Haydn, Mozart and the Viennese School: 1740-1780 [Hardcover]

Daniel Heartz (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 17, 1995

For years, historians have described the music of the so-called "Viennese School" as directly descending from German Lutherism up to Bach's death in 1750. In this fascinating book, Daniel Heartz shows how it actually grew out of Italian Catholicism, combined with current French fashions and local traditions. Haydn and Mozart, who stand at the very center of this study, were viewed as the highest peaks on the musical horizon by their contemporaries. It is that world of perception that Professor Heartz recreates, calling upon the visual arts and the architecture of the period to support his thesis. His focus is on music as a part of cultural history in a particular time and place. Stylistic terms and a priori periods mean less to him than the common denominators of geography, the arts, and political history. The treasure trove of hitherto unseen documents that Professor Heartz uncovered while working in the Viennese archives bears witness to the enormously rich musical life of Vienna during the four decades' reign of the Empress Maria Theresa. This enlightened monarch helped make her capital the musical center of the Western world. Lavishly illustrated with music examples, black-and-white reproductions, and color plates, this beautiful volume will be of the greatest interest to scholars, cultural historians, and serious music lovers.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This richly detailed survey of musical life in Vienna during the late 18th century is sure to become an indispensable source for information on this familiar yet misunderstood era. The book represents a crowning achievement for Heartz (Mozart's Operas, Univ. of California Pr., 1990), one of this country's most distinguished musicologists, who painstakingly researched this material for over 30 years. His central thesis is that self-aggrandizing German scholarship contributed to a serious misreading of the nature of the "Viennese School"?that it is in fact an amalgam of Austrian-Bohemian, Italian, and French influences. Heartz carefully documents the multiethnicity and cosmopolitan nature of Empress Maria Theresa's reign, showing how these crosscurrents informed the entire cultural, religious, and political landscape. Throughout, there are many valuable insights into the works of Franz Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and their lesser-known contemporaries. The analyses, targeted for the musically literate, are always lucid and refreshingly jargon free. Highly recommended for all libraries.?Larry Lipkis, Moravian Coll., Bethlehem, Pa.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Heartz conducts a tour of musical Vienna during the reign of Empress Maria Theresa that involves meeting, besides the principals--Haydn and Mozart--the court composers and musicians who influenced them. To celebrate the name days of the members of the royal court and to otherwise entertain, Wagenseil (trailblazer for Haydn), Ditters, Salieri, and Gluck all composed symphonies, concerti, chamber music, theater works, operas, oratorios, and incidental music for plays. Heartz offers short biographies of these court composers and, sprinkling the text with examples from the period's major musical works, delineates the progress of musical form and style upon which Haydn and Mozart built. The survey peaks with Haydn, first in Vienna, then at Esterha{ }za, advancing the musical art of his predecessors, and ends with Mozart, who revered Haydn's compositions. Conducively to a journey that is both enjoyable and enlightening, Heartz writes in an easily read style. Alan Hirsch

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 816 pages
• Publisher: W.W. Norton & Co. (March 17, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393037126
• ISBN-13: 978-0393037128
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.1 x 2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,166,744 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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