(Stand: 25. Juli 2007) ANDERSON, Michael Alan ... - Universität Wien

MEDIEVAL & RENAISSANCE MUSIC CONFERENCE 2007 – WIEN, 7.-11. AUGUST ABSTRACTS
RODRÍGUEZ-GARCÍA, Esperanza (University of Manchester)
‘How to Create a Genius in Nine Pages’: Revising the Biography of the composer
Ginés Pérez (?-1600)
Donnerstag/Thursday, 9.8., 11.45 Uhr, KuGe, SR 1
The early revival of the Spanish composer Ginés Pérez made him a ‘privileged’ Renaissance
composer: it took place in 1896, guided by the so-called ‘father of Spanish musicology’,
Felipe Pedrell (Hispaniae Schola Musica Sacra. Juan Ginés Pérez, vol. 5, Barcelona,
1896). The publication included a biographical study and a modern edition of the then
known works. The biography illustrates how, starting from a sole datum and a preconceived
idea of how a Spanish chapelmaster of the sixteenth century should be, the image
of an outstanding composer with an inconsistent personality could be easily drawn.
Further interpretations of Pérez’s life since more than a century have relied on this
study, without realising that it was based on the misinterpretation of the existing documents
(or even on the lack of handling): the commonly accepted baptism act is not proved
to be Pérez’s, the chapelmaster’s appointment act does not correspond to the composer’s
appointment, and so forth.
This paper will try to study the process of mythical construction, as well as, by
means of a reconstruction, to propose a more reliable biography based on new documentary
evidences and newly discovered works.
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ROPER, Jane (University of Manchester)
Wolfgang Schmeltzl: Perspectives through the Ages
Samstag/Saturday, 11.8., 11.45 Uhr, KuGe, SR 1
Wolfgang Schmeltzl’s collection Guter, seltzamer und künstreicher teutscher Gesang (Nuremberg:
Petreius, 1544) has been a source of fascination to scholars since the nineteenth century.
It is an attractive object and falls within the sphere of music for non-aristocrats,
which blossomed in Nuremberg in the 1540s.
Paradoxically, however, as literary historian F. Spengler observed as early as 1883,
there is little reason for such intense interest in Schmeltzl. Some of his literary works are
original, particularly considering their intended Viennese audiences, but many are derivative.
Musically Schmeltzl fares no better. His reputation rests almost entirely on the published
song collection. What then was the motivation behind research during the 20 th century?
One of the earliest writers on Schmeltzl, the Viennese critic Elsa Bienenfeld, could
not realise her intention to publish a modern edition of his collection partly due to political
circumstances. Nevertheless, she established two topics that were to dominate research
over the following decades: the investigation of Schmeltzl’s collection as source of folk
music, and the importance of Schmeltzl in the history of the quodlibet.
The concept of the quodlibet, with its wider implications for the understanding of
music both before and after Schmeltzl has assured the collection its place in music histories.
It seems also, that although Schmeltzl’s contribution to music in renaissance Austria
has received little detailed attention, he has to some degree become a representative of
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