| Contents |
Chapter one. The first polemics on opera in Italy. Gian Vincenzo Gravina, from On Tragedy (1715) -- Ludovico Antonio Muratori, from On Perfect Italian Poetry (1706) -- Pier Jacopo Martello, from On Ancient and Modern Tragedy (1714) -- Benedetto Marcello, from Theater a la Mode (1720) -- Chapter two. The Italians and the French: the great "Querelle". Francois Raguenet, from A Comparison between the French and Italian Music and Operas (1702) -- Jean-Laurent Lecerf de la Vieville, from Comparison of French and Italian Music (1704) -- Noel-Antoine Pluche, from The Spectacle of Nature (1746) -- Voltaire, from The Temple of Taste (1733) -- Jean Le Rond d'Alembert, from On the Freedom of Music (1759) -- Jean-Jacques Rousseau, from Essay on the Origins of Language (1781) -- Denis Diderot, from Additions to the Letter on the Deaf and Dumb (1751) -- Denis Diderot, from Rameau's Nephew (1760) -- Friedrich Melchior Grimm, from The Little Prophet of Boehmischbroda (1753) -- Friedrich Melchior Grimm, from the article "Poeme lyrique" in the Encyclopedie (1765) -- Chapter three. European rationalism and theories of harmony. Johann Joseph Fux, from Steps to Parnassus (1725) -- Jean-Philippe Rameau, from Treatise on Harmony (1722) -- Jean-Philippe Rameau, from Observations on Our Musical Instinct and on Its Principle (1754) -- Giuseppe Tartini, from On the Principles of Musical Harmony Contained in the Diatonic Genus (1767) -- Denis Diderot, from General Principles of the Science of Sound (1748) -- Chapter four. The birth of historiography and the reports of foreign travelers in Italy. Jacques Bonnet, from History of Music and of Its Effects (1715) -- John Brown, from A Dissertation on the Rise, Union, and Power, the Progressions, Separations, and Corruptions, of Poetry and Music (1763) -- Giovanni Battista Martini, from History of Music (1757) -- Charles Burney, from A General History of Music (1776) -- John Hawkins, from A General History of the Science and Practice of Music (1776) -- Charles de Brosses, from Letter to M. de Maleteste (1739-40) -- Samuel Sharp, from Letters from Italy (1767) -- Giuseppe Baretti, from An Account of the Manners and Customs of Italy (1768) -- Johann Nikolaus Forkel, from General History of Music (1788) -- Chapter five. The reaction of Italian humanists and literati to music. Francesco Algarotti, from Essay on Opera (1755) -- Antonio Planelli, from Opera (1772) -- Francesco Milizia, from Complete Formal and Material Treatise on the Theater (1794) -- Vittorio Alfieri, preface to Abele: Tramelogedia (1796) -- Pietro Metastasio, letter to Saverio Mattei, at Naples (1770) -- Chapter six. German musical culture and the controversy regarding Bach. Johann Adolf Scheibe, passage on J. S. Bach from a letter of 1737 -- Johann Abraham Birnbaum, from Impartial Remarks on a Dubious Passage in the Sixth Issue of Der critische Musikus (1738) -- Johann Mattheson, from The Complete Music Director (1739) -- Johann Joachim Quantz, from A Treatise on How to Play the Flute (1752) -- Leopold Mozart, from Treatise on the Fundamentals of the Violin (1756) -- Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg, from Guide to Playing Keyboard Instruments (1755-61) -- Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, from Essay on the True Art of Playing Keyboard Instruments (1753-62) -- Johann Mattheson, from The Latest Study of the Opera (1744) -- Chapter seven. Toward the Revaluation of Instrumental Music. Johann Mattheson, from The Complete Music Director (1739) -- Johann Joachim Quantz, from A Treatise on How to Play the Flute (1752) -- Denis Diderot and Anton Bemetzrieder, from Keyboard Lessons and Principles of Harmony (1771) -- Charles Avison, from An Essay on Musical Expression (1753) -- Chapter eight. Sensism and empirical currents. Joseph Addison, from The Spectator (1711) -- Jean-Baptiste Dubos, from Critical Reflections on Poetry, Painting, and Music (1740) -- Pietro Verri, from "Music" (1765) -- Pietro Verri, from Discourse on the Nature of Pleasure and Sorrow (1774) -- Chapter nine. The ancients and the moderns. Antonio Eximeno (y Pujades), from On the Origin and the Rules of Music, with the History of Their Development, Decline, and Renewal (1774) -- Esteban de Artega, from Revolutions of the Italian Musical Theater from Its Origin to the Present (1785) -- Vincenzo Manfredini, from Defense of Modern Music and Its Celebrated Performers (1788) -- Chapter ten. The "Querelle" between the Gluckists and the Piccinnists. Ranieri de' Calzabigi, from Essay on the Dramatic Poetry of the Abbe P. Metastasio (1755) -- Ranieri de' Calzabigi and Christoph Willibald Gluck, preface to Alceste (1769) -- Jean-Francois Marmontel, from Essay on the Progress of Music in France (1777) -- Jean-Francois de La Harpe, from Lyceum, or Course in Ancient and Modern Literature (1803) -- Michel-Paul Guy de Chabanon, from Observations on Music and Principally on the Metaphysics of Art (1779) -- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, three letters to his father (1781). |
| Abstract |
This book collects key writings about eighteenth century music. It brings together for the first time in one place, a wide selection of essential documents not only about music theory and practice, but about the historical, philosophical, aesthetic, ideological, and literary debates which held sway during a century when musical thought and criticism gained a privileged position in the culture of Europe. The author offers a sampling of English, French, German, and Italian writings on topics ranging from Enlightenment rationalism and the theories of harmony to German musical culture and the polemics on J. S. Bach. Organized by topic and historical period these selections go beyond writings dealing exclusively with specific musical works to larger issues of theory and the reception of musical ideas in the culture at large. The selections are from books, journals, newspapers, pamphlets, and letters; the contributors include Diderot, Rousseau, Voltaire, Grimm, Alfieri, Rameau, Quantz, Gluck, Tartini, Leopold and W. A. Mozart, and C. P .E. Bach. Many are translated here for the first time. With general and chapter introductions, restored footnotes, and other valuable annotations, and a biographical appendix, this anthology will interest music scholars, students, and teachers. |
