Divine Air. Johann Nikolaus Forkel’s (1749-1818) Justification of Church Music

This paper offers an investigation of Johann Nikolaus Forkel’s (1749-1818) ideas on church music, its modes of reception, and effects on the congregation, as presented in the introduction to the second volume of his Allgemeine Geschichte der Musik (1801). These ideas will be positioned within the c...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Jan Wessel
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Università degli Studi di Torino 2016-01-01
Series:Gli Spazi della Musica
Online Access:https://www.ojs.unito.it/index.php/spazidellamusica/article/view/1357
Description
Summary:This paper offers an investigation of Johann Nikolaus Forkel’s (1749-1818) ideas on church music, its modes of reception, and effects on the congregation, as presented in the introduction to the second volume of his Allgemeine Geschichte der Musik (1801). These ideas will be positioned within the context of the musical controversies which had haunted the Lutheran church since the middle of the 17th century. It will be shown that Forkel utilized the new scientific discoveries within the fields of fluid mechanics, acoustics and neurology in order to reinterpret some of the central notions on which the musical theology of the Lutheran church was based. Aria divina. La spiegazione della musica ecclesiastica di Johann Nikolaus Forkel’s (1749-1818) Il presente articolo esplora le idee sulla musica liturgica (la sua recezione e i suoi effetti sull’assemblea) esposte da Johann Nikolaus Forkel (1749-1818) nell’introduzione al secondo volume della sua Allgemeine Geschichte der Musik (1801). Le idee di Forkel vengono situate nel contesto delle controversie sulla musica che hanno occupato la chiesa luterana dalla metà del Seicento, per mostrare che Forkel utilizzò le più recenti scoperte in materia di dinamica dei fluidi, acustica e neurologia al fine di offrire una reinterpretazione di alcune nozioni di base della teologia musicale luterana.
ISSN:2240-7944