The Strobach Syndrome: François-Joseph Fétis, Historical Fakes and the Early Music Revival

Authors

  • Peter Holman

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3986/dmd19.2.01

Keywords:

François-Joseph Fétis, Jean Strobach, historical music fakes, Winfried Michel, invented documents

Abstract

Some pieces included by François-Joseph Fétis in his concerts historiques are now known to be “historical fakes”, which he composed himself and attributed to Emilio de’ Cavalieri, Heinrich Schütz, Alessandro Stradella and others. He even provided a spoof entry for his invented composer Jean Strobach in his Biographie universelle des musiciens. This paper traces the history of historical musical fakes from Fétis to Winfried Michel, arguing that they are uncovered because they go out of date like other cultural artefacts.

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Author Biography

Peter Holman

University of Leeds

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Published

2024-01-25 — Updated on 2024-06-05

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How to Cite

Holman, P. (2024). The Strobach Syndrome: François-Joseph Fétis, Historical Fakes and the Early Music Revival. De Musica Disserenda, 19(2). https://doi.org/10.3986/dmd19.2.01 (Original work published January 25, 2024)