Kittel’s Organ Works in Der Angehende Praktische Organist:

A Musical Shift to the Galant Style

Han Mi Kang
Schulich School of Music
McGill University, Montreal

August, 2012

A paper submitted to McGill University in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the

degree of D.Mus. Performance Studies

© Han Mi Kang, 2012

 Table of Contents

Abstract / Résumé ........................................................................................................................... 3

Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................................... 5

I. Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 6

II. Der Angehende Praktische Organist by Johann Christian Kittel .............................................. 8

III. Galant Aesthetics among Musicians in the Eighteenth Century ............................................. 13

IV. Galant Gestures in Der Angehende Praktische Organist ....................................................... 17

The Chorale Prelude and the Chorale Accompaniment .................................................... 19
The Chorale Variation....................................................................................................... 26
The Free Works in Der Angehende Praktische Organist and the 16 Grosse Präludien .. 33

V. Performance Practice in Der Angehende Praktische Organist ................................................ 38

Articulation and Ornamentation ....................................................................................... 38
Registration ....................................................................................................................... 40
Tempo in the Chorale Accompaniment ............................................................................ 43
Touch ................................................................................................................................ 45
Pedal Technique ................................................................................................................ 46

VI. Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 47

Appendix
CD Contents ...................................................................................................................... 50
Chorale Melodies and Texts ............................................................................................. 51
Stoplist of the Organ by Rudolf von Beckerath (1961) of l’Église de
l’Immaculée-Conception in Montreal Conception .................................................... 53
Registration and Sound ..................................................................................................... 53

Bibliography ................................................................................................................................. 58

2
 Abstract

Johann Christian Kittel (1732-1809), the last student of J. S. Bach and the successor of
Jacob Adlung at the Predigerkirche in Erfurt, published the three-volume treatise Der Angehende
Praktische Organist (The Beginning Practical Organist, 1801, 1803, and 1808) for church
organists as a pedagogical tool at the beginning of the nineteenth century when church music
was moving away from strict contrapuntal writing in favor of the galant style. Kittel’s method
book is considered an important source, teaching organists how to improvise both chorale-based
works and free works. Although the pedagogical tools used in this treatise are based on his
studies with J. S. Bach, Kittel also draws on contemporary musical culture in his examples.
The aim of this study is to recognize Kittel’s adaptation of the musical characteristics of
the galant style and to examine the evolution of the performance practice in Kittel’s time. It also
identifies the importance of Kittel’s contribution to the organ school during the transition period
between the late baroque and the early romantic.
The essay consists of four parts: an overview of Der Angehende Praktische Organist and
its author; a description of the galant aesthetic that was employed not only by Kittel but also his
predecessors and contemporaries; a detailed observation of Kittel’s use of galant gestures in his
complete pieces as a principal tool in expressing various emotions; and a discussion of
performance practice such as articulation, tempo, and registration which sheds light on the
informed performance of Kittel’s music.
Musical examples have been selected to represent all genres: chorale prelude, chorale
accompaniment, chorale variation, and free works. Further, this essay addresses several
interesting issues for additional information, including an intriguing insight into Kittel’s original
intention for his 16 Grosse Präludien (1809) based on a comparison between these free works
and their counterparts in Der Angehende Praktische Organist; the association with the use of the
organ and the Passion chorale in Lent; and Johann Christian Heinrich Rinck’s (1770-1846)
Praktische Orgelschule (1819-1821) as a link between Kittel and Felix Mendelssohn (1809-
1847).

3
 Résumé

Dernier étudiant de J. S. Bach et successeur de Jacob Adlung à la Predigerkirche de

Erfurt, Johann Christian Kittel (1732-1809) a publié un traité en trois volumes intitulé Der
Angehende Praktische Organist (Exercices pour l’organiste débutant, 1801, 1803 et 1808), outil
pédagogique destiné aux organistes d’église du début du XIXe siècle alors que la musique
d’église délaissait la stricte écriture contrapuntique au profit du style galant. La méthode de
Kittel est considérée comme une source importante pour enseigner aux organistes comment
improviser sur des œuvres en forme de choral et sur des œuvres aux formes libres. Quoique les
outils pédagogiques utilisés dans ce traité soient basés sur ses études auprès de J. S. Bach, Kittel
a aussi utilisé la culture musicale contemporaine dans ses exemples.
L’objectif de cette étude est de reconnaître l’adaptation par Kittel des caractéristiques
musicales du style galant et d’examiner l’évolution des pratique d’interprétation de son temps. Il
reconnaît également l’importance de la contribution de Kittel à l’école organistique durant la
transition entre la fin du baroque et le début du romantisme.
L’essai est divisé en quatre parties : un survol de Der Angehende Praktische Organist et
de son auteur; une description de l’esthétique du style galant utilisée non seulement par Kittel
mais aussi par ses prédécesseurs et ses contemporains; une observation détaillée du geste galant
dans ses œuvres complètes comme principal outil de l’expression des diverses émotions; et une
discussion des pratiques d’interprétation telles l’articulation, le tempo et la registration qui jettent
de la lumière sur l’interprétation éclairée de la musique de Kittel.
Des exemples musicaux ont été choisis pour représenter tous les genres : prélude-choral,
accompagnement de choral, variation chorale et œuvres libres. Plus encore, cet essai aborde
plusieurs questions intéressantes pour de l’information additionnelle, y inclus un aperçu intrigant
au sujet de l’intention originelle de Kittel pour la composition de ses 16 Grosse Präludien (1809)
par la comparaison entre ces trois œuvres libres et leur contrepartie dans Des Angehende
Praktische Organist; l’association avec l’utilisation de l’orgue et du Choral de la Passion durant
le Carême; et le Praktische Orgelschule de Johann Christian Heinrich Rinck (1770-1846) comme
lien entre Kittel et Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847).

4
 Acknowledgments

I wish to express my heartfelt gratitude to all those who have supported me during my
studies at McGill University. For her brilliant guidance and encouragement, I would like to thank
Professor Eleanor Stubley, Director of Graduate Studies at the Schulich School of Music, who
chaired my committee and graciously advised me on all aspects of my studies over the past years.
Thanks also to my research supervisor Professor Peter Schubert, whose incredible direction and
critical advice was invaluable in the preparation of this document. I am also grateful to Professor
Emeritus John Grew, who inspired me with great confidence as a musician, and to the new head
of the Organ Department Professor Hans-Ola Ericsson, whose generous support was a great
encouragement to me in my last year of studies. Most especially, grateful recognition must be
given to my mentor Professor William Porter of the Schulich School of Music and the Eastman
School of Music, under the guidance of whom I have explored new worlds with both great joy
and zeal, and whose sincere teaching expanded my musical abilities.
Thanks also to Dr. Jonathan Oldengarm and Dr. Jean-Willy Kunz for their help in
translating the abstract and the chorale texts into French. I am also indebted to my dear friend
Mark McDonald, not only for his scrupulous editing of this essay but also for our sound
friendship.
I would like also to acknowledge the generous financial support provided by the
Kingdom Dreamer Scholarship Foundation of Sa-Rang Community Church in California and
God’s Will Soongeui Church Scholarship Foundation in Seoul.
Finally, I wish to thank my family for their love and support, and especially to my
husband Pastor Ki Sung Song, whose encouragement and love uplifted my soul. Words cannot
express how much I am grateful to him. I thank God for putting these good people in my life
during this wonderful musical journey in Montreal.

“Sing joyfully to the Lord, you righteous; it is fitting for the upright to praise him.
Praise the Lord with the harp; make music to him on the ten stringed lyre.
Sing to him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy.”
Psalm 33: 1-3

5
 I. Introduction

In the second half of the eighteenth century, the Lutheran church in Germany witnessed a

radical change in its liturgy and music. With the influence of Pietism and Rationalism in the

seventeenth century, the church made a gradual shift towards personal piety and rationalistic

philosophy over traditional Orthodoxy as the dominant liturgical influence. As a result, the

liturgical form was gradually simplified in most churches.1 In addition, the Enlightenment helped

further weaken the traditional liturgy. Congregational participation in the liturgy greatly

decreased2 and the organist’s lower sociological position quickened the decline of church music.3

By the nineteenth century, it was common to find people with little musical training, such as

elementary school teachers, holding positions in typical churches, 4 whereas professional

musicians tended to engage in public concerts, chamber music, and secular enterprises, which

were supported by the middle class and courts. The music performed outside of the church was

dominated by the new style galant. The light and accessible musical style attracted a wide range

of listeners and gradually influenced the content of sacred music.

In order to communicate with a broader audience, composers adapted the new galant

concept which was oriented toward simple melodies and homophonic texture. Although

contrapuntal form was still practiced by some composers such as Kirnberger and Marpurg, many

organists turned away from the strict polyphonic style and incorporated the new style into their

1
Robin A. Leaver, Series Editor’s Preface to Daniel Gottlob Türk’s Von den wichtigsten Pflichten eines Organisten
/ Daniel Gottlob Türk, On the Role of the Organist in Worship (1787), trans. and ed. Margot Ann Greenlimb
Woolard (Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2000), vii.
2
Joseph Herl, Worship Wars in Early Lutheranism: Choir, Congregation, and Three Centuries of Conflict (Oxford
University Press, 2004), v.
3
Charles Stagmaier Brown, “The Art of Chorale-Preluding and Chorale Accompaniment as Presented in Kittel's
Der Angehende Praktische Organist,” 2 vols (D.M.A. Thesis, Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester,
1970), I, 125.
4
Margot Ann Greenlimb Woolard, Translator’s Preface to Daniel Gottlob Türk’s Von den wichtigsten Pflichten
eines Organisten / Daniel Gottlob Türk, On the Role of the Organist in Worship (1787), xv.

6
compositions, seeing the counterpoint as old-fashioned and artificial. Serious church music was

replaced by simpler elements, and even secular genres like comic operetta, dances, and

polonaises were welcomed in some places.5 In addition, the simplified liturgy, primarily focusing

on the appealing sermon, increasingly marginalized the role of the organist, who had once been

considered as important as the preacher.6

In this milieu, Johann Christian Kittel (1732-1809), the last student of J. S. Bach,

published Der Angehende Praktische Organist with two purposes. The first was to edify young

organists, emphasising the role of church organists whose responsibility was to promote

adequate devotion for the congregation, and the second was to teach one how to improvise

liturgical music, presented through well-balanced examples of both the old and the new styles.

These examples not only serve a practical use in the liturgy but also act as a means to bridge the

musical gap between the Baroque and romantic eras; Kittel’s publication became a model for his

student Johann Christian Heinrich Rinck, whose works in turn were passed down to the pioneer

of the early romantic organ school Felix Mendelssohn.

The aim of this study is not only to recognize Kittel’s use of the musical characteristics of

the galant style, as reflected in the shift of musical taste that Kittel encountered, it is also to

understand the performance practice during the transition period between the Baroque and the

early nineteenth century as a crucial aid to interpreting Kittel’s music. His examples display the

5
Johann Nicolaus Forkel, Allemeine Geschichte der Musik, 2 vols (Leipzig: Schwickertschen Verlag, 1788-1801), II,
24. Cited in Brown, I, 125.
6
Martin Luther’s theology on music, which states that: “next to the Word of God, music deserves the highest praise,”
supported musicians’ important role in the liturgy. In particular, the north German organ school of the seventeenth
century carried out the liturgical function of the organist as the preacher, as Johann Koltkamp described his father,
saying that “Like the preacher, he could awaken and move the hearts of the congregation to prayer.” These
quotations are taken from Paul Westermeyer’s Te Deum: The Church Music (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1998),
144, and William Porter’s “Hamburg Organists in Lutheran Worship,” in The Organ as a Mirror of Its Time: North
European Reflections, 1610-2000, ed. Kerala J. Snyder (Oxford University Press, 2002), 64, respectively.

7
change of performance practice of the time, which ultimately leads to the early romantic

performance practice in the organ school in Germany.

This essay consists of four parts, of which the first is devoted to the overview of the Der

Angehende Praktische Organist and its author. The second is a description of the galant aesthetic

of the eighteenth century among musical philosophers, including Kittel. The third is a close

examination of the galant gestures and musical details as seen in his pieces. And the final part is

a discussion of the performance practice based on the historical documents by well-known

theorists. Most musical examples of Kittel’s organ works in this document are taken from the

program of my recital, which took place on June 4th 2012. The live performance is available on

the CD attached to this essay. The original registration at the performance organ, along with the

program, is presented in the appendix.

II. Der Angehende Praktische Organist by Johann Christian Kittel

Johann Christian Kittel (1732-1809) published the three-volume treatise Der Angehende

Praktische Organist (The Beginning Practical Organist) between 1801 and 1808 as a

pedagogical method for church organists. This practical method is devoted to improvisation and

composition for organ music in the liturgy. Many contemporary theorists had written earlier on

the same subject in works such as Daniel Gottlob Türk’s Von den wichtigsten Pflichten eines

Organisten (On the Role of the Organist in Worship, 1787), Michael Wiedeburg’s Der sichselbst

informirende Clavier-spieler (The Autodidactic Clavier-Player, 1765-1775), Johann Samuel

Petri’s Anleitung zur praktischen Musik (Practical Guide to Music, 1767), and Justin Heinrich

Knecht’s Vollständige Orgelschule für Anfänger und Geübtere (Complete Organ School for the

Beginner and Experienced, 1795-1798). However, what makes Kittel’s works stand out from the

8
others was that he provided more specific and varied musical excerpts for practical use in the

liturgy, accompanied with detailed explanations of the musical texture and analysis, from the

perspective of a Bachian and as a composer of the current musical style.

Ernst Ludwig Gerber tells us about Kittel in his Historisch-biographiches Lexikon der

Tonkünstler (Historical and Biographical Dictionary of Musicians) in 1790:

Kittel (J. C.) – Organist at the Predigerkirche, the town church, in Erfurt, was born in that
same town in 1724; one of the remaining, perhaps the only remaining, students of Seb.
Bach. He is completely worthy of his great teacher; [he is] well-grounded in harmony and
excellent in fugue, and he plays organ trios tastefully.7

According to Johann Nikolaus Forkel, Kittel was “the best performer [from the school] of

Johann Sebastian Bach” who could not only improvise in a strict style but also accompany

chorales “in pure four-part harmony in the manner of J. S. Bach.”8

Because of his reputation as being the last Bachian and a good performer, he served at the

Predigerkirche, where Johann Pachelbel and Jakob Adlung held organist positions,9 and became

a recognized teacher, who taught many keyboardists in Germany, including Johann Wilhelm

Hässler, who was a successful piano teacher in London and later was active in St. Petersburg and

Moscow, 10 and Johann Christian Heinrich Rinck, who was a well-known collector of

7
Ernst Ludwig Gerber, Historische-biographisches Lexikon der Tonkünstler (1790-1792) und neues historische-
biographische Lexikon der Tonkünstler (1812-1814) mit den in den Jahren 1792 bis 1834 veröffentlichten
Ergänzungen sowie der Erstveröffentlichung handschriftlicher Berichtigungen und Nachträge, ed. Othmar Wessely,
4 vols (Graz, Austria: Akademische Druck u. Verlaganstalt), 1966. Quoted in John Philip Anthony, “The Organ
Works of Johann Christian Kittel,” 2 vols (Ph.D. Diss., Yale Univ., 1978), I, 44. According to Anthony, Geber
corrected Kittel’s birth year to 1732 in his Neues historisch-biographiches Lexikon der Tonkünstler. See Anthony, I,
45.
8
Johann Nikolaus Forkel, Musicalischer Almanach für Deutschland, Leipzig, 1782, 117. Quoted in Brown, I, 17.
However, Forkel later devalued Kittel’s performance skill, saying he was “a very solid (though not very ready)
organ player” in the biography of Bach, published in 1820. Translation from The New Bach Reader: A Life of
Johann Sebastian Bach in Letters and Documents, ed. Hans T. David and Arthur Mendel; rev. and enl. Christoph
Wolff (New York; London: W.W. Norton, 1998), 458.
9
Kittel held the organist position at the Predigerkirche in Erfurt from 1762 to his death. Johann Pachelbel and Jakob
Adlung previously served from 1678 to1690, and from 1728 to1762, respectively.
10
Grove Music Online, s.v. “Hässler, Johann Wilhelm,” by Geoffrey Norris and Klaus-Peter Koch, accessed May
20, 2012 <http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/12526>.

9
manuscripts of the seventeenth century and author of significant pedagogical books, including

Praktische Orgelschule (Practical Organ School, op. 55, 1819-1821) and Theoretisch-practische

Anleitung zum Orgelspielen (Theoretical and Practical Instructions for Organ Playing, op. 124,

1832).11 According to their testimony, Kittel’s teaching method was based on the realization of

figured bass in the same way as J. S. Bach had done.12 Kittel states this connection to “Bachian

principles” in his preface of Volume I13 and he employs thoroughbass techniques throughout Der

Angehende Praktische Organist as an essential tool for preparing both compositions and

improvisations.

Although the title implies that this book is intended for the “beginner,” it seems likely

that Kittel assumed that the reader was commencing a professional career as a church musician,14

already knowing at least basic continuo realizations and counterpoint techniques, since he

skipped the very fundamental parts or rules needed in absorbing these skills. He was probably

aware of the treatises by his contemporaries, mentioned above, and thought it unnecessary to

repeat the same content in Der Angehende Praktische Organist. Instead, he provides useful

examples which the reader can exploit in the following three ways: firstly, one can learn how to

improvise by examining and analyzing specimens; secondly, one can play the pieces during the

service until his own improvisational skills are well-enough developed; and finally, through

some technically demanding examples, one can develop and maintain both keyboard and pedal

techniques.

11
Grove Music Online, s.v. “Rinck, Johann Christian Heinrich,” by Ursula Kramer, accessed May 20, 2012
<http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/23486> and Christoph Dohr, “Rinck, Johann
Christian Heinrich,” Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart: allgemeine Enzyklopädie der Musik, 14 vols.,
ed. Friedrich Blume (Kassel; New York: Bärenreiter; Stuttgart: Metzler, 1994), vol. 14, 172.
12
Brown, I, 30.
13
Johann Christian Kittel, “Vorrede,” in Der Angehende Praktische Organist, pt. 1 and 2: Erfurt: Beyer und Maring,
1801 and 1803; pt. 3, 3rd enl. and rev. ed. Erfurt: F.W. Otto, 1831. Facsimile ed. with an introduction by Gerald Bal
(Buren: Knuf, 1981), I, 1-2. Here after cited as APO.
14
Gerald Bal, “Introduction” in APO, 16.

10
 The three volumes, published in 1801, 1803, and 1808 respectively,15 contain different

styles of chorale-based works as well as free works: the 24 chorale melodies used in the volumes

produce 35 chorale preludes, 32 chorale accompaniments, and five chorale variations. 16 In

addition there are 10 free works. Other musical excerpts beyond the completed compositions are

mostly used to demonstrate various alternative harmonizations, accompanied by his own analysis

or commentary (Ex. 1).

Ex. 1 Realizations on the first line of the chorale Jesu meine Freude

(1) Lacking in harmonic variety (2) Harmonically richer (3) Good

(4) Correct and yet chromatically forced (5) Chromatically better (6) Still better
(7) Harmonically rich 17

15
Kittel revised Part I in 1808 and Part III was reprinted in 1831. For the reference of Part I in their dissertations on
Kittel’s works, Charles Stagmaier Brown relied on the original version of 1801, whereas John Philip Anthony
depended on the revised version of 1808.
16
Brown, I, 36-37.
17
Translations are from the second volume of Brown, 19-21.

11
 Providing alternative realizations to the same melody is beneficial for those who wish to

cultivate chorale harmonization skills based on continuo techniques. The student is encouraged

to create his own bass lines, which pave the way to improvisation skills through the knowledge

of harmony. As an important procedure, Kittel suggests that the student should know how to

compose correctly, and notes that writing down music in advance of the improvisation is

necessary to avoid a mediocre one,18 a method Türk also preferred.19

Kittel’s complete sets of chorales and accompanying preludes could be used as effective

replacements during the service for those who lacked improvisational skills. Since many

organists were no longer able to provide the same quality of improvisation as their predecessors

had done during auditions and services, Kittel advises that the organist is better off performing a

written piece well – even one composed by others – than to play poor quality improvisations.20

He says:

One who is not well-practiced in handling material, should not risk improvisation at the
organ. In earlier days, when people still wanted to have above all capable organists, they
would, at a competition for an organ position, set before a candidate a fugue subject and
give him five minutes to sketch a composition on it in his head. Then he had to proceed
with the performance. Those times, brothers, are no more!21

In addition, Kittel complains that many organists’ lacked performance skills, as they

frequently stop in unexpected places.22 Even playing the chorales was painstaking work for some

church organists who had very little musical training. Therefore, Kittel sought to address the

urgent need for adequate keyboard and pedal technique, among contemporary organists in order

for them to carry out their duties.23 Kittel’s examples cover a wide range of difficulty from easy

18
Türk, 1 8 , .
19
Anthony, I, 143.
20
Ibid.
21
APO, III, 14. Quoted in Anthony, I, 143.
22
Ibid., 95. Quoted in Brown, I, 44.
23
Ibid. Quoted in Brown, I, 45.

12
two-part manual pieces to more complex contrapuntal writing with pedal obbligato as well as

free works written in less frequently used keys, such as C-sharp major and G-sharp minor.

Through these demanding pieces, the reader is expected to attain suitable techniques so that they

are able to express music artistically and reach to the highest degree: “the encouragement of true

devotion.”24

III. Galant Aesthetics among Musicians in the Eighteenth Century

In the eighteenth century the term galant was broadly used not only to indicate music that

possessed characteristics which were often described as pleasant, fashionable, and up-to-date,

but also to denote art, painting, literature, and architecture, which exerted influence on one’s

emotion.25 Expressions of emotion in a subjective way were favored, and enlightened manners

of thinking and refined etiquette were highly regarded in polite society.

The middle class and intelligent amateurs quickly responded to this new culture and

became major consumers in the commercial market. In particular, court musicians wrote

compositions according to their supporter’s taste for private concerts and ensemble music, while

others published works intended for a wider public audience containing the word “galant” in

their titles to attract reader’s attention. Some of these, in fact, were advertised in the Leipzig

newspapers along with the expressions, “new taste” or “new gusto” (Figure 1).

24
APO, I, 2. Cited in Brown, 45.
25
Mark A. Radice, “The Nature of the Style Galant: Evidence from the Repertoire,” The Musical Quarterly 83, no.
4 (Winter, 1999): 607-614.

13
Figure 1 Use of the term “galant”

Titles of selected scores using the term “galant”26

Bach, Johann Sebastian. Clavier Übung bestehend in Präludien, Allemanden, couranten,

Sarabanden, Giguen, Menuetten, und andere Galanterien: denen Liebhabern zur
Gemüths Ergözung verfertiget...Partita I (Leipzig, 1726)27
Scheuen-Stuhl, Michael. Sechs ganz neue Galanterie-Stück oder so genante Murcki aufs
Clavier (Nuremberg: Johann Abraham Stiebner, 1737)
Königsperger, Marianus (Johann Erhard). Der wohl-unterweisene Clavier-Schüler...Arien
oder Galanterie-Stücke aus allen Tonen zur weitern Übung vorgelegt werden
(Augsburg: Johann Jakob Lotter’s Erben, 1 )
Kobrich, Johann Anton. Der Clavierspielende Schäfer, oder VI. Clavier-Parthien, theil in
Pastrorellen theils in Galanterien bestehend. Welch sowohl in der Kirchen...als
auch... auch zu Hause...können producirt und gebraucht werden
(Augsburg: Johann Jakob Lotter’s Erben, 1 8)

Selected advertisements of compositions using the expression “new taste”28

1 39 November 30: Announcement that Christian August Jacobi has available “another
piano concerto of a lighter kind and in the presently popular goût.”
1 41 January : In the advertisement for the “other” part of Krebs’ Klavierübung; it is
explicitly stated that the composition is written “in the present gusto” and that it
“could also be played by a woman without any great effort.”
1743 December 18: Offer of various piano pieces by Johann Christian Roedelius, cantor
and music director at Lieberose, “composed according to present-day gout, which
are quite easy yet pleasing to the ear, and that are therefore suited for women as
well as for other connoisseurs who prefer to play something light and pleasant.”

The first figure who used the term galant in musical context was Johann Mattheson. In

the full title of the publication Das neu-eröffnete Orchestre of 1 13, Mattheson used “galant

homme” to indicate a cultivated man or woman who is seeking international musical culture as

an amateur in that period. 29 In the subsequent treatises Mattheson also used “galanterie” to

26
Selected from Radice’s Table 1, 1 -619.
27
Radice states that Bach’s “Galanteries” were meant for short, character pieces which do not belong to the
traditional suite format. In addition, the word “Liebhabern” in the continuation of the title was a response to a rising
interest among musicians, although Bach’s works seems not to be intended for the amateur player. See Radice, 619.
28
Selected from Ahrens’ list. See Christian Ahrens, “Johann Sebastian Bach and the “New Gusto” in Music Around
1 40,” Bach - The Journal of the Riemenschneider Bach Institute 33, no.1 (2002): 70-73.
29
Edward A. Lippman, A History of Western Musical Aesthetics (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1994), 59.
Mattheson’s treatise was dedicated to a noble lady.

14
“designate the lighter, mainly homophonic dances, such as the minuet.”30 Particularly in Das

forschende Orchestre (1721) he articulated the affections that are perceived through the auditory

effect of music, and in Der vollkommene Capellmeister (1739) he emphasized the importance of

melody that has priority over harmony in the galant style.31

Focusing on melody continued to draw pedagogical attention. The art of writing melody

became a favored subject in the Versuch einer Anleitung zur Composition (Introductory Essay on

Composition, 1782-1793) of Heinrich Christoph Koch, in which he discusses the mechanical

rules of melody and melodic segments.32 Although he also deals with harmony and counterpoint

in his treatise, these are treated as important preparation for providing a good melody. 33

Over the century, the inclination towards a pleasant melodic structure and its light texture

over a slow harmonic rhythm increased the opposition to the old-fashioned music. For example,

Johann David Heinichen, in Der General-Bass in der Composition of 1728, declared that the

ultimate goal of music is “to be heard and accepted by the public.”34 In other words, it has to

appeal to the general public, not be confined to the learned connoisseurs and “the

contrapuntalist.”35 As an advocate of the galant style, he often criticized on the polyphonic style

describing it as “contrapuntal eye-music,” or saying “it looked good on paper.”36

30
Grove Music Online, s.v. “Galant,” by Daniel Heartz and Bruce Alan Brown, accessed May 20, 2012
<http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/10512>.
31
Lippman, A History of Western Musical Aesthetics, 62.
32
Nancy Kovaleff Baker, Introduction to Introductory Essay on Composition by Heinrich Christoph Koch, 1782,
1787, and 1793, translated, with an Introduction by Nancy Kovaleff Baker (New Haven: Yale University Press,
1983), xiv.
33
Backer, “Introduction,” xvii.
34
Johann David Heinichen, Der General-Bass in der Composition (Dresden, 1728, R/Hildesheim, 1969), comment i,
22-23. Cited in Christian Ahrens, "Johann Sebastian Bach and the "New Gusto" in Music Around 1740," 77.
35
Heinichen, comment a, p.3. Quoted in Ahrens, 75.
36
Ibid. Türk also used the same expression “Augenmusik” (eye music) to describe Bach’s canonic variations on
Vomm Himmel hoch. George Feder, “Decline and Restoration,” in Protestant Church Music, Friedrich Blume et al
(New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1974), 324.

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