Michael Praetorius’s Variable Opinions on Performance

Authors

  • Jeffery Kite-Powell The Florida State University College of Music, Tallahassee, Florida

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3986/dmd15.1-2.02

Keywords:

tempo (fast/slow), dynamics (loud/soft), text and harmony, fingering, time signatures, Psalm 116

Abstract

This article presents Praetorius’s wide-ranging opinions on performance practice, including what distinguishes a good composition from an inferior one, how performance forces are to be selected and deployed, and which performance practices are acceptable and which are to be avoided. His stance varies from laudatory and supportive to censorious and disapproving. These and other issues are presented in both English and the original German, and offer suggestions on how to orchestrate a polychoral work today, including reference to recorded media.

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References

Butt, John. Music Education and the Art of Performance in the German Baroque. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511597312.

Fisher, Gary. “Renaissance Choral Technique for the Choral Conductor”. Choral Journal 29, no. 1 (August 1988): 15–19, 22–23. https://acda.org//files/choral_journals/August_1988_Fisher_G.pdf.

Grossmann, Burckhard. Anguish of Hell and Peace of Soul: A 1623 Collection of Sixteen Motets on Psalm 116 by Michael Praetorius, Heinrich Schütz and Others. Edited by Christoph Wolff with Daniel R. Melamed. Harvard Publications in Music 18. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1994.

Kite-Powell, Jeffery. “German Organ Tablature”. In Encyclopedia of Tablature, edited by John Griffiths. Turnhout: Brepols, forthcoming in 2020.

Lindley, Mark. “Fingering 1”. Grove Music Online. 2001; Accessed 18 September 2019.

Praetorius, Michael. Syntagma musicum II: De organographia. Wolfenbüttel: Elias Holwein, 1619. Facsimile edition, edited by Wilibald Gurlitt. Documenta musicologica 1, Druckschriften-Faksimiles 14. Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1976.

Praetorius, Michael. Syntagma musicum III, 1619. An online transliteration and critical edition by Christophe Guillotel-Northmann. Thesaurus Musicarum Germanicarum, 2015. http://tmg.huma-num.fr/xtf/view?docId=tei/Praetorius%201619/Praetorius%201619.xml;chunk.id=div_2.

Praetorius, Michael. Syntagma musicum III. Translated and edited by Jeffery Kite-Powell. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004.

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Published

2019-10-30

How to Cite

Kite-Powell, J. (2019). Michael Praetorius’s Variable Opinions on Performance. De Musica Disserenda, 15(1-2), 29–46. https://doi.org/10.3986/dmd15.1-2.02

Issue

Vol. 15 No. 1-2 (2019)

Section

Articles

License

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