Synopses & Reviews
Up to the end of the nineteenth century, Germany largely perceived itself as "the nation of poets and philosophers." But with the enormous popularity of Schubert and Wagner, this began to change. Suddenly, composers also began to play a greater role in theories of national identity, and music theory became and important element of German thought. The essays in this volume reflect this, and are by a range of writers: Adorno, Bloch, Thomas Mann, Wachenroder, Herder, E. T. A. Hoffmann, Hegel, Bettina von Arnim, Nietzsche, Max Weber, Brecht, and others.
Table of Contents
Introduction: Jost Hermand CHRISTIAN GOTTLIEB LUDWIG
From An Attempt to Prove That a Musical Play or Opera Cannot Be Good (1734)
Translated by Michael Gilbert KARL WILHELM RAMLERIn Defense of the Operas (1756)
Translated by Michael Gilbert CHRISTIAN FRIEDRICH DANIEL SCHUBARTConcerning Musical Genius (1784)
Translated by Richard W. HarpsterConcerning Musical Expression (1784)
Translated by Ted Alan DuBois IMMANUEL KANTThe Division of the Fine Arts (1790)
Translated by James Creed Meredith JOHANN GEORG SULZERExpression in Music (1792-1794)Music (1794)
Translated by Peter Le Huray and James Day WILHELM HEINRICH WACKENRODERThe Marvels of the Musical Art (1799)
Translated by Mary Hurst Schubert JOHANN GOTTFRIED HERDERMusic, an Art of Humanity (1802)
Translated by Edward A. Lippman JOHANN NICKOLAUS FORKELBach the Composer (1802)The Genius of Bach (1802)
Translated by Charles Sanford Terry E.T.A. (Ernst Theodor Amadeus) HOFFMANNBeethoven's Instrumental Music (1813)
Translated by Oliver Strunk ARTHUR SCHOPENHAUER
From The World as Will and Representation (1819)
Translated by Peter Le Huray and James Day GEORG FRIEDRICH WILHELM HEGEL
From The Aesthetics (1835)
Translated by Peter Le Huray and James Day BETTINA VON ARNIMBeethoven (1832)
Translated by Michael Gilbert EDUARD HANSLICK"Content" and "Form" in Music (1854)
Translated by Geoffrey Payzant FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE
From Richard Wagner in Bayreuth (1876)
Translated by Michael GilbertThe Case of Wagner (1888)
Translated by Walter Kaufmann FRIEDRICH VON HAUSEGGERA Popular Discussion of
Music as Expression (c. 1885)
Translated by Michael Gilbert THOMAS MANNComing to Terms with Richard Wagner (1913)
Translated by Allan BlundenHans Pfitzner's
Palestrina (1918)
Translated by Walter D. Morris AUGUST HALMOn Fugal Form, Its Nature, and Its Relation to Sonata Form (1913)
Translated by Edward A. Lippman HANS BREUERThe
Wandervogel Movement and Folk Song (1919)
Translated by Michael Gilbert MAX WEBERTechnical, Economic, and Social Interrelations between Modern Music and Its Instruments (1921)
Translated by Don Martindale, Johannes Riedel, and Gertrude Neuwirth H.H. STUCKENSCHMIDTThe Mechanization of Music (1925)The Ivory Tower (1955)
Translated by Michael Gilbert WILHELM FURTWÄNGLERProblems of Conducting (1929)
Translated by Michael Gilbert PETER SUHRKAMPMusic in the Schools (1930)
Translated by Michael Gilbert ARNOLD SCHERINGMusic and Society (1931)
Translated by Michael Gilbert HEINRICH SCHENKERIntroduction to the First Edition of
Free Composition (1935)
Translated by Ernst Oster BERTOLT BRECHTOn the Use of Music in an Epic Theater (1935)
Translated by John Willett ERNST BLOCHHuman Expression as Inseparable from Music (1955)
Translated by Peter Palmer BRUNO WALTERThoughts on the Essential Nature of Music (1957)
Translated by Paul Hamburger THEODOR W. ADORNOClasses and Strata (1962)
Translated by E.B. Ashton GEORG KNEPLERMusic Historiography in Eastern Europe (1972)
Translated by Barry S. Brooks et al. DIETRICH FISCHER-DIESKAUThe Composer (c. 1978)
Translated by Kenneth S. Whitton CARL DAHLHAUSAbsolute Music as an Aesthetic Paradigm (1978)
Translated by Roger Lustig GÜNTER MAYER
From On the Relationship of the Political and Musical Avant-garde (1989)
Translated by Michael Gilbert JOST HERMANDAvant-garde, Modern, Postmodern: The Music (Almost) Nobody Wants to Hear (1991)
Translated by James Keller The Authors