Beginning of the figured bass

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The teaching work Beginnings-Reasons of the figured bass is a music-theoretical work by the Bach student Lorenz Christoph Mizler (1711–1778), which was published in 1739 in Leipzig. The full title reads Beginning-Reasons of the figured bass, dealt with mathematically, and with the aid of a machine invented for this purpose, performed most clearly by Lorenz Mizlern .

meaning

Mizler's work falls outside the framework of contemporary figured bass schools in terms of title and content. The special path deliberately chosen by the music theorist and philosopher has earned him a lot of criticism. This came to nothing, because none of his critics took the trouble to understand Mizler's methodical approach. In particular, the “machine” available with the textbook generated suspicious reactions. Johann Adolph Scheibe scoffed at this “miracle machine”, which was not only supposedly capable of listening to compositions “to test whether they are good or bad”, but also allegedly “clear knowledge and science of all composition rules of all other beauties of music ”. With the help of this device one can also “obtain a clear knowledge and science of all composition rules and all other beauties of music”. Scheibe's polemics turns out to be dispensable if one takes note of a poem written by the inventor of this machine, because Lorenz Christoph Mizler writes that the human mind is overwhelmed to fully understand “this game, the tones”. Man cannot grasp the associated divine secret in a rational way. Mizler did not want to reduce the music to mechanical-machine processes. The figured bass machine, conceived according to the mathematical teaching style , was - with considerably more modest demands - intended only for beginners' exercises on the octave rule , the "mechanical part of the musical setting art", as Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg described the clear and easy-to-systematize learning areas. Even the term “machine” leads to different associations today than in the 18th century, since this device was merely a kind of musical slide rule that, for example, assigned the notes to the figured bass signatures above a specific bass note. For example, if there was a 4 below a bass note C, the machine would play the note f. This has to be regarded as banal in a certain way, but it was important for Mizler, when applying the mathematical teaching method , to demonstrate that the figured bass system is comprehensible to such a high degree that even the mechanics of a “hardware” carry out the processes as in can imitate mathematical operations of a calculating machine in the style of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz . It then had to be all the more possible to lay out the pedagogical instruction in such a way that the subject matter was completely comprehensible. Using this rigorous method, Mizler noticed signatures that didn't seem clear enough to him. From his point of view, the prohibition of parallel tours of perfect consonances could not be conveyed pedagogically, because one had "not yet come so far" (p. 75) to present a justification for this music-theoretical rule.

construction

The writing begins with a definition of the figured bass, from which it emerges that the immediate tonal implementation on a "suitable musical instrument" (e.g. on a keyboard instrument) is the focus of this practice-oriented teaching. Due to his commitment to explain all the terms appearing in his teaching concept thoroughly and in a systematic order, there follow extensive explanations on general music theory , in which the author repeatedly refers to Wolff's philosophy. Mizler's figured bass script consists of a total of 224 paragraphs, each of which is provided with a heading in accordance with the principles of mathematical teaching , from which the respective sentence category of the following paragraph emerges.

First he dedicates himself to the elementary terms (§ 1–44). After the interval and triad theory (§ 45–85) the scales (§ 86–110) are introduced. After his further remarks on general music theory (§111–166), Mizler recommended the study of scales in all keys (§ 167–174). From § 175 onwards there are first explanations of chord formation, which are initially limited to exercises on individual chords. From § 186 Mizler comes to the actual aim of the script, the representation of the octave rule . This should be practiced systematically in the form of numerous exercises on the instrument in all registers and keys. Mizler's representations also contain hints for evasion and the use of reserved dissonances. The writing ends with a small, not exposed example of a musical bass, which is supposed to show the practical applicability. Significantly, this musical notation is somewhat isolated in an overall text in which notes are almost entirely absent. Obviously, Mizler wanted to stay true to the concept of thorough explanations on the basis of linguistically comprehensible texts.

Web links

literature

  • Lutz Felbick : Lorenz Christoph Mizler de Kolof - pupil of Bach and Pythagorean "Apostle of Wolffian Philosophy" (University of Music and Theater "Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy" Leipzig - Writings, Volume 5), Georg-Olms-Verlag, Hildesheim 2012, ISBN 978- 3487146751

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Johann Adolph Scheibe: Critischer Musikus, Leipzig 1745, p. 298.
  2. ^ Lorenz Christoph Mizler: Musikalische Bibliothek, Vol. I.6, Leipzig 1738; P. 90f.
  3. ^ Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg: Handbuch bey dem Generalbasse und der Composition, Berlin 1755, p. 12.
  4. ↑ On Mizler's figured bass writing cf. Felbick 2012, pp. 185-236