Project Details
Description
Wider research context
The project analyses the general relation between Hanslick’s aesthetics (“On the Musically Beautiful” or OMB), his journalistic publications, and his anthologies composed from (edited) versions of his day-to-day articles. It will (1) analyze how his articles (1844–1904), anticipate, confirm, contest, and elaborate his aesthetics, and (2) which edits were carried out for the anthologies, intended by Hanslick as a “living history” of music and therefore indicative of the methodology of Austria’s first professor of musicology.
Research questions
Examples of research questions addressing these two areas are: Which aspects of his early romantic texts have made their way into OMB? Are these texts compatible or is there a clear break? How are key subjects such as performance, emotion, and history handled in distinct corpora / at varied points in time? What role do speech figures and musical analysis play in his work? Does the essay genre (review, portrait, obituary) impact his position? Which criteria were used in picking articles for his anthologies and why were they altered? What does this tell us about his concept of musical research in general?
Approach
The project utilizes textual analysis and historicocritical hermeneutics to investigate a clearly defined corpus of texts, comprised of the ten editions of OMB (at present edited digitally by Wilfing and Landerer), the anthologies, the Strauß edition of Hanslick’s early texts (1844–65), and his ca. 900 articles written for “Neue Freie Presse” (NFP, 1864–1904). By reflecting the mutual impact the OMB editions and his articles may have had over his 60-year career, it recognizes their dynamic relation, emphasized in recent studies.
Level of originality
The project presents the first systematic examination of the general relation between Hanslick’s aesthetics and his other areas of work, both critical (his articles) and scholarly (the “living history” project). It will thus not only shed light upon his views, it will also contribute to a fuller grasp of 19th-century musical history and culture and our understanding of the development of musicological methodology. In considering the changing character of Hanslick’s writings and their reciprocal relationship, it expands current Hanslick scholarship by introducing a dynamic approach.
The project analyses the general relation between Hanslick’s aesthetics (“On the Musically Beautiful” or OMB), his journalistic publications, and his anthologies composed from (edited) versions of his day-to-day articles. It will (1) analyze how his articles (1844–1904), anticipate, confirm, contest, and elaborate his aesthetics, and (2) which edits were carried out for the anthologies, intended by Hanslick as a “living history” of music and therefore indicative of the methodology of Austria’s first professor of musicology.
Research questions
Examples of research questions addressing these two areas are: Which aspects of his early romantic texts have made their way into OMB? Are these texts compatible or is there a clear break? How are key subjects such as performance, emotion, and history handled in distinct corpora / at varied points in time? What role do speech figures and musical analysis play in his work? Does the essay genre (review, portrait, obituary) impact his position? Which criteria were used in picking articles for his anthologies and why were they altered? What does this tell us about his concept of musical research in general?
Approach
The project utilizes textual analysis and historicocritical hermeneutics to investigate a clearly defined corpus of texts, comprised of the ten editions of OMB (at present edited digitally by Wilfing and Landerer), the anthologies, the Strauß edition of Hanslick’s early texts (1844–65), and his ca. 900 articles written for “Neue Freie Presse” (NFP, 1864–1904). By reflecting the mutual impact the OMB editions and his articles may have had over his 60-year career, it recognizes their dynamic relation, emphasized in recent studies.
Level of originality
The project presents the first systematic examination of the general relation between Hanslick’s aesthetics and his other areas of work, both critical (his articles) and scholarly (the “living history” project). It will thus not only shed light upon his views, it will also contribute to a fuller grasp of 19th-century musical history and culture and our understanding of the development of musicological methodology. In considering the changing character of Hanslick’s writings and their reciprocal relationship, it expands current Hanslick scholarship by introducing a dynamic approach.
| Short title | Hanslicks Kritiken |
|---|---|
| Acronym | Hanslick |
| Status | Active |
| Effective start/end date | 1/05/22 → 31/03/26 |