The birth of the composer
Musical authorship was only clearly defined in later phases of music history.
In the Middle Ages and early modern times, the term "author" was much closer to "authority" than to what we call "authorship" today. The fact that there were hardly any or at best nebulous examples of musical "authors" from classical times in particular did not make things any easier for the scholars of the time. While Petrarch could easily call himself a descendant of his classical-Latin "fathers", in the 1470s Johannes Tinctoris named composers as exemplary whose work (according to his account) dated back no more than forty years, such as John Dunstable. A list of names in a treatise may have the function of historical legitimization; the naming of a composer in an early music print has more of a "copyright" function; the transmission of the name of a St. Gall monk probably has a different significance. Michele Calella's publication now aims to present a differentiated view of when and how the idea of the composer as "author" emerged in medieval and early modern music.
The book examines music-historical contexts as well as the context that has led to the construction of more or less ideologically influenced images of the musical past. After an introductory and conceptually clarifying first chapter, where philosophical and meta-historical considerations take precedence, the following pages focus on concrete interpretations based on historical examples. The enormous wealth of material, from St. Gall in the 10th century to Monteverdi, is grouped into thematic chapters. The second chapter, on authorship in manuscript culture, culminates in reflections on the repertoire of the 15th century. The function of the author, who was often also named in the sung texts, probably increased at that time as part of a social revaluation of the musical profession. Consequently, the third chapter deals with a closely related question, namely the relationship between the (named) composer and his audience after the invention of music printing. Various contexts play a role here: from the relationship between the musician and his patrons to the protection of his financial rights via printing privileges.
In the context of a music-theoretical or music-historical discourse, an interest in musical composition (instead of a presentation of the philosophical doctrine of "musica") appears rather late. As expected, the fourth chapter focuses on the music writer Johannes Tinctoris, who attempted to write a practical music theory in Naples. A modern conception of the composer's role then appears in the theory of the 16th century. Exemplary is the construction of Josquin as an outstanding composer in Glarean's Dodecachordon, which is dealt with in the fifth and final chapter. As a kind of outlook, Calella's account ends with the well-known polemic between Giovanni Maria Artusi and Claudio Monteverdi, which inspired the latter to coin the term seconda prattica. The rational theorist came into conflict with the composer, who relied on sensory perception and close reference to the text to be set to music. What is new is that it is precisely the practitioner who creates a musical history here and consciously legitimizes his innovations historically.
An extremely rich list of sources and literature and the indispensable index of names round off the book. The inclusion of the book by Michele Calella, who is currently a professor at the University of Vienna, in the series Swiss contributions to music research is thanks to his former work at the Zurich Institute of Musicology. After more than ten years, the (naturally expanded and updated) habilitation thesis, which was written during his Swiss years, is published here.
Michele Calella, Musikalische Autorschaft: Der Komponist zwischen Mittelalter und Neuzeit, Schweizer Beiträge zur Musikforschung, vol. 20, 355 p., € 46.95, Bärenreiter, Kassel 2014, ISBN 978-3-761818-65-7
