In 1947 the theologian and musicologist Friedrich Smend published a study which claimed that J. S. Bach regularly employed the natural-order number alphabet (A=1 to Z=24) in his works. Smend provided historical evidence and music examples to support his theory which demonstrated that by this means Bach incorporated significant words into his music, and provided himself with a symbolic compositional scheme. Since then many people have taken up Smend's theory, interpreting numbers of bars and notes in Bach scores according to the natural-order alphabet. By presenting a thorough survey of different number alphabets and their uses in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Germany, Dr Tatlow investigates the plausibility of Smend's claims. Her new evidence fundamentally challenges Smend's conclusions and the book sounds a note of caution to all who continue to use his number-alphabet theory. Dr Tatlow's painstaking research will fascinate all those with an interest in the music of J. S. Bach and German Baroque culture, and will be of particular importance for music historians and analysts.
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Book Description
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Book Description
In 1947 Friedrich Smend published a study claiming that J. S. Bach used a natural-order alphabet (A = 1 to Z = 24) in his works. He demonstrated that Bach incorporated significant words into his music, and provided himself with a symbolic compositional theme. Here, Dr Tatlow investigates the plausibility of Smend's claims with new evidence, challenging Smend's conclusions.
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Smend sets out the evidence for Bach's knowledge and use of the number alphabet most fully in the introduction to the third volume of Kirchen-Kantaten (1947), which begins: Picander's Ernst-, Schertzhaffte und Satyrische Gedichte (Leipzig 1732, Part 3) contains the following felicitation: On the occasion of the D. and T. wedding. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
milesian alphabet, trigonal alphabet, locus notationis, different number alphabets, cabbalistic gematria, loci topici, intellectual perambulations, lusus ingenii, number symbolism, reprint edn, numerical total, musical application, biblical numbers, symbolic numbers, fifteen species Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Cabbala Speculativa, August Bohse, The New Grove Dictionary, Friedrich Smend, Georg Philipp, Fruchtbringende Gesellschaft, Johann Sebastian Bach, Biblischer Mathematicus, Cabbala Practica, Die Allerneueste Art, Henk Dieben, Michael Stiefel, Athanasius Kircher, Johann Friedrich Riederer, Erdmann Neumeister, Johann Christoph, Martin Jansen, Das Einmahl Eins, Holy Scripture, Lusus Paragrammaticus, Paragrammatum Cabbalisticorum Trigonalium, Universal Lexicon, Wunderbarliche Wortrechnung, Christian Weise, Cornelius Agrippa New!
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Smend sets out the evidence for Bach's knowledge and use of the number alphabet most fully in the introduction to the third volume of Kirchen-Kantaten (1947), which begins: Picander's Ernst-, Schertzhaffte und Satyrische Gedichte (Leipzig 1732, Part 3) contains the following felicitation: On the occasion of the D. and T. wedding. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
milesian alphabet, trigonal alphabet, locus notationis, different number alphabets, cabbalistic gematria, loci topici, intellectual perambulations, lusus ingenii, number symbolism, reprint edn, numerical total, musical application, biblical numbers, symbolic numbers, fifteen species Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Cabbala Speculativa, August Bohse, The New Grove Dictionary, Friedrich Smend, Georg Philipp, Fruchtbringende Gesellschaft, Johann Sebastian Bach, Biblischer Mathematicus, Cabbala Practica, Die Allerneueste Art, Henk Dieben, Michael Stiefel, Athanasius Kircher, Johann Friedrich Riederer, Erdmann Neumeister, Johann Christoph, Martin Jansen, Das Einmahl Eins, Holy Scripture, Lusus Paragrammaticus, Paragrammatum Cabbalisticorum Trigonalium, Universal Lexicon, Wunderbarliche Wortrechnung, Christian Weise, Cornelius Agrippa New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 19
books:
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9
books
cite this book:
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- Dictionary Of Music And Musicians (9 Volumes)) (Music Book Index) by Sir George Grove on 13 pages
- The Bach Reader: A Life of Johann Sebastian Bach in Letters and Documents, Revised Edition by Hans T. David on 6 pages
- War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy on page 51, page 52, and Back Matter
- War and Peace by Lev Tolstoy on page 51, page 52, and Back Matter
- War and peace : a novel by Count Leo Tolstoy (Modern Library Giants, 1.1) by Leo Tolstoy on page 51, page 52, and Back Matter
See all 19 books this book cites
- Numerology: Or, What Pythagoras Wrought (Spectrum) by Underwood Dudley on page 53, and page 135
- Die Macht der Zahl: Was die Numerologie uns weismachen will (German Edition) by Underwood Dudley on page 62, and page 135
- Bach (Master Musicians) by Malcolm Boyd in Back Matter
- A Schnittke Reader: by Alfred Schnittke on page 32
- Early Music History: Volume 21: Studies in Medieval and Early Modern Music by Iain Fenlon on page 289
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