Andreas Werckmeister (1645 - 1706), a late seventeenth-century German Lutheran organist, composer, and music theorist, is the last great advocate and defender of the Great Tradition in music, with its assumptions that music is a divine gift to humanity, spiritually charged yet rationally accessible, the key being a complex of mathematical proportions which govern and are at the root of the entire universe and all which that embraces. Thus understood, music is the audible manifestation of the order of the universe, allowing glimpses, sound-bites of the very Creator of a well-tempered universe, and of our relationship to each other, our environment, and the divine powers which placed us here. This is the subject matter of the conversation which Werckmeister wishes to have with us, his readers, particularly in his last treatise, the Musicalische Paradoxal-Discourse. But he does not make it easy for today's readers. He assumes certain proficiencies from his readers, including detailed biblical knowledge, a fluency in Latin, and a familiarity with treatises and publications concerning music, theology, and a number of related disciplines. He writes in a rather archaic German, riddled with obscure references which require a thorough explanation. With its extensive commentary and translation of the treatise, this book seeks to bridge Werckmeister's world with that of the twenty-first century. Werckmeister wrote for novice and professional musicians alike, an author who wanted to consider with his readers the basic and existential questions and issues regarding the wondrous art of music, questions as relevant then as they are now.
Table of Contents Series Editor's Foreword Preface Part I Introduction to the Musicalische Paradoxal-Discourse Werckmeister Biography Werckmeister Treatises Contents and Sources of the Musicalische Paradoxal-Discourse Part II Translation of the Musicalische Paradoxal-Discourse Title page and dedicatory comments Preface Index and contents of the chapters Chapter 1 An introduction to this work: the division of the musical proportions Chapter 2 A testimonial through mathematics and Holy Scriptures themselves, that the course of the heavens are harmonic Chapter 3 How the mortal body and soul are harmonically created, and furthermore, on the influence of the stars Chapter 4 Why humans find such pleasure in music, and whence composers and musicians arise Chapter 5 As the image of God, humans are to praise the Creator with music. Buildings and eras in scripture are also harmonic wonders of spiritual music. Chapter 6 On the abuse of music, which the authorities could abolish Chapter 7 How the inclination of a people determines its attitude towards music, and how the heathens were so scattered in their views on music Chapter 8 On the music of the early Christians, and the subsequent changes Chapter 9 The great difficulties arising out of solmization and the linear staff-system Chapter 10 Proof that the linear staff system is accompanied by great difficulties Chapter 11 Proof of how everything can be played or sung through the twelve note-names Chapter 12 Further proof, that the linear staff system has many more variants than the twelve note-names Chapter 13 How the temperaments can be examined, and on German tablature Chapter 14 How the chromatic system is to be applied to the tempered keyboard Chapter 15 On the disorder of hymn singing Chapter 16 On the simplicity of old organs Chapter 17 How the musical modes can be differentiated Chapter 18 On the nature and property of the harmonic numerals Chapter 19 On the hidden meaning of the numerals Chapter 20 On the properties of the harmonic numerals, when they themselves are subdivided Chapter 21 On the subdivision of the harmonic numerals Chapter 22 On the properties of the dissonant musical numerals Chapter 23 How the harmonic radical numerals are transformed into a tempered tuning, and of their hidden meaning Chapter 24 A comparison of incorrect tempered tuning with false Christianity Chapter 25 How the temperament can be perfect or imperfect, and how the same can be compared with Christianity Chapter 26 The Lord's Prayer in the musical proportional numerals Bibliography About the author
