Page 39 - 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
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innovation, art, society, and life: deliber ations on music cr iticism’s past, pr esence ...
how correctly the composer chose the means for the purpose once set,
and how he knew how to hold the whole together in all its parts.9
At the end of the poetic description, Hoffmann again underscores that
the composer was able to choose the musical means correctly. The impact
of the music thus depends on the composer’s knowledge and mastery and
results directly therefrom. In the part of the text which then follows, Hoff-
mann even uses excerpts from the score to demonstrate his views and to
convince his readers.10 We may therefore conclude that despite all romantic
poetry, the critic argues rationally combining rational and analytic means
with the reflection and description of his subjective impressions and aes-
thetic experience. By doing so he becomes a model for later philosophers
and critics as prominent as Th. W. Adorno, for example.
Another text taken from Hofmann’s writings shows how he operates
in the case that he is not convinced by the piece even if it’s a composition
by a very well-known and otherwise appreciated composer, even appreciat-
ed by Hoffmann himself.
An exemple for such a critique is the text concerning the “Grande
Sonate pour le Pianoforte comp. - - par J.G. Reichardt, Maître de Chapelle
de S. M. le roi de Prusse à Leipsic, chez Breitkopf et Härtel.” Right at the
beginning the author makes clear that the quality of the composition he is
writing about, from his point of view, is not at all comparable to that of oth-
er pieces by Reichardt. In the following he describes how Reichardt’s geni-
us was capable to write impressionable music characterized by deeply ex-
pressed and heartfelt sensations, by, in all respects, even in the highest, true
declamation, by a genius-like understanding of the most impressive musi-
cal means. In genres such as a simple lied or even a gorgeous opera, Reich-
ardt’s music presented both every detail, as well as the entire character of a
given poem in an emphatic way. As a consequence, he succeeded in touch-
ing every mind and inspiring it to emphatically engage with the music.
9 “Aus tiefem Dickicht springt der königliche Hirsch hervor, verfolgt, angefallen von den
in Jagdlust wütenden Hunden; auf schnaubenden Rossen stürmen die Jäger nach; auf
einmal ist das Tier verschwunden, die Hunde haben die Fährte verloren; sie schleichen
suchend und schnuppernd umher, die Jäger halten sich still; da schlagen die Hunde
aufs Neue an, über Stein und Busch setzt das Tier, die Hörner schallen, die Jäger erei-
len es, und lustige Fanfaren verkündigen den Sieg. Alles dieses tritt in den lebendigs-
ten Farben heraus – ein Beweis, wie richtig der Komponist zu dem einmal vorgesetzten
Zweck die Mittel wählte, und wie er das Ganze in allen seinen Teilen zusammenzuhal-
ten verstand.” Ibid.
10 Ibid., 210–13.
39
how correctly the composer chose the means for the purpose once set,
and how he knew how to hold the whole together in all its parts.9
At the end of the poetic description, Hoffmann again underscores that
the composer was able to choose the musical means correctly. The impact
of the music thus depends on the composer’s knowledge and mastery and
results directly therefrom. In the part of the text which then follows, Hoff-
mann even uses excerpts from the score to demonstrate his views and to
convince his readers.10 We may therefore conclude that despite all romantic
poetry, the critic argues rationally combining rational and analytic means
with the reflection and description of his subjective impressions and aes-
thetic experience. By doing so he becomes a model for later philosophers
and critics as prominent as Th. W. Adorno, for example.
Another text taken from Hofmann’s writings shows how he operates
in the case that he is not convinced by the piece even if it’s a composition
by a very well-known and otherwise appreciated composer, even appreciat-
ed by Hoffmann himself.
An exemple for such a critique is the text concerning the “Grande
Sonate pour le Pianoforte comp. - - par J.G. Reichardt, Maître de Chapelle
de S. M. le roi de Prusse à Leipsic, chez Breitkopf et Härtel.” Right at the
beginning the author makes clear that the quality of the composition he is
writing about, from his point of view, is not at all comparable to that of oth-
er pieces by Reichardt. In the following he describes how Reichardt’s geni-
us was capable to write impressionable music characterized by deeply ex-
pressed and heartfelt sensations, by, in all respects, even in the highest, true
declamation, by a genius-like understanding of the most impressive musi-
cal means. In genres such as a simple lied or even a gorgeous opera, Reich-
ardt’s music presented both every detail, as well as the entire character of a
given poem in an emphatic way. As a consequence, he succeeded in touch-
ing every mind and inspiring it to emphatically engage with the music.
9 “Aus tiefem Dickicht springt der königliche Hirsch hervor, verfolgt, angefallen von den
in Jagdlust wütenden Hunden; auf schnaubenden Rossen stürmen die Jäger nach; auf
einmal ist das Tier verschwunden, die Hunde haben die Fährte verloren; sie schleichen
suchend und schnuppernd umher, die Jäger halten sich still; da schlagen die Hunde
aufs Neue an, über Stein und Busch setzt das Tier, die Hörner schallen, die Jäger erei-
len es, und lustige Fanfaren verkündigen den Sieg. Alles dieses tritt in den lebendigs-
ten Farben heraus – ein Beweis, wie richtig der Komponist zu dem einmal vorgesetzten
Zweck die Mittel wählte, und wie er das Ganze in allen seinen Teilen zusammenzuhal-
ten verstand.” Ibid.
10 Ibid., 210–13.
39
