Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-c4f8m Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-20T04:25:50.519Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

4 - Answering with aesthetic criteria

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 October 2009

Mary Sue Morrow
Mary Sue Morrow
Affiliation:
Loyola University, New Orleans
Get access

Summary

Altonaischer gelehrter Mercurius (1779), review of the anonymous pamphlet Wahrheiten die Musik betreffend, gerade herausgesagt von einem deutschen Biedermann.

We would like to take the liberty – which the author himself takes – to say bluntly that he knows little or nothing about the art of which he speaks; that nearly everything he says is nothing but hogwash; and that other people should be writing truths about an art whose aesthetic is unfortunately still so little known.

Allgemeine deutsche Bibliothek (1786): Louis Abeille, Deux Sonates.

You won't find any new ideas here, and even the well-digested ones are always found in the most beautiful – disorder – so that we can scarcely expect to have a theory of musical aesthetics from Herr A.

As the review collective busied itself with defining and encouraging true German instrumental music, lively debates were occurring in literature, philosophy, and the other arts, debates that would provide aesthetic criteria to fill the void left by the rejection of mimesis. Reviewers soon joined in, but they did not simply tag along behind the leading edge of the discourse, gleaning whatever ideas they found useful: they participated fully, contributing their opinions and perspectives, and sometimes even anticipating issues that later achieved general aesthetic significance. This intersection with non-musical thought collectives – facilitated by the reviews' presence in general readership journals – reflected the interdisciplinary nature of German thought in the last quarter of the century.

Type
Chapter
Information
German Music Criticism in the Late Eighteenth Century
Aesthetic Issues in Instrumental Music
 , pp. 66 - 78
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1997

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×