Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2002 A Study of Two Seventeenth-Century Teaching Manuals in Hamburg: Critical Editions and Translations of Thomas Selle's Kurtze Doch Gründtliche Anleitung zur Singekunst (c. 1642) and Heinrich Grimm's Instrumentum Instrumentorum, Hoc Est, Monochordum vel Potius Decachordum (1634) Joanna L. Carter Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MUSIC A STUDY OF TWO SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY TEACHING MANUALS IN HAMBURG: CRITICAL EDITIONS AND TRANSLATIONS OF THOMAS SELLE’S KURTZE DOCH GRÜNDTLICHE ANLEITUNG ZUR SINGEKUNST (c. 1642) AND HEINRICH GRIMM’S INSTRUMENTUM INSTRUMENTORUM, HOC EST, MONOCHORDUM VEL POTIUS DECACHORDUM (1634) By JOANNA L. CARTER A Dissertation submitted to the School of Music in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Degree Awarded: Fall Semester, 2002 The members of the Committee approve the dissertation of Joanna L. Carter defended on 8 November 2002. Jeffery T. Kite-Powell Professor Directing Dissertation Bruce Boehrer Outside Committee Member Hans-Friedrich Mueller Outside Committee Member Douglass Seaton Committee Member Charles E. Brewer Committee Member The Office of Graduate Studies has verified and approved the abovenamed committee members ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Over the years, several people have contributed their time and expertise to this project. In its initial phases, I was greatly encouraged and assisted by Hans Joachim Marx, professor emeritus of musicology at the Universität Hamburg, and Jürgen Neubacher, music librarian at the Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Hamburg. In particular, Dr. Neubacher aided me in procuring source materials and provided valuable information concerning them. I also wish to thank Dr. Neubacher for allowing me to contribute my research to the library’s 1999 exhibition celebrating Selle’s life and works. In addition, my thanks go to the archival staff of both the Hamburg Staatsarchiv and the Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Hamburg. I am very thankful for the support and training I received from my instructors at UNC-Chapel Hill and New York University, primarily Howard Smither and Edward Roesner. I am truly grateful, though, to the musicology faculty at Florida State University for their scholarly inspiration and example. I would like to thank the members of my committee–Jeffery Kite-Powell, Douglass Seaton, Charles Brewer, Bruce Boehrer, and Hans-Friedrich Mueller–for their guidance and encouragement during the writing phase of the dissertation. I am especially obliged to all of them for their comments concerning the two translations. My sincerest thanks also go to Dr. Kite-Powell for directing the dissertation with a great enthusiasm for the topic, as well as for patiently and artfully leading me through the process of crafting the document. iii Many thanks go to Jamie Younkin for her assistance with the musical examples, and most heartfelt thanks to my colleague in the Department of Biological Science, Dave Gowan, for his expertise with the graphics and manuscript examples. I am also grateful to all my coworkers in the Biological Science Undergraduate Advising Office for their patience and flexibility during the final phase of the dissertation. I would like to thank my family, especially my parents, for their continual love and encouragement throughout the long process of bringing this project to fruition, as well as for giving me the courage to pursue my dreams. Without their support, the path would have been much more arduous and circuitous. Finally, I wish to thank Chris for his love and understanding, particularly over the course of the last year. I am equally grateful for his patience and humor, which provided a much-needed element of comic relief in the difficult moments of the writing process. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract vii INTRODUCTION 1 Background 1 Outline of Study 3 Review of Research 4 1. BACKGROUND AND BIOGRAPHIES 7 Thomas Selle (1599-1663) 7 Heinrich Grimm (1592/93-1637) 16 2. THE ROLE OF MUSIC INSTRUCTION AT THE ST. JOHANNIS-SCHULE 21 3. CALVISIUS AND HIS CIRCLE 30 4. AN INTRODUCTION TO THE MANUALS 38 Thomas Selle’s Kurtze doch gründtliche anleitung zur Singekunst 38 Origin and Transmission 38 Function 42 Structure 46 Content 51 Selle and the German Tradition 55 Heinrich Grimm’s Instrumentum Instrumentorum, hoc est, Monochordum vel potius Decachordum 57 Origin and Transmission 57 Function 61 Structure 63 Content 68 Grimm and the German Tradition 78 v CONCLUSION 81 APPENDIX A: TRANSLATOR’S NOTE 84 APPENDIX B: TRANSCRIPTIONS AND TRANSLATIONS 86 BIBLIOGRAPHY 271 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 277 vi ABSTRACT Two manuscript music primers used by the Hamburg cantor Thomas Selle (1599- 1663) serve as the basis for this dissertation. Bound together in the seventeenth century, these two manuscripts are the Kurtze doch gründtliche anleitung zur Singekunst (c. 1642), Selle's own manual outlining rudimentary theory and solmization practices, and Instrumentum Instrumentorum, hoc est, Monochordum vel potius Decachordum (1634), a treatise by another North German cantor, Heinrich Grimm, on the division of the monochord and its practical application for teaching music theory. In addition to providing translations and transcriptions of the two manuscripts and accompanying critical notes, the dissertation examines topics such as the careers of both cantors, the role of music instruction in Hamburg's St. Johannis-Schule in the early seventeenth century, and a possible network of cantors and theorists surrounding Selle’s teacher, Seth Calvisius. Commentaries on the manuscripts describe the transmission, structure, and content of the texts, as well as place them within the history of German music instruction manuals. The examination reveals that each of the manuscripts includes useful didactic methods and noteworthy features, which distinguish it from other music primers of the period. As a result, both Selle and Grimm may be viewed as more progressive educators than many of their contemporaries. vii INTRODUCTION Background In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, a German cantor was expected to perform a wide range of tasks, as his position often placed him in charge of music for civic functions, as well as for multiple churches. In his Grundlage einer Ehren-Pforte (1740), a collection of biographies and autobiographies of German musicians, the theorist and composer Johann Mattheson characterized the duties of a German cantor in the following manner: A cantor is a music scholar employed by the churches and the school, who teaches the youth in an orderly fashion, especially about the proper foundation for the art of singing. He must be very experienced in composing, and must provide liturgical music to the best of his ability and direct it himself in praise of the Almighty, for the edification of the common man, and for the laudable education of his pupils.1 The multi-faceted nature of the position in the Baroque period, which Mattheson’s description clearly demonstrates, placed the cantor between the interests of Church and State, thereby creating potential conflicts. Although problems occasionally developed among the leaders of the various ministries and the cantor, the close connection between the Lutheran Church and North German civic institutions in particular gave rise to a rich musical culture. 1 Johann Mattheson, Grundlage einer Ehren-Pforte (Hamburg: the author, 1740), XXXIII. “Ein Cantor … ist ein musikgelehrter Kirchen- und Schulbedienter, der die Jugend, ordentlich-bestellter Weise, in guten Anfangs-Gründen, absonderlich aber in der Singekunst unterrichtet, der Composition wohl erfahren seyn, die Kirchenmusik bestens besorgen und derselben vorstehen muß: zum Lobe des Höchsten, zur Erbauung der Gemeine, und rühmlicher Erziehung der Schüler.” 1 In addition to the new musical genres and performance opportunities that emerged in Post-Reformation Germany, an increasing number of texts on music were produced, often by cantors writing instruction manuals on basic theory and performance practice for their pupils. Many texts on music may have originated as compilations of classroom notes, which perhaps partly accounts for the widespread use of material from other writers.2 One of the most prominent cantors and a dedicated tutor, Thomas Selle (1599- 1663), was active in North Germany in the first half of the seventeenth century. In 1641 he became cantor of Hamburg's Lateinschule, the St. Johannis-Schule, a position which also involved the coordination of music in the city's four principal churches. During his tenure he did much to improve the quality of performances by increasing the number of musicians, reforming the regulations for choristers, and conscientiously preparing the pupils of the Latin school to sing in the city's church choirs. In his role as music tutor Selle made use of two unpublished music manuals: Kurtze doch gründtliche anleitung zur Singekunst (A brief but thorough introduction to the art of singing) and Instrumentum Instrumentorum, hoc est, Monochordum, vel potius Decachordum, ad utramque Scalam diatonam scilicet veterem, et Syntonam novam accuratè delineatum, additáque brevi declaratione (The instrument of instruments, that is, the monochord, or rather the decachord, accurately delineated according to both the ancient diatonic scale and the new syntonal diatonic scale, and including a brief explanation). Although