18th Century Music History

musical life at the canons regular church of St George in Warsaw in light of the accounts book of the Guardian Angels Confraternity (1743–1771)
One hitherto unknown centre of musical activity in eighteenth-century Warsaw was the now non-existent Canons Regular church of St George on Świętojerska Street. St George’s was the meeting place for the Confraternity of the Guardian Angels, consisting mostly of merchants, which was founded in 1707 or before. The brotherhood’s book of accounts for 1746–1771, previously not studied in depth, allows us to draw conclusions concerning not only the organisation itself, but also the funds that it assigned to music. This article analyses the book’s records in order to reconstruct a picture of music-making at St George’s under the aegis of the confraternity. The analysis divides the expenditure into funds for the ensemble, the trumpeters and the timpanists; there are also individual entries relating to the organist’s fees and the purchase of hymn books. The ensemble employed by the confraternity was probably either assembled from Warsaw musicians or else a permanent group of the Canons Regular at St George’s. The ensemble, typically made up of eleven musicians, performed mainly at fairs held on the feast days of SS Philip and James, St Stanislaus, SS Peter and Paul, the Visitation of Mary, St Michael, and the Holy Guardian Angels. The four trumpeters and the timpanists, on the other hand, were hired to perform during processions. The recorded expenditure includes the musicians’ fees, probably paid in cash, as well as amounts paid for their food; the sums range from small to quite substantial. The article is accompanied by a chronological list of music-related expenses itemised in the accounts book, together with the names of the feasts embellished by music from the ensemble,the timpanists and the trumpeters.

La motivación de este trabajo surge por el deseo de ahondar en el estudio de la música orquestal del periodo Barroco, repertorio que no he tenido la posibilidad de abordar en las cátedras de dirección orquestal de la institución donde se comienza el estudio de la dirección desde el clasismo (probablemente porque es el momento en donde la orquesta como institución e instrumento se consolidan).
Mi gusto particular por este periodo proviene de la capacidad que posee esta música para mover los afectos, situación que en un primer momento fue totalmente inconsciente. Desde una escucha subjetiva encontraba en esta música algo particularmente movilizante y luego, al empezar a estudiar el repertorio, conocer la teoría de los afectos y la disciplina de la retórica, entendí que esa sensación podía salir del plano meramente subjetivo y que era música que desde su creación había sido concebida con el fin de conmover. En algún momento de este camino, por cuestiones laborales me encontré con la música de Jean Baptiste Lully, un músico italiano que revolucionó la música de Francia durante el reinado de Luis XIV y el gusto por este estilo fue muy fuerte. Por todo esto me siento movilizado por la propia música a elegir este repertorio para trabajar en la siguiente tesina.
En este caso el trabajo tratará, específicamente, sobre un género musical del Barroco Francés, la Tragedie Lyrique, que solía ser representado en la escena de la Académie royale de musique de París (la cual es considerada por varios autores como el primer ensamble orquestal que puede ser llamado de esa manera, como nos dice Spitzer y Zaslaw (2004) en su libro “The Birth of the Orchesta. History o an Insitution”). Y de esta manera profundizaremos sobre las texturas orquestales de esta música mediante el estudio del repertorio, la instrumentación, características interpretativas y el contrapunto para lograr recrear una pieza de este género “Ulysse” de Jean-Ferry Rebel y ponerla en música en nuestros días.

En los últimos años, las narrativas historiográficas han mostrado una visión renovadade la música en la España de la Ilustración: la de un país que, con sus singularidades, supomostrarse atento a los debates estéticos y las novedades de la cultura musical del momento. Estaperspectiva ha supuesto un viraje sustantivo frente a la idea heredada de un país retrasado,cuando no marginado, con respecto a la vida musical europea. En buena medida, este cambiode perspectiva ha sido posible gracias al estudio de un aspecto crucial como el mercado de lamúsica. Este artículo propone una reflexión sobre las fuentes y la metodología apropiadas parala investigación de este mercado entre 1770 y 1808, en particular, de la red internacional dedistribución que tuvo en esos años un extraordinario desarrollo. El análisis crítico que se presentaaquí sobre los agentes implicados, las dinámicas de difusión o el tipo de materiales en circulación, entre otros aspectos, podrá servir de guía para futuros estudi...

In this research, the author went after the origins of the cello ensembles, from the violas da gamba to the classical, romantic and modern composers, who often used the cello section as a compositional resource in their works. The first registered compositions for a group of cellists and the contribution of composers like Klengel and Villa-Lobos are also shown. The relevance of a cello ensemble in educational programs and how the members deal with it in three universities (UFMG, Brazil; Yale, USA; and Musikhochschule Muenster, Germany) were also analysed. The author also describes how the new cello ensemble repertoire is relevant for practice and study purposes with examples and own arrangements and compositional material.

This article focuses on the analysis of the main landmarks of the fugue theory presented in "Traité de haute composition musicale" (1824–1826) – the most important treatise signed by the famous composer, teacher and theorist A. Reicha. Th e author describes in detail the elements and compartments making up a fugue: theme, answer, exposition, episode, stretto etc. He examines the simple and the multiple fugues (up to six themes); without overlooking the fugues with various theme changes (in augmentation or in diminution, in inversion or recurring movement), as well as the fugues with orchestral accompaniment, etc. Reicha diff erentiates the old fugue, composed respecting all the rules of strict counterpoint, and the modern fugue, written in free style. Th e author's comments on the problem of unity and diversity in the fugue are of great interest. In conclusion we can see in Reicha's fugue theory a progressive approach to many subjects related to the structure, the ...

Tomando como hilo conductor el
tema de las antigüedades, se profundiza en los
círculos humanísticos sevillanos de la segunda
mitad del siglo XVI mediante el análisis de los
epistolarios de algunos de sus miembros más
destacados. En concreto, se estudia la relación
epistolar de este grupo con intelectuales-anticuarios residentes en Jerez de la Frontera. Finalmente, se da noticia acerca de varias inscripciones halladas en Jerez en aquellos años.

Wincenty Lessel was a pianist and composer born in Bohemia, conductor of the Czartoryski Princes’ court orchestra in Puławy. Based on the scanty information found in his biography and correspondence, Hanna Rudnicka-Kruszewska hypothesised that he was born around 1740–50 in Jílové u Prahy. Archival research has revealed the musician’s baptismal certificate. He was born in Riegersdorf (now Modrá, a district of the town Jílové u Děčína) as the son of Hans Christoph Lössel (an outworker, not a burgrave, as Lessel himself claimed) and his wife Rosina. Baptised on 17th June 1756 in the parish church in Jílové u Děčína (Germ. Eulau), Wincenty had seven siblings: Hans Joseph, Christoph, Anton, Hans Franz,
Franz (Anton), Ignatz, and Maria Theresia, born in 1738–53. Their parents probably died in 1759–60. Most likely after the Seven Years’ War, the Lössels moved from Jílové to Dresden, joining their family in that city, which included Georg Albert Lössel, the would-be founder of the famous Lessel coffee house in Warsaw’s Saxon Palace. Along with his successors, Wincenty Lessel applied for an indygenat (granting nobility to foreign nobles) for his family in 1819.

The author of the text to Mozart's sacred cantata 'Davide penitente' KV 469 has been the subject of repeated speculation in Mozart research: Based on a statement by Abbé Stadler, passed down by Vincent Novello, Lorenzo da Ponte was initially considered a possible author of the text, an attribution that has nevertheless been repeatedly questioned with well-founded arguments. In the course of research in connection with a performance of the work on the occasion of the Salzburg Mozart Week 2009, the Italian text of Mozart's sacred cantata could now be proven in a prominent and widely distributed contemporary publication of the 18th century: It comes from the 'Libri poetici della Bibbia', a free, annotated Italian translation of the 150 Old Testament Psalms of David by Saverio Mattei, a lawyer, man of letters and theorist working in Naples.

Diogenio Bigaglia (1678–1745), whose life and music are at last becoming better known today, was a Venetian amateur composer whose talent equalled that of the three more eminent composers contemporary with him belonging to the same category: Tomaso Albinoni and the Marcello brothers Alessandro and Benedetto. From 1694 until his death he was a monk at the Benedictine (Cassinese) abbey of San Giorgio Maggiore in his native city, well enough regarded there to serve at different times as Prior and Cellarer. Fortunately, his fellow monks appear to have taken pride in his musical accomplishments and the circulation of his compositions among connoisseurs throughout Europe. Bigaglia’s compositional output includes sacred vocal music (oratorios, Masses, psalm settings, motets), secular vocal music (serenatas, chamber duets, cantatas, canzonettas) and instrumental music (concertos, sonatas). His twelve-movement setting of the Vesper psalm Dixit Dominus for soloists, choir, trumpet, strings and basso continuo, composed around 1700, may well be his earliest preserved work in any genre. Musically, it looks both back to the idiom of the later Seicento (Cavalli, Legrenzi) and forward to that of the early Settecento (Lotti, Vivaldi). Many attributes of the mature composer – in particular, an inventive use of the instruments, a liking for recondite contrapuntal devices and a penchant for humour – already appear in this spacious setting, alternately imposing and intimate, which makes a strong case for a future collected edition of Bigaglia’s works.

"Les sexes sont fort mélangés dans l'opéra ; [...] ici [à Rome] l'on ne souffre pas de femmes sur le théâtre ; la bienséance ne le permet pas, et n'y veut que de jolis petits garçons habillés en filles [...]." 
With these words, the French jurist and philologist Charles de Brosses (1709-1777) outlined the phenomenon of cross-gender casting practices in Italian opera metropolises of the 18th century, in particular the custom, binding for Rome and the Papal States, that stage works in public theaters could only be performed by male artists.  Starting from basic considerations on cross-gender casting on the opera stage, the article examines how this performance practice was perceived and evaluated from a contemporary perspective, on the basis of selected texts from 18th century travel literature on Italy. In doing so, the question is explored whether and, if so, to what extent the discrepancy between biological and represented gender resulting from the opposite-sex casting convention was perceived and described as a problem of representational aesthetics at all, how the scenic credibility of male performers in female roles was assessed in the various branches of theater (opera, spoken theater, and ballet), and which parameters of representation were considered relevant in this context.

Gluck is one of the most important music dramatists of the second half of the 18th century. His name and his work are associated with the concept of Gluck's "opera reform," through which the composer made an essential and forward-looking contribution to the development of musical theater. The aim of this volume is to introduce the reader to the composer's musical world and to trace the associated innovations in the conception of opera as a work of art. The first chapter discusses aesthetic prerequisites and music-dramaturgical concepts of opera reform. The second chapter is devoted to Gluck's work in Vienna and the works composed there, while the third chapter deals with the reform operas composed for Paris and the effect they had on the public. The last chapter gives an outlook on the history of Gluck's impact in the 19th century, thus rounding off this volume. All in all, a lively and detailed picture of the composer Gluck emerges, which is colorfully accessible to the expert reader as well as to the layman.

The second half of the 18th century was marked throughout Europe by the existence of various orchestras associated either with the court or with public theatres, within a broad framework marked by the flourishing of new forms of sociability among the bourgeoisie and the aristocracy. In Portugal, several reports by German travellers frequently referred to the high salaries earned by the musicians in Lisbon, which formed the starting point for this study. By analysing exchange treaties, payment tables, administrative rolls, and manuscripts in German and Portuguese archives, some of which unpublished, it was possible to compare payments and observe whether there were differences in the salaries of orchestra musicians in the courts of Lisbon, Berlin, Dresden, Mannheim and Munich. In this comparative approach, the following aspects were taken into account: the composition of the orchestras, both in terms of number and type of instruments; the number of national and foreign musicians in each orchestra; wage fluctuations over time and their contextualisation; existence, or not, of in-kind remuneration and other related benefits; the relative purchasing power of musicians  according to where they lived; and the role that nationality and type of instrument may (or may not) have played in their remuneration. This study aims to identify continuities and discontinuities in the practice of these orchestras and, by characterising and comparing the socio-professional status of the instrumentalists, to contribute to the description of musical practice in the wider European context. The RELIT-Rom catalogue will be used to exemplify the identification, cataloguing and transmission of information concerning this musical practice.

This paper demonstrates the change in position of the use of the counterpoint schema, entitled Romanesca, throughout the 18th century. The way of its use goes from a thematic opening procedure to different positions in the structure of the instrumental and vocal repertoire. Apparently, its recurrence, especially in the latter case, suggests musical topic implications that gradually removed the strong connotation of a musical opening formula, belonging to the 18th century repertoire, the so-called Galant Style, as presented and explained by Robert Gjerdingen. The paper focuses on the verification of this variability of use and suggests that in the process of maturation of its use, Romanesca may have been an expedient of syntactic construction with direction to different meanings, according to the creative project in which it was inserted.

Celebrou-se em 2013 o 30º aniversário da morte do padre e compositor Manuel Faria (1916 – 1983). Apesar da investigação já realizada, está por conhecer grande parte da sua obra, essencialmente devido à falta de um estudo exaustivo do espólio, nas suas múltiplas vertentes, que se encontra na Biblioteca Geral da Universidade de Coimbra. Este artigo – inserido no âmbito dos estudos em ʻperformance historicamente informada' (Butt 2002) – parte do processo de pesquisa, tratamento e análise do acervo acima referido, para a discussão de questões que se colocam à reconstituição e edição de Due Mottetti per coro e organo (1944), tendo como objetivo principal partilhar experiências e discutir problemas relacionados com a organização, inventariação, catalogação, estudo e posterior performance das obras de Manuel Faria. A integração de peças soltas em unidades maiores, característico em Manuel Faria, colocou novos desafios à pesquisa que foram ultrapassados a partir de um estudo em publicaç...

Johann Joseph Fux was not only one of the most prestigious composers of the first half of the 18th century, but also the author of one of the most read and studied music treatises of the period: Gradus ad Parnassum. Nevertheless, the fact that Fux defended the emulation of the stile antico led a significant part of musicologists to underestimate his importance for the development of music in the 18th and 19th centuries. Considering the controversies around Gradus ad Parnassum, the small attention devoted to it and its historical value, this article proposes a reassessment of the reception of this treaty and the preservation of the stile antico. Through this reassessment, it will be possible to expand our understanding of the musical and treatise production of the 18th century, as well as the influence of Fux's work on later generations of musicians and composers.

L’Inno dei Cherubini è un testo di fondamentale importanza per chi ha avuto modo di comporre nell’ambito della musica sacra corale ortodossa; tratto dalla Divina Liturgia di San Giovanni Crisostomo, il testo è stato infatti musicato da uno svariato numero di autori, russi principalmente.
Il focus inoltre è sul periodo tardo-romantico, in quanto momento di passaggio fondamentale per i compositori della Russia, sempre meno interessati all’influsso occidentale e spinti alla ricerca delle proprie radici nella musica popolare da un parte e in quella sacra dall’altra (e quindi con un confronto più che obbligato con il canto liturgico ortodosso).
L’evoluzione dello stile compositivo della musica sacra in Russia prende le
mosse dall’analisi di autori molto diversi: D. Bortniansky, P. I. Tchaikovsky, S.Rachmaninov e P. Chesnokov.