Karl from Jan

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Karl von Jan (born May 22, 1836 in Schweinfurt , † September 3, 1899 in Adelboden ) was a German classical philologist and musicologist .

Life

Karl von Jan, the eldest son of the classical philologist and grammar school director Ludwig von Jan (1807–1869), turned to the special field of ancient music during his student days. During his studies he became a member of the Christian student union Uttenruthia in the winter semester of 1853/54 . He achieved his doctorate in 1859 at the Berlin University with the dissertation De fidibus graecorum ("On the stringed instruments of the Greeks"). Jan received his first teaching position at the Gymnasium zum Grauen Kloster , whose rector Johann Friedrich Bellermann also dealt with ancient Greek music. In the short time they worked together, Jan received numerous suggestions from Bellermann. In 1862 he moved to the grammar school in Landsberg an der Warthe , where, in addition to the ancient languages, he also took over singing lessons and the school orchestra and performed concerts with which he financed the school's new organ. Due to disagreements with the Landsberg city administration, Jan moved to Saargemünd in 1875 , where he also conducted the school choir. In 1883 he was appointed high school professor at the Lyceum in Strasbourg .

Services

Karl von Jan was one of the most important researchers in the field of ancient Greek music. He belonged to a generation of researchers who raised musicology, which was still young, from mere aestheticization to "a real science that was on a par with other disciplines". In his writings he dealt with the function and playing style of ancient string and wind instruments. He found out, for example, that the sound of an aulos does not resemble that of a flute, as the popular translation suggests, but rather a clarinet .

Jan followed the new papyrus finds in the 1890s with great interest. He actively participated in the critical editing and organization of the fragments. His large edition Musici scriptores Graeci (Leipzig 1895) collected the fragments with text-critical annotations without attempting to edit them for modern performances. Jan also gave examples of the conversion into modern notation, which he published in a revision in 1899. The work, accompanied by numerous preliminary studies, was reprinted unchanged in 1962 and 1995 and is considered Jan's most important publication, as it replaced the long outdated Antiquae musicae auctores septem by Marcus Meibom (1652).

Jan also got involved in the research debate about the harmony of kithara music and spoke out against the predominant expert in this field, Rudolf Westphal . Westphal's speculations about possible harmonic laws Jan largely rejected and took the view that one should limit oneself to what is definitely recognizable in ancient harmony. After his death, the positions of both researchers were given up.

In addition to ancient music, Jan also dealt with music from the Middle Ages and the early modern period, especially Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Heinrich Schütz .

He received the Order of the Red Eagle , 4th grade.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Leopold Petri (ed.): Directory of members of the Schwarzburgbund. Fourth edition, Bremerhaven 1908, p. 153, no.234.
  2. ^ Leopold Petri (ed.): Directory of members of the Schwarzburgbund. Fourth edition, Bremerhaven 1908, p. 153, no.234.

Web links

Wikisource: Karl von Jan  - Sources and full texts
personal data
SURNAME Jan, Karl von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German classical philologist and musicologist
DATE OF BIRTH May 22, 1836
PLACE OF BIRTH Schweinfurt
DATE OF DEATH September 3, 1899
Place of death Adelboden