Review

Reviewed Work(s): Idee und Begriff des musikalischen Kunstwerks im Spiegel des
deutschsprachigen Schrifttums der ersten Hälfte des 19. Jahrhunderts by Gudrun
Henneberg
Review by: Thomas S. Grey
Source: Notes, Second Series, Vol. 41, No. 4 (Jun., 1985), pp. 727-728
Published by: Music Library Association
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/940870
Accessed: 04-05-2017 05:55 UTC

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Book Reviews 727

knows
knows nothing
nothingabout
aboutMoravian
Moravianchurch run
run Henneberg
church Henneberg(Mainzer
(MainzerStudien
Studien
music and has never heard one note of Pe-
zur
zur Musikwissenschaft,
Musikwissenschaft,17.) 17.)Tutzing:
Tutzing:
ter's quintets. Schneider,
Schneider, 1983.
1983.[vi,
[vi,324
324p.;p.;
DM85.00]
DM85.00]
While the early composers come off by
far the worst, entries for contemporary The The first
first half
halfofofthe
thenineteenth
nineteenthcentury
century
musicians are by no means free from error was
was perhaps
perhapsthe themost
mostcrucial
crucial
period
period
in in
thethe
and omission. For example, the dictionarydevelopment
developmentof ofmusic
musicaesthetics.
aesthetics.
Theories
Theories
has University of Denver composer Donald of
of Affekt,
Affekt, imitation,
imitation,and
and"feeling"
"feeling" were
were
Keats teaching at Antioch College, a post gradually
gradually eroding
erodingininconnection
connectionwith
with what
what
he left in 1975. Normand Lockwood is said we
we might
might call
callthe
the"emancipation
"emancipation ofofabso-
abso-
to still be teaching at the University of lute
lute music"
music"initiated
initiatedby
byHaydn,
Haydn,Mozart,
Mozart,andand
Denver, although he retired in 1975 and above all, Beethoven. Gudrun Henne-
was replaced by Keats. According to An- berg's study of the concept of the musical
artwork
derson, Carl Hugo Grimm died in 1978. in German aesthetic and critical
The John Edmunds who was in charge of
writing of this period joins a fast-growing
the Americana Collection at The New York body of literature on the aesthetics of mu-
Public Library is different from the personsic in the wake of studies by Walter Wiora,
Carl Dahlhaus, and Hans Heinrich Egge-
who currently teaches at Louisiana State
brecht beginning in the 1960s. (Wiora's
University. Butterworth fails to mention that
Andre Previn has been music director of similarly titled book, Das musikalische Kunst-
the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra since
werk, appeared in the same year and from
1976. These are only some examples ofthe
thesame publisher as Henneberg's, al-
though Wiora approached the subject from
types of faulty data found in the entries;
others include questionable dates, misat-
a general rather than strictly historical-doc-
tributed compositions, and some down- umentary standpoint.)
The author has selected the period 1800
right ridiculous characterizations of career
and style. Space and reader patience to 1850 for several reasons. Not only did
mer-
cifully prevent the further cataloguingthis
oftime see the ascendancy of absolute
music as an ideal; there was also the first
the dictionary's deficiencies, but this should
be enough to give the reader a goodreal
ideaemphasis on individual compositions
of their nature. While there is undoubtedly as classic artworks, not merely representa-
some accurate information in the work, tives of generic norms (Beethoven's sym-
there is so much that is grossly erroneous phonies are paradigmatic), and a burst of
that one can never take any statement at activity in the realm of public and private
face value. concertizing as well as in music criticism,
Libraries having this dictionary on their with the founding of many new periodi-
reference shelves ought to give seriouscals. Significant boundaries for the period
consideration to removing it or at least tag- are provided by the works of the literary
ging it to warn patrons to use it with cau- Romantics just prior to 1800 (the influen-
tion, if at all. Fortunately, there are many tial joint publications by Tieck and Wack-
other, more reliable reference sources for enroder) and by Hanslick's Vom Musikal-
American composers: The New Grove Dic-
isch-Schonen of 1854. One of Henneberg's
tionary, Who's Who in American Music, An-main points, however, is that the half-cen-
derson's Contemporary American Composers,tury leading up to Hanslick, which he uni-
and a new edition of Baker's, to name only
versally condemned as characterized by a
a few. There is no real need for Butter- "corrupt aesthetics of feeling," was in fact
marked by a heterogenous perception of
worth's feeble compilation, which can only
be an embarrassment to the publisher and music and a continuous struggle to rec-
a source of frustration to the user. oncile the claims of emotional effect and
KARL KROEGER structural thinking.
University of Colorado, Boulder Henneberg divides her topic into three
broad areas: the nature and development
of the musical artwork as a concept, rec-
Idee und Begriff des musikalischen ognition (Erkenntnis) of the work, and the
Kunstwerks im Spiegel des deutsch- significance of the musical artwork in terms
sprachigen Schrifttums der ersten of society and historical consciousness. A
Halfte des 19. Jahrhunderts. By Gud- substantial introductory section includes a

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728 MLA Notes, June 1985

useful
useful account
accountofoflater
later eighteenth-century brings
eighteenth-century brings toto this
this subject.
subject.When
WhenHenneberg
Henneberg
aesthetic
aesthetictheory,
theory,and andHenneberg
Henneberg stresses
stresses claims,
claims, for
for instance,
instance,that
thatUnterhaltungsmusik
Unterhaltungsmusik
the
the continuity
continuityofofearly
earlynineteenth-century
nineteenth-century waswas dismissed
dismissed bybycritics
criticsasaslacking
lackingintellec-
intellec-
figures
figures such
suchasasRochlitz
Rochlitzwith
with
this
this
rational-
rational- tual
tual content
content (p.
(p.109),
109),she
shedoes
doesnotnottake
take
the
the
istic-cum-sentimental tradition. Within the opportunity
opportunity to tounderline
underlinethe theimplied
implied cor-
cor-
main body of the work, several themes stand relation
relation of
of "content"
"content"withwithpurely
purelymusical
musical
out: the problem of "content" and feeling form or structure. One wishes for more
or emotion (Gefiihl), form and the demand observations like that about the ambiva-
for organic unity, the authority of com- lence about Tonmalerei during this period,
positional rules as opposed to that of ge- a conflict resulting from the antagonism of
nius and inspiration, and the mediating role eighteenth-century naturalistic imitation
of criticism in the understanding of an in- theories with the growing desire for dis-
creasingly complex music language. By or- tinctness of musical expression.
ganizing her discussion of the abundant In the generally intelligent selection and
source material under such topics as these, organization of its wealth of material, Hen-
Henneberg avoids the drudgery of a purely neberg's study is a valuable addition to the
chronological presentation. On the other literature on music aesthetics. Its attractive
hand, one might question the wisdom of format is unfortunately marred by an un-
discussing an author like Adolf Bernhard usual number of misprints; I counted forty-
Marx on the basis of writings between 1824 four, including at least one name and sev-
and 1859 without drawing attention to the ral dates, which could lead to confusion.
occasional chronological disparity of the THOMAS S. GREY
material.
University of California, Berkeley
In general, breadth of source material is
certainly a strong point. As the author points
English Ayres: A Selectively Anno-
out, much of even the best writing on his-
tated Bibliography and Discography.
torical aesthetics tends to rely heavily on
certain key texts or phrases-Hoffmann's Compiled by Joan Swanekamp. West-
Fifth symphony review, for example, or port, CT: Greenwood Press, 1984. [xii,
catchwords from the Romantic group, He- 141 p.; $35.00]
gel, Schumann, or Hanslick. By no means
ignoring the "classic texts," Henneberg Since the early part of this century, there
supplements our view of these with nu- has been a remarkably steady growth of in-
merous reviews and articles, as well as aes- terest in the English ayre. Numerous edi-
thetic treatises or collected essays by sig- tions of the music have appeared over the
nificant but lesser known authors such as past seventy-five years, accompanied by an
Hans Georg Nageli, Wilhelm Christian ever-increasing assortment of books, arti-
Muller, Ferdinand Hand, August Kahlert, cles, and doctoral dissertations relating to
and Eduard Kruger. This method points the genre. And many ayres have been re-
up interesting connections between differ- corded by various artists as serious interest
ent categories of musical thought. One sec- in the performance of early music has de-
tion, for instance, treats the relation of veloped and flourished over the past three
Kompositionslehre (Gottfried Weber, Logier, decades. Joan Swanekamp's ambitious book
Marx, Johann Christian Lobe) and aes- represents the first attempt to bring to-
thetics; elsewhere the ubiquitous influence gether in an organized fashion citations for
of Hegel in the 1830s and 40s is traced all written and recorded works relating to
through criticism by Schumann, Franz the English ayre from the sixteenth cen-
Brendel, and others. tury to our own time. The 903 entries are
The problem of organizing the material organized into 28 sections, the first of which
is always inherent in a topic as broad as the is devoted to general works on the genre,
"idea of the musical artwork" or in this type while the rest cover specific composers in
of documentary survey. While I approve of alphabetical order. Each section is divided
the thematic rather than chronological ap- into literature, music, and recordings; each
proach taken, reviews or essays do not al- subsection is organized alphabetically by
ways fit comfortably within a given topic. author and subarranged by title. Literature
One also misses the kind of pointed inter- and music entries give author/composer,
pretation that a writer like Carl Dahlhaus title, editor, imprint information, and col-

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