Publication of Johannes Schöllhorn's Essays

MusikTexte, Cologne, Germany

In his essays, Johannes Schöllhorn undertakes nothing short of a critical examination of the ideological prerequisites of European art music of the last five hundred years. To this end, he considers various musical phenomena in parallel time with phases of surveying, discovering and conquering of the world. In so doing, he persistently repeats the question that guides all of his texts: To what conquests of cultures and markets did composers provide the corresponding "musical accompaniment", then as now? What links exist between the technical recording of time and space on the one hand, and phenomena such as musical notation, music printing, tuning systems, orchestral arrangement, concert hall, musical forms, meter, pulse, etc. on the other? Central aspects here are seafaring, piracy, the spirit of adventure, the urge to explore, chronometers, globes, railroads, telegraphy, automobiles, the Internet, aeronautics and astronautics, and last but not least the three instruments in the title that made this mobility possible in the first place: namely "map, clock and score". How did their use affect the creation of art and music, or the view of the world and humanity that was expressed in the accompanying music? The Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation is facilitating the publication of Schöllhorn's essay collection.

October 29, 2022
Deutschlandfunk Cologne, Foyer

Further information:
musiktexte.de