Anthony J. Harper. German Secular Song-Books of the Mid-Seventeenth Century: An Examination of the Texts in Collections of Songs Published in the German-Language Area between 1624 and 1660. Aldershot and Burlington: Ashgate, 2003. viii + 345 pp. $84.95 (cloth), ISBN 978-0-7546-0642-0.
Reviewed by Janette Tilley (Faculty of Music, University of Toronto)
Published on H-German (April, 2004)
Anthony J. Harper's contribution to the history of German song in the seventeenth century is a welcome one for scholars of both German literature and music. Concerned with secular song writing of the middle decades of the century, this book brings together a substantial amount of literature from disparate geographic regions into a well-organized and thoughtful volume. While the primary focus of Harper's study is literary, he makes an effort to address musical concerns where appropriate.
Harper defines his study chronologically with Martin Opitz's Das Buch von der deutschen Poeterey of 1624 as the earliest marker and ending with 1660, the date of two song collections: Kaspar Stieler's Die Geharnschte Venus and Johann Georg Schoch's Neu-erbaueter Poetischer Lust- u. Blumen-Garten. The choice of Opitz to mark the beginning of his study is a conventional one requiring little justification in the discipline of literary studies. Musically, 1624 and 1660 seem more arbitrary, though Harper points out that between these dates is situated the cultivation of simple strophic secular songs before the development of more complex song-types such as the through-composed aria or the cantata later in the century.
Having defined his investigation temporally, Harper goes on to consider the definition and nature of secular songbooks--anything but a simple task. Problems of terminology abound in German sources of the seventeenth century. The term Lied, for example, does not always indicate the intention to be sung. Moreover, many books of poems that are clearly meant to be sung contain no musical notation. For the purposes of this study, Harper uses presumed authorial intent as the guiding ideal behind his selection of songbooks. Clues about the intention to sing a text range from practical musical notation to references to well-known tunes or more general comments somewhere in the collection about singing. In addition to the problem of identifying songs individually is that of recognizing songbooks. Secular songs often appear in larger literary collections along with other types of poems, epigrams, and the like or in anthologies containing the work of several poets. Again, Harper looks to an author's intent as a guiding principle, favoring collections by a single author over third-party anthologies where intent may be more difficult to discern. With respect to large volumes of poetry, Harper takes an inclusive approach by examining secular songs that form a substantial group within a collection. This weakens somewhat the notion of an autonomous songbook, but at the same time allows him to examine a very wide range of literature. Given the freedom with which terms were employed in the seventeenth century, it is not unreasonable to treat the songbook with comparable latitude.
In the analysis that follows, Harper examines poets and their songbooks within the context of three well-defined and familiar geographic regions: Koenigsberg and the north-east; central Germany including Saxony, Thuringia and their principal cities of Leipzig and Dresden (among others); and finally the region of Hamburg and the North, in general. Citing the wealth of research already devoted to Nuremberg, Harper overlooks the experimental circle of poets including Johann Klaj and Sigmund von Birken. Some discussion of these poets vis-à-vis their contemporaries from other regions might have made this decision seem less arbitrary. Rather than discuss general literary schools based on stylistic affinities, Harper examines individual poets and only those poetic circles where there was known interaction among writers. While his discussions of well-known poets such as Simon Dach and Johann Rist display keen attention to poetic detail as well as their social and cultural milieu, Harper's treatment of lesser-known poets and poet-musicians is no less meticulous. The work of poets such as Johannes Plavius in Danzig and Rudolph Wasserhun in Hamburg are examined and evaluated fairly within their literary and historical contexts. This synchronic approach is augmented by a conclusion that draws together the various threads of his investigation. Significantly, Harper acknowledges the mobility of many poets not only within the identified regions of the German-speaking lands, but also as far west as the Low Countries. The close literary relationship between Dutch and German poets has often been overlooked in general literary studies, as Harper points out, and he does a service by bringing this connection once again to light. His treatment of poetic matters is thorough and detailed with metrical analyses, thematic discussions, and insightful evaluations of the use of language. For most songs, Harper provides the German text except for those of Opitz and Fleming that are readily available in modern editions.
Despite being about sung poetry, the book falls short in its treatment of musical matters. Harper notes that his own particular "qualifications ... are in the analysis and history of literature, not music. The study does not therefore pretend to offer any new critique or technical insights into musical matters, although those already established by music historians are utilized and the role of the musical setting is evaluated" (p. 3). One might have hoped for the same accuracy and attention to detail in his musical discussions as that which guided his literary analysis, despite his admitted disciplinary background. The description of a theorbo as "an early type of guitar" (p. 176) is misleading and inaccurate--the theorbo being of the lute family of instruments. Likewise defining a ritornello as an "intermezzo" (p. 198) is a confusion of two musical terms whose specific meanings, especially in the seventeenth century, are quite unrelated.[1] Harper does discuss some elements of musical setting whenever appropriate and his observations offer welcome insight into the musical side of secular songs. A simple musical example could, in several places, have illustrated what remains in prose only vague references to minims and crotchets--British musical terminology which some American readers may find alien. A phrase such as, "the melody.has dotted minims falling at the stressed syllables, underlining the dactylic rhythm" (p. 273), would be more effective when demonstrated in a short musical example. Even those with a modest musical background would likely understand more easily a visual representation. Without any musical examples, something remarkable given the subject of the study, his description of musical settings is imprecise and lacking in real depth.
The bibliographies included in this volume are themselves useful resources. Harper's bibliography of primary sources (pp. 321-327) gives information about the books and the locations of the copies he consulted. A useful aid for musicologists would have been the inclusion of RISM numbers. Repertoire International des Sources Musicales (RISM) is a database of known printed musical sources. Libraries have gathered their musical holdings of early prints into a single international listing, making it is possible to locate most known complete and incomplete holdings of musical material. Harper does mention RISM entries in the body of his text and in footnotes. A useful resource for anyone searching for these prints in libraries, other than those Harper consulted, would have been the inclusion of RISM references in the bibliography. Harper's bibliography of secondary literature is thorough, covering both literary and musical studies with some breadth. The concluding index, however, is weak and should more accurately be titled a Namenregister for its lack of places, terms, and titles. Topics that run throughout the book, such as drinking or wedding songs, or the titles of individual songbooks, cannot be quickly found through this limited index.
Musicologists have not treated seventeenth-century secular song in Germany with the same rigor as one sees in Anthony J. Harper's study. His is a comprehensive and poetically sensitive reading of a large and diverse repertoire. One can only hope that this volume may inspire greater attention among musicologists and literary historians alike to secular song and open the door for further interdisciplinary studies.
Note
[1]. The term "intermezzo" holds a variety of specific meanings in modern musical usage, but in the context of the seventeenth century it refers to a musical-theatrical genre normally performed between the acts of a serious opera. The term's more general meaning as an interlude is a product of the nineteenth century and typically refers to a section or movement in a larger instrumental work. For the purposes of his discussion, "musical refrain" might have been a better choice.
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Citation:
Janette Tilley. Review of Harper, Anthony J., German Secular Song-Books of the Mid-Seventeenth Century: An Examination of the Texts in Collections of Songs Published in the German-Language Area between 1624 and 1660.
H-German, H-Net Reviews.
April, 2004.
URL: http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=9172
Copyright © 2004 by H-Net, all rights reserved. H-Net permits the redistribution and reprinting of this work for nonprofit, educational purposes, with full and accurate attribution to the author, web location, date of publication, originating list, and H-Net: Humanities & Social Sciences Online. For any other proposed use, contact the Reviews editorial staff at hbooks@mail.h-net.org.