzyki XVIII wieku, ale i dla dzisiejszej kultury i wiary.

Releasing the 'Loudie'

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Christian Kjos
Keyword(s):  
18Th Century ◽  
Historical Sources ◽  
Early Music ◽  
Basso Continuo ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Keyboard Music ◽  
Music Community ◽  
Baroque Era ◽  
Oriented Approach

My artistic research project at the Norwegian Academy of Music aims to highlight the role of the harpsichord player and the interpretation of basso continuo in G. F. Handel’s continuo cantatas – i.e. cantatas for one voice with continuo accompaniment only. How the continuo realization is shaped in performance of this repertoire is crucial to the overall sound since there are no other obbligato instruments, unlike in the instrumental cantatas. A wide range of possible solutions emerge in the intersection between improvisation, composition, imagination, and speculation within a source-oriented approach. To give these cantatas a musical guise that is rarely heard among performer’s today, I focus on an advanced and soloistic harpsichord continuo that includes different use of imitation, counterpoint, harmonic additions, ‘duet-making’ with the vocal part and other rarely heard features; inspired by certain German 18th-century continuo treatises such as Heinichen’s Der Generalbass in der Composition (Dresden, 1728), Mattheson’s Grosse Generalbass-schule (Hamburg, 1731) and Daube’s General-Bass in drey Accorden (Leipzig, 1756) in addition to several preceding Italian(ate) and English sources, as well as idioms from Handel’s own keyboard music. There are frequently significant discrepancies between how historical sources describe basso continuo playing and how today’s harpsichordists interpret and perform their part within the context of the HIP-movement. In the last decades, two contrasting approaches stand out: those who accompany discretely with few parts and a transparent accompaniment: unofficially nicknamed ‘Softies’; and those who play generally fuller: ‘Loudies’ – from which my project receives its title. With this project, I aim to deepen the understanding of the discipline of continuo playing and to develop realizations that go beyond mere chordal playing often heard today in a much-neglected repertoire by one of the greatest composers of the Baroque era. Hopefully, this will challenge existing views and conventions among several branches of today’s early music community, where strong performers and personas foster strong opinions.

Canons to the Left of Him: Brevard Childs, his Critics, and the Future of Old Testament Theology

1997 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iain Provan
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
18Th Century ◽  
Biblical Theology ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Probable Origin ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Church

It is well known that the seeds from which the modern discipline of OT theology grew are already found in 17th and 18th century discussion of the relationship between Bible and Church, which tended to drive a wedge between the two, regarding canon in historical rather than theological terms; stressing the difference between what is transient and particular in the Bible and what is universal and of abiding significance; and placing the task of deciding which is which upon the shoulders of the individual reader rather than upon the church. Free investigation of the Bible, unfettered by church tradition and theology, was to be the way ahead. OT theology finds its roots more particularly in the 18th century discussion of the nature of and the relationship between Biblical Theology and Dogmatic Theology, and in particular in Gabler's classic theoreticalstatementof their nature and relationship. The first book which may strictly be called an OT theology appeared in 1796: an historical discussion of the ideas to be found in the OT, with an emphasis on their probable origin and the stages through which Hebrew religious thought had passed, compared and contrasted with the beliefs of other ancient peoples, and evaluated from the point of view of rationalistic religion. Here we find the unreserved acceptance of Gabler's principle that OT theology must in the first instance be a descriptive and historical discipline, freed from dogmatic constraints and resistant to the premature merging of OT and NT — a principle which in the succeeding century was accepted by writers across the whole theological spectrum, including those of orthodox and conservative inclination.

scholarly journals The dramatization of the Holy Week in Švėkšna church in the first half of the 19th century

Menotyra ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Asta Giniūnienė
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
Old Testament ◽  
18Th Century ◽  
Complicated Structure ◽  
Adam And Eve ◽  
Death Of Jesus ◽  
History Of ◽  
Church Art ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
First Time

The article for the first time analyses the decoration parts of the Christ’s tomb of the second halfof the 18th century found a few years ago in Švėkšna church. The Christ’s tomb from the oldchurch was transferred to the  new church, which was built in 1804 and used until the  4thdecade of the 19th century. On the basis of the sources and remained fragments we can statethat this was a complicated structure of the Paschal decoration designed under the Europeanbaroque scenery principles. It was composed of the paintings on boards and canvas and mis-cellaneous accessories. The  Christ’s tomb paintings are characterised by a  symbolic allegoriccontent and artistry. The prophets of the Old Testament and characters the New Testamentreflecting the Paschal Triduum liturgy were depicted in the decoration. The survived outlinepaintings of Adam and Eve in Paradise, Noah waiting for the Saviour, and Angels Lamentingover the Death of Jesus are the exceptional iconography images in the Lithuanian church art.The decorations of the Christ’s tomb were created by the professional masters who decoratedthe churches in Samogitia in the second part of the 18th century. The images of suffering anddead Jesus used in the figuration of the Paschal Triduum influenced the spread of the Passionscenes. This is supported by an interesting archival fact about the shrine with a group of sculp-tures depicting the tomb of Christ in the Švėkšna churchyard.The fragments of the Paschal decorations in the Švėkšna church are important baroque scen-ery exhibits, which are valuable for the history of the Lithuanian church art and scenography.The investigation of the Holy Week figuration in the Švėkšna church is a valuable illustrationof this multidimensional cultural, religious and artistic phenomenon.

Doctrine of Affections

Music ◽  
2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
18Th Century ◽  
Medical Model ◽  
Compositional Techniques ◽  
15Th Century ◽  
Baroque Music ◽  
History Of ◽  
Baroque Era ◽  
Temperament Theory ◽  
Rhetorical Discourse ◽  
Theoretical Issues

The “doctrine of affections” is a legendary creature created by early-20th-century German musicologists: its head is made of prescriptive treatises and its body of descriptive compositions. The term has however entered scholarly parlance and is commonly used to refer to a cluster of theorizations and compositional strategies that shared a common aim: emphasizing the affective dimension of music in order to move the listener. The “doctrine of affections” derives its name from the German term Affektenlehre and it lived its golden age in the Baroque era (see the Oxford Bibliographies article on Baroque Music and its section “Music-Theoretical Issues”). It merges a renewed humanistic interest in the ars rhetorica, ensued to the rediscovery of texts such as Quintilian’s Institutio Oratoria during the 15th century, with an interest in the mechanics of the passions, fostered by Descartes’ Passions de l’âme (1649). The power of music to raise or soothe the passions had already been discussed by philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle (the latter’s theory of catharsis proving especially successful during the Renaissance), and in some sense “doctrines of affections” have often accompanied the history of thinking about music and its effects. However the “doctrine of affections” stricto sensu is tied to the revival of doctrines of musical ethos by the humanists, in combination with medical elements derived from galenic temperament theory and with the idea of musica humana derived from Boethius (Ficino’s theories being a notable example of this combination). Baroque doctrines of affections, while deriving some themes—such as the link between modes and affects—from these former traditions, modified their gravity center. From a Renaissance medical model interested in the bodily transformations induced by music, the focus shifts to a rhetorical model interested in producing determinate effects on the listeners in the orator’s mode. During the 16th and 17th centuries, from the philosophical upsurge of interest in passions themselves and in their communicability and from the coeval transformations in musical compositional techniques, a renovated rhetorical discourse on affective music and its relation to the poetical texts was drafted. Drawing on the speculations of authors like Descartes, Mersenne, and Kircher, 18th-century theorists tried to single out the affective power of modes and figures, albeit without creating universal theories. These musico-rhetorical theories dawned when a new way of addressing the world of the passions and affections was devised later in the 18th century.

scholarly journals Emotions and feelings in the Bible: analysis of the Pentateuch's affective lexicon

2007 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 355-376
Author(s):  
Dario Galati ◽  
Renato Miceli ◽  
Marco Tamietto
Keyword(s):  
Multivariate Analysis ◽  
Old Testament ◽  
Textual Analysis ◽  
18Th Century ◽  
Intentional Object ◽  
Affective States ◽  
Italian Version ◽  
The Bible

English This study aims to investigate how affective states are described in the Old Testament. Three psychology researchers were asked to read the first five books of the first Italian version (from the 18th century) of the Old Testament (Pentateuch, or Torah) and to select all the terms that referred to an emotion or a feeling. For each selected term, they also had to pinpoint its position in the text (i.e. book, chapter) and the various characteristics of the affective episode in which it appeared (i.e. experiencing subject, situational antecedent, intentional object, instrumental behaviors). The textual analysis showed that the affective terms most frequently cited referred to four categories: “fear, awe”, “anger, hate”, “affliction, pain, sadness” and “love, joy, happiness”. These categories were significantly associated with specific instrumental behaviors and characters of the narration. Multivariate analysis also indicated that the frequency of citation of the affective categories varied significantly as a function of the book in which they appeared. In the conclusions, the authors discuss the conception of emotions and feelings issuing from the Pentateuch analysis. French L'article se propose d'analyser de quelle manière les expériences affectives sont décrites et évaluées dans la Bible. On a demandé à trois chercheurs psychologues de lire les cinq premiers livres de la première version italienne (du 18ème siècle) de la Bible (le Pentateuque, ou Torah) et d'y sélectionner tous les termes se référant à des expériences affectives (émotions et sentiments). Pour chaque terme sélectionné, ils devaient aussi indiquer sa position dans le texte (livre, chapitre) et les différentes composantes de l'épisode au cours duquel l'émotion ou le sentiment étaient expérimentés (le sujet qui expérimentait l'expérience affective, la situation qui la causait, l'objet intentionnel auquel elle se référait, le comportement réactif du sujet, l'évaluation morale de l'expérience). Les résultats de la sélection ont mis en évidence que les termes affectifs les plus fréquents se réfèrent à quatre catégories d'émotions, à savoir, dans l'ordre, la peur, la colère, la tristesse, la joie. Ces émotions sont expérimentées à des fréquences différentes par les principaux personnages de la narration (Dieu, les hommes, le Peuple d'Israël). L'émotion le plus souvent expérimentée par Dieu est la colère et par les différents personnages humains, la peur. Aucune évaluation morale négative quant aux expériences affectives n'émerge de l'analyse du texte. L'analyse multivariée met en évidence le fait que la fréquence des citations des catégories émotionnelles change sensiblement en fonction des cinq livres du Pentateuque. Dans leurs conclusions, les auteurs examinent la conception implicite des émotions et des sentiments qui semble émerger du Pentateuque.

History, Politics, and Culture in the Highlands of Northeastern Tanzania

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Thomas Håkansson
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
18Th Century ◽  
Political Power ◽  
Large Family ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Strategies ◽  
Colonial State ◽  
Northern Tanzania ◽  
And Shifts ◽  
The 19Th Century

The Pangani Valley region in northern Tanzania is dominated by an arc of highlands that stretch from Usambara to Arusha. In this region, ecotonal variations in environments have shaped—and were in turn shaped by—cultural, political, and economic forces. Since the early 18th century three major events and shifts in regional and world systems dynamics affected significant economic and political changes on the highlands. First, the international ivory and slave trade increased in volume and organization; second, this led to an expansion of specialized pastoralism through an increased availability of cattle in the region; and third, at the end of the 19th century the region was included into a colonial state. The populations of the highlands were all organized into patrilineages and patriclans. Sometime in the late 1600s or early 1700s, several of the kinship-based, highland communities developed into chiefdoms of varying sizes and degrees of stratification. The ability of a chief to maintain a rudimentary administration and political power depended on the possession of wealth in the form of livestock, rights in persons, and rights in land. A part of household production in the form of crops, livestock, and beer was transmitted from farmers to chiefs as tribute. The most valued part of the tribute was cattle, which the chief needed to build a large family, to obtain debt-clients, and as gifts to lineage heads and the young men who served as warriors. Thus, the political cohesiveness of chiefdoms was ultimately contingent on the chiefs’ abilities to control the flow of cattle and to supply these to local lineage heads and subchiefs. The political strategies that maintained stratification in the highlands varied between the different areas. On Kilimanjaro, politics among the Chagga was based on marriage arrangements, while in North Pare it was control of land and irrigation that were used for political purposes, and in South Pare and Usambara control over rain-making rituals provided the cultural justification for the centralization of power. Cattle were the main resource for implementing culturally defined political strategies. Their importance was exacerbated during the 19th century when increased political turmoil caused by participation in the coastal trade opened new avenues for access to wealth outside the kinship-based networks. As a result, new actors entered into competition for cattle and political power that resulted in increased tribute demands, as well as raiding and warfare.

Harpsichord or piano? Different concepts in the 18th century keyboard music

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (9) ◽  
pp. 65-87
Author(s):  
Marek Pilch
Keyword(s):  
Performance Practice ◽  
18Th Century ◽  
Classical Period ◽  
Keyboard Music ◽  
History Of ◽  
Historical Instruments

The article touches on the problem musicians come across while referring to compositions without a specified instrument they were meant for. This problem is particularly noticeable in the harpsichord music from the end of the 18th century when there were numerous keyboard instruments. Some of them, so to say, were at the end of their career (harpsichord, clavichord), others only at the beginning (piano). The author of the article is primarily interested in the dependency between the piano and the harpsichord, so he asks himself whether keyboard music from the Classical period can still be part of the harpsichord repertoire and to what degree harpsichord performances of Classical compositions can be justified in performance practice. The problem is discussed especially in reference to music by W.A. Mozart. The article presents the history of views on the possibility of Mozart’s works to be performed on historical instruments. It also provides the most up-to-date information on the position of the harpsichord at the end of the 18th century. The last part of the article discusses this instrument’s role in the creative output of W.A. Mozart. It is mainly based on the latest knowledge Siegbert Rampe acquired in recent years.

Performance topics in harpsichord music in the second half of the 18th century – Part 2. Arpeggio

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (12) ◽  
pp. 33-44
Author(s):  
Marek Pilch
Keyword(s):  
Classical Music ◽  
18Th Century ◽  
Music Performance ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
17Th Century ◽  
Modern Trend ◽  
Special Significance ◽  
Performance Style ◽  
Keyboard Music ◽  
Performance Traditions

The article on the rendering of the arpeggio is a continuation of the cycle devoted to performance topics in harpsichord music in the second half of the 18th century, the first part of which was published in “Notes Muzyczny” no. 2(10)2019. The author’s assumption is that the condition necessary for acquiring a convincing interpretation of works from the period of Classicism on the harpsichord is following the arpeggio mannerism in compliance with the performance style shaped in the 17th century called style brisé (luthé) and characteristic of the forms such as the allemande, tombeau or préludes non mesuré. Despite the arpeggio’s diversity, unlike ornaments, this mannerism has not been thoroughly described. That is why doubts often occur as to whether or to what extent it can be used in instances when it is not explicitly required. In the context of classical music performance on the harpsichord the arpeggio is of special significance as it is a very important mean of expression. In its many shades it is one of the mannerisms the use of which is a performer’s decision. The modern trend of historical performance has updated the approach towards this mannerism for keyboard music from the classical period, allowing the use of performance traditions of the 17th and the first half of the 18th centuries. While performing arpeggios, one should be guided by the awareness of the historical context, musical sense, but also the instrument’s idiom, and apply them wherever they enhance the sound of the harpsichord and affections of a given fragment of a composition. The article discusses the guidelines on the ways of rendering of arpeggios, mainly based on the Klavierschule oder Anweisung zum Klavierspielen für Lehrer und Lernende by Daniel Gottlob Türk (1789) and its use options in harpsichord music of the second half of the 18th century exemplified by works by W. A. Mozart.

Violons en basse as Musical Allegory

2006 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 153-185 ◽  
Author(s):  
DEBORAH KAUFFMAN
Keyword(s):  
18Th Century ◽  
Musical Language ◽  
Musical Settings ◽  
Musical Rhetoric ◽  
The Common ◽  
Unusual Type ◽  
Frequent Reference

ABSTRACT An unusual type of orchestration sometimes called violons en basse is encountered in arias by French Baroque composers, including Couperin, Campra, and Rameau. In such pieces, the basse continue line is played by violins or violas notated in a high clef; the solo voice and any additional obbligato instruments remain in the treble register as well. This phenomenon has gone practically unnoticed by modern scholars and was seemingly unremarked upon by writers of the time, despite the striking color and lightness that it entails. A study of the texts of the arias in which violons are used en basse suggests that there are identifiable allegorical associations implicit in such pieces, and that they were clear to listeners of the time. Perhaps the most important and most frequent reference is to the pastoral, which is invoked by the texts and musical settings of a number of the airs. The pastoral can also be linked to the themes of peace and quiet delights present in other texts. Another important association shared with the pastoral is innocence, which is often conjoined with the idea of youth; youth is directly referred to in some texts, and also through several personages who sing them, such as Cupid (a boy), Diana (depicted in mythology as eternally young), and Hebe (the personification of youth). By identifying the allegorical use of violons en basse, we are able to add another texture and sonority to the common musical language of topics that was central to 18th-century musical rhetoric.

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