Western music

Author: Eggebrecht Hans Heinrich
Publisher:
Publication Date: 2005-01-01
Features: This book is not a music history in the conventional sense. If the author had intended to write one, it would inevitably contain everything that has existed in music history in the past and still exists today. They are based on the traditional theories of music history. In line with the recent greatly expanded areas of interest. However, this is not the case here. Judging this book by the expectations of a conventional music history, one might not be able to count all the things missing from it. If this book were called "A Chapter in Music History," it would be undeniable, and compared to the usual, it would no longer be a problem: incomplete issues; but a better way to put it is: it would be hidden. Because, this book was actually conceived as a music history based on ideas and topics, more precisely, it was conceived as a way of writing music history. The object of music history is music works, and the understanding of music history is mainly based on the understanding of works. The author of this book believes that, based on this concept, a Western music history can only be written by understanding the structure and content of music works. In this regard, he insists on the view that "music has meaning and content," believing that the meaning and content of music are not external to music but lie within its structure itself (for example, the resolution of the dominant seventh chord to the tonic chord is the "meaning" of Western music in a certain period, and the expectation of this resolution is its "content"). In the book, he regards many factors in music as living entities, describing the sounds and their progress as if they are playful and frolicking like little sprites, performing a series of musical "dramas." This book vividly describes and analyzes the compositional treatment and the issues it raises in several specific phenomena in music history, achieving a profound understanding of the essence of Western music and its historical evolution through analysis. Therefore, this book is different from any other style history, cultural history, or music history we commonly encounter, and is certainly not a dry analysis of compositional techniques. Instead, it stands out uniquely as a masterpiece of music history understanding based on the concept of "analytical music history." Another unique feature of this book is fifteen "reflections." They interrupt the narrative of music history and engage readers in thinking about issues of music historiography, music aesthetics, and music terminology, including an introduction to the author (Reflection XV: Who am I?). Through these reflections, the author directly conveys his experiences with music history and related theoretical issues to the readers, inviting them to participate in the experience and reflection. In this sense, this book goes far beyond traditional music historiography and represents a meaningful attempt at the systematicization of historical studies. The author's writing is rich in poetic charm, often using words with the same rhyme or root to convey sometimes even completely opposite meanings, which makes his prose highly musical and deeply beloved by German readers. The biographical method in music historiography comes from positivist philosophy, relying on composers' life experiences and psychological conflicts to interpret the meaning of musical works. The author of this book applies the biographical method when discussing some composers but avoids it when discussing others. In the chapters where the biographical method is used, some are highly persuasive (e.g., the author argues that Schütz's creative achievements are related to his devout Protestant faith and years of studying music in Italy), while others seem somewhat forced (e.g., linking the "inappropriateness" and "roaring" of Bruckner's symphonies to his naive personality). Thus, not only in the places where the biographical method is used but also in the book's overall choice of this method, there is a paradox—a paradox in hermeneutics: if the biographical method is used, it is both successful and unsuccessful; if the music historian can use or discard this method, then it becomes a paradox. Originally, the biographical method and biographicalism were controversial in music historiography, but in this book, which emphasizes the subjective understanding of music history, the author's presentation of this paradox makes the path to understanding seem even more arduous. This book is written for readers with high demands but without professional knowledge. For this reason, the author abandoned the annotation tradition of Western academia, and the original German book contains almost no footnotes. Given the cultural and intellectual background of Chinese readers of the Chinese edition and the lack of foreign-language resources, adhering to this practice in the translation would inadvertently hinder understanding. To help Chinese readers comprehend this book, the translator has added numerous page-by-page annotations to the names and concepts mentioned but not elaborated on in the book—from the birth and death dates of figures to musical terms and special concepts of Western history and culture. They are selective: birth and death dates are limited to composers, musicians, music theorists, and others related to music. Annotations for terms, names, and titles are usually placed at the first occurrence in the book and are as far as possible accompanied by the original German names in parentheses after the Chinese translations. Place names are not accompanied by the original text. Additionally, the translator has attempted to render the word "music" (die Musik) as "she" in the German text, at least to avoid confusion caused by the lack of gender and case in Chinese when using pronouns, while maintaining the poetic rhythm of the original style.