Page 37 - Weiss, Jernej, ur./ed. 2024. Glasbena kritika – nekoč in danes ▪︎ Music Criticism – Yesterday and Today. Koper/Ljubljana: Založba Univerze na Primorskem in Festival Ljubljana. Studia musicologica Labacensia, 7
P. 37
innovation, art, society, and life: deliber ations on music cr iticism’s past, pr esence ...
Regarding the 18th and 19th centuries we may also speak of a dialectical
relationship between the social and the aesthetic dimension of music criti-
cism.5 Depending on the readership in the different journals, the critics fo-
cused either on the one or the other side.
Some Case Studies
E. T. A. Hoffmann
If we look at critiques written by one of the most famous critics in history,
the composer and poet E. T. A. Hoffmann, we can also find some charac-
teristic features which show the interconnection between art and life that
he was fighting for.
Concerning the Ouverture à grand Orchestre, “du jeune Henri Chas-
se” par Étienne-Nicolas Méhul, published in Leipzig with Breitkopf und
Härtel, his ideals of what a composer should do stand out: as Méhul does,
the composer should dominate the fantasy, the imagination of the audience
in such a way that a certain image taken from life would be projected di-
rectly in front of the inner eye. The effect aimed at is for the audience to be-
come directly involved in the colorful chaos of fantastic events.
The music willingly reveals its secrets to the composer; he [...] there-
by dominates the listener’s imagination, so that at his call a certain pic-
ture from life appears before the eyes of the spirit, and he is irresisti-
bly drawn into the colorful melee of fantastic appearances. [...] Melody,
choice of instruments, harmonic structure, everything must work to-
gether, and it would be a foolish delusion if one wanted to achieve that
purpose, to have a definite effect on the imagination, by imitating indi-
vidual natural sounds without paying attention to the whole.6
Metzler, 2007), 275–88; resp. Bernhard R. Appel, “Die ‘Marseillaise’ bei Heinrich
Heine und Robert Schumann,” in Übergänge: zwischen Künsten und Kulturen. Inter-
nationaler Kongress zum 150. Todesjahr von Heinrich Heine und Robert Schumann,
ed. Henriette Herwig (Stuttgart: Metzler, 2007), 289–304.
5 Cf. Ulrich Tadday, Christoph Flamm, and Peter Wicke, “Musikkritik,” in MGG, ed.
Laurenz Lütteken (Kassel, Stuttgart, New York: s. n., 2016–2021).
6 “Dem wahren Komponisten enthüllt die Musik willig ihre Geheimnisse; er […] be-
herrscht damit die Fantasie des Zuhörers, so daß auf seinen Ruf diesem ein bestimm-
tes Bild aus dem Leben vor die Augen des Geistes tritt, und er unwiderstehlich hinein-
gezogen wird in das bunte Gewühl fantastischer Erscheinungen. Melodie, Wahl der
Instrumente, harmonische Struktur, alles muß da zusammenwirken, und es wäre ein
törichter Wahn, wenn man durch die Nachahmung einzelner Naturlaute ohne Beach-
tung des Ganzen jenen Zweck, bestimmt auf die Fantasie zu wirken, erreichen wollte.”
E. T. A. Hoffmann, “Ouverture à grande Orchestre, ‘du jeune Henri Chasse’ par F.
37
Regarding the 18th and 19th centuries we may also speak of a dialectical
relationship between the social and the aesthetic dimension of music criti-
cism.5 Depending on the readership in the different journals, the critics fo-
cused either on the one or the other side.
Some Case Studies
E. T. A. Hoffmann
If we look at critiques written by one of the most famous critics in history,
the composer and poet E. T. A. Hoffmann, we can also find some charac-
teristic features which show the interconnection between art and life that
he was fighting for.
Concerning the Ouverture à grand Orchestre, “du jeune Henri Chas-
se” par Étienne-Nicolas Méhul, published in Leipzig with Breitkopf und
Härtel, his ideals of what a composer should do stand out: as Méhul does,
the composer should dominate the fantasy, the imagination of the audience
in such a way that a certain image taken from life would be projected di-
rectly in front of the inner eye. The effect aimed at is for the audience to be-
come directly involved in the colorful chaos of fantastic events.
The music willingly reveals its secrets to the composer; he [...] there-
by dominates the listener’s imagination, so that at his call a certain pic-
ture from life appears before the eyes of the spirit, and he is irresisti-
bly drawn into the colorful melee of fantastic appearances. [...] Melody,
choice of instruments, harmonic structure, everything must work to-
gether, and it would be a foolish delusion if one wanted to achieve that
purpose, to have a definite effect on the imagination, by imitating indi-
vidual natural sounds without paying attention to the whole.6
Metzler, 2007), 275–88; resp. Bernhard R. Appel, “Die ‘Marseillaise’ bei Heinrich
Heine und Robert Schumann,” in Übergänge: zwischen Künsten und Kulturen. Inter-
nationaler Kongress zum 150. Todesjahr von Heinrich Heine und Robert Schumann,
ed. Henriette Herwig (Stuttgart: Metzler, 2007), 289–304.
5 Cf. Ulrich Tadday, Christoph Flamm, and Peter Wicke, “Musikkritik,” in MGG, ed.
Laurenz Lütteken (Kassel, Stuttgart, New York: s. n., 2016–2021).
6 “Dem wahren Komponisten enthüllt die Musik willig ihre Geheimnisse; er […] be-
herrscht damit die Fantasie des Zuhörers, so daß auf seinen Ruf diesem ein bestimm-
tes Bild aus dem Leben vor die Augen des Geistes tritt, und er unwiderstehlich hinein-
gezogen wird in das bunte Gewühl fantastischer Erscheinungen. Melodie, Wahl der
Instrumente, harmonische Struktur, alles muß da zusammenwirken, und es wäre ein
törichter Wahn, wenn man durch die Nachahmung einzelner Naturlaute ohne Beach-
tung des Ganzen jenen Zweck, bestimmt auf die Fantasie zu wirken, erreichen wollte.”
E. T. A. Hoffmann, “Ouverture à grande Orchestre, ‘du jeune Henri Chasse’ par F.
37
