Leipzig and the Internationalization of Symphonic Music.Studies on the Presence and the Reception of 'Foreign' Orchestral Works in the Musical Life of Leipzig 1835-1914

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Stefan Keym
• Subject Area: Musicology
• Term: from 2009 to 2016
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 115710992

In the historiography of symphonic music, the age of late 19th and early 20th Century is considered a period of internationalization that was determined by an increase in number and importance of works written by non-German composers. As a matter of fact, this theory is based on the actual canon of works, but not on historical sources. In the presented project, the theory is checked with the help of a case study on Leipzig musical life. For the purpose of comparison, the preceding period is also investigated (beginning with the appointment of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy as conductor of the Gewandhaus Concerts in 1835).In 19th Century, Leipzig served as a model of modern, bourgeois concert life (and of the symphonic canon). Since 200 years, the city displays a continuous and well-documented concert tradition. Its musical institutions have an outstanding international reputation (music publishers, the Gewandhaus, the Conservatory). For these reasons, Leipzig was chosen as object of research.The theory of internationalization is scrutinized both on a quantitative and on a qualitative level:1. by a statistical study of the symphonic repertory (symphonies, symphonic poems, overtures, suites etc.) of Leipzig concerts and music publishers. Interactions between both spheres are also surveyed. Furthermore, archive material of the institutions is researched in order to detect the reasons which encouraged or hindered the performance and the publication of foreign orchestral works.2. The reception of these works is explored with the help of reviews of concerts and printed scores in Leipzig music journals and daily newspapers: How much attention was paid to national aspects in these reviews? Did the contemporary press state a process of internationalization of symphonic music?The project combines an examination of the repertory and the reception of symphonic music with a study on the relationship between music and nationalism. In 19th Century, the German discourse on music was characterized by a very ambivalent treatment of this relationship. On the one hand, many authors supported the idea of absolute music and the principle of aesthetic autonomy: the arts should be free of political, national considerations. On the other hand, instrumental music and particularly the symphony were considered a special achievement and even a unique feature of German musical culture (including Austria) ever since the canonization of Viennese Classicism (promoted primarily in Leipzig); this conviction helped to construct a German cultural identity in the age of political partition. In late 19th Century, nationalist opinions grew in the German Empire as well as in whole Europe. However, the international music business underwent a process of homogenization at the same time. The project analyses how these divergent tendencies influenced the repertory and the reception of symphonic music in Leipzig.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants