Johann Gottfried Walther

Johann Gottfried Walther

Johann Gottfried Walther (September 18, 1684 – March 23, 1748) was a German music theorist, organist, composer, and lexicographer of the Baroque era. Not only was his life almost exactly contemporaneous to that of Johann Sebastian Bach, he was the famous composer's cousin.

Walther was most famous as the compiler of the "Musicalisches Lexicon" (Leipzig, 1732), an enormous dictionary of music and musicians. Not only was it the first dictionary of musical terms written in the German language, it was the first to contain both terms and biographical information about composers and performers up to the early 18th century. In all, the "Musicalisches Lexicon" defines more than 3000 musical terms; Walther evidently drew on more than 250 separate sources in compiling it, including theoretical treatises of the early Baroque and Renaissance. The single most important source for the work was the writings of Johann Mattheson, who is referenced more than 200 times.

Some further information on Walther can be found in the book "Musica Poetica" by Dietrich Bartel. On page 22, Bartel quotes Walther's definition of musica poetica, or musical rhetoric, as:

:"Musica Poetica" or musical composition is a mathematical science through which an agreeable and correct harmony of the notes is brought to paper in order that it might later be sung or played, thereby appropriately moving the listeners to Godly devotion as well as to please and delight both mind and soul…. It is so called because the composer must not only understand language as does the poet in order not to violate the meter of the text but because he also writes poetry, namely a melody, thus deserving the title "Melopoeta" or "Melopoeus"." (22)

Walther was the music teacher of Duke Johann Ernst von Sachsen-Weimar. He wrote a handbook for the young Duke with the title "Praecepta der musicalischen Composition", 1708. It remained handwritten until Peter Benary's edition (Leipzig, 1955). As an organ composer Walther became famous for his concerto transcriptions by contemporary Italian and German masters. He made 14 transcriptions from concertos of Albinoni, Gentili, Taglietti, Giuseppe Torelli, Vivaldi and Telemann. These works were the models for Bach to write his famous Vivaldi transcriptions. On the other hand Walther as a city organist of Weimar wrote exactly 132 organ preludes based on Lutheran choral melodies. Some free keyboard music also belongs to his legacy.

Media

References

* Bartel, Dietrich. "Musica Poetica: Musical-Rhetorical Figures in German Baroque Music." Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1997.
* Walther, Johann Gottfried: "Musicalisches Lexicon oder Musicalische Bibliothec" [1732] - Neusatz des Textes und der Noten. Hrsg.: Friederike Ramm. Kassel: Baerenreiter, 2001.
* Walther, Johann Gottfried: "Briefe". Hrsg.: Klaus Beckmann und Hans-Joachim Schultze. Leipzig: VEB Deutscher Verlag für Musik, 1987.

External links

* [http://www.virtuallybaroque.com/list2t.htm Works by Walther played on virtual organs]
*


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Johann Gottfried Walther — Johann Gottfried Walther. Johann Gottfried Walther (* 18. September 1684 in Erfurt; † 23. März 1748 in Weimar) war ein deutscher Organist, Kapellmeister, Komponist und Musikwissenschaftler …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Johann Gottfried Walther — Nacimiento …   Wikipedia Español

  • Johann Gottfried Walther — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Johann Walther. Johann Gottfried Walther Naissance …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Johann Jakob Walther — (* 1650 in Witterda bei Erfurt; † 2. November 1717 in Mainz) war ein deutscher Violinist und Komponist. Leben Alle Informationen über sein Leben und Wirken entstammen dem Musikalischen Lexikon von Johann Gottfried Walther, einem Cousin von Johann …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Johann Jakob Walther — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Johann Walther. Johann Jakob Walther Naissance 1650 Wittererda …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Johann Georg Walther — (* 3. April 1708 in Oberörtmannsdorf; † 15. Oktober 1761 in Wittenberg) war ein deutscher Pädagoge, Rhetoriker und Ethnologe. Leben Walther, der seine Vorbildung am Gymnasium in Zittau genoss, hatte seit dem 28. Juni 1729 an der Universität… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Johann Gottfried Herrmann — Johann Gottfried Hermann, (* 12. Oktober 1707 in Altjeßnitz; † 30. Juli 1791 in Dresden) war ein deutscher lutherischer Theologe und sächsischer Oberhofprediger Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Leben 2 Werke 3 Literatur 4 …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Johann Gottfried Seume — 1806 Denkmal in Bremen …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Johann Gottfried Zeiske — (* 26. Oktober 1686 in Elsterwerda; † 27. August 1756) war ein deutscher Schriftsteller und Pädagoge. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Leben 2 Schüler 3 Werke (Auswahl) …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Johann Gottfried Dyck — (auch: „Johann Gottfried Dik“, „Johannes Gottfried Dyck“, „Johann Gottfried Dyk“ [1]; * 24. April 1750 in Leipzig; † 21. Mai 1813 in ebenda) war ein deutscher Buchhändler und Schriftsteller. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Leben 2 Werkauswahl …   Deutsch Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”