2019, Menke, Johannes

2017, Menke, Johannes, Wohlthat, Martina

2016, Menke, Johannes

2015, Menke, Johannes, Pavanello, Agnese

What did Corelli Find in the Ninth? For Johann Mattheson, Corelli, whose works he „wants to have praised as a splendid model, irrespective of their age” (Vollkommener Capellmeister, Hamburg 1739, 91) was still a paragon in 1739. When Mattheson discussed the ninth in the chapter on dissonances, he again came to speak about Corelli, writing that Corelli had sought and found something in the ninth that neither before nor after him „anybody had done; whoever he might be“ (326). Unfortunately, Mattheson did not explain exactly what was so unique and at the same time exemplary in Corelli’s handling of the ninth. The present text attempts to explore this question both in view of Corelli’s works and in consideration of the contemporary practice and teaching of composition. Although it is focused only on a detail – the ninth – this perspective can nevertheless yield insights regarding Corelli’s personal style: it can show, on the one hand, in what way certain emphatic moments of his music are based on a specific use of the ninth and, on the other hand, how it serves as a characteristic component and syntactical element of his idiom.

2019-01, Menke, Johannes

Music for the 'Iron Era': Rubens, Seneca and Monteverdi's Eighth Book of Madrigals - In the preface to his Libro ottavo, Monteverdi presents an aesthetic and genre-theoretical concept that involves, on the hand, a new composing style - concitato genere - and, on the other hand, aims for a contrasting and symmetrically organised formal structure in which madrigali guerrieri and madrigali amorosi are placed in opposition. The essay attempts to relate this concept to the work of the contemporaneous painter Peter Paul Rubens and the reception of the Stoic philosopher Seneca. Whereas Rubens thematises war and love in his pictures and adopts a clear pacifist position, Seneca presents a theory of the war-triggering affect of anger, which Monteverdi's concitato genere attempts to portray.

2017, Menke, Johannes

Claudio Monteverdi bezeichnete die moderne Musikpraxis seiner Zeit, die wir heute als Beginn des Barock beschreiben, als »Seconda prattica«. Viele der von Monteverdi und seinen Zeitgenossen angestoßenen Kompositionsweisen lassen sich bis ins 18. Jahrhundert verfolgen. Der Band legt daher einen besonderen Schwerpunkt auf das 17. Jahrhundert und erklärt, mit welchen Techniken und Denkweisen Komponisten wie Monteverdi, Schütz, Corelli, Purcell, Couperin, Händel oder Bach komponiert haben. Dabei stützt sich das Lehrbuch konsequent auf die zeitgenössische Satzlehre der Barockzeit und macht in zahlreichen neu gesetzten Beispielen aus historischen Lehrbüchern vergessenes Wissen wieder neu zugänglich.

2015-07, Menke, Johannes

The Oriental Traveller and the Tonal Adventurer. New Information About Scelsi and Tosatti – Studies and editions from the last ten years make it possible to see the genesis of Scelsi’s works and his view of himself in a new light. As far as the writing of the music is concerned, the central figure is Vieri Tosatti, who produced most of the scores. Once it became clear that both the production of the tape recordings and that of the scores displayed a high degree of sometimes autonomous constructivity, the question remains of how it was possible for Tosatti, whose aesthetic views were very different from Scelsi’s, to produce such convincing and innovative results. Scelsi’s autobiography, published in German in 2013, offers insight not only into his life, but also his way of thinking. Of particular interest are his statements about his musical training, his attitude to contemporary music, concern about his works, his Christianity and the imaginary orient as a place of spiritual longing.

2018, Menke, Johannes

2017, Menke, Johannes

2015, Menke, Johannes