Music philology : an introduction to musical textual criticism, hermeneutics, and editorial technique

In __The Critical Editing of Music__ (1996) James Grier called Georg Feder's __Musikphilologie__ (Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1987) the most important contribution to date on textual criticism in music and the only one that considers the full range of critical issues in editing (Grier, p. 14). Pendragon Press's edition of Feder's __Music Philology__ now makes available in English translation this essential, intellectually engaging but concise discussion of the complex and multi-faceted tasks in traditional scholarly editing of music. From the Middle Ages to the present, music has been written down and disseminated in notated form. In evaluating music notation, philological methods have been used more and more. These methods come from linguistic disciplines and are linked with specifically musical traditions and subjects. Starting with the relationships of music and language, tradition and understanding, work and text, Feder describes the fundamentals of music philology and its tasks. In addition to the musical sources themselves, theoretical and historical sources enable the critical study of questions about authenticity, dating, origin, and dissemination. Cover 1 Frontmatter 2 Foreword 10 Translator's Preface and Acknowledgments 11 I. Presuppositions 14 A. Music and Language 14 B. Tradition and Understanding 14 C. The Work and the Text 26 II. Definition 36 A. Narrowest and Broadest Sense of the Term "Musical Philology" 36 B. Bibliographical, Antiquarian, Philological, and Historical Music Research 36 III. Foundations 46 A. Sources 46 B. Context 47 C. Competence 51 IV. Textual Criticism 54 Digression 1: Reproaches of "Positivism" 56 A. Source Criticism 58 B. "Lower" Criticism 71 C. "Higher" Criticism and History of the Work 84 V. Hermeneutics 98 A. Concept and Method 98 B. Objects of Understanding: Methods of Explanation 110 C. Addressees of Explanation and Its Forms of Communication 138 VI. Work Criticism 140 Digression 4: Musical Aesthetic of the Variant 144 VII. Editorial Technique 150 A. Facsimile 150 B. Diplomatic Edition 153 C. Edition of the Corrected Text 154 D. Critical Edition 155 E. The Historical and Critical Edition 162 F. The "Scholarly and Practical" Edition 165 G. "Urtext" Edition 167 H. The Demand for an Edition Based on the History of Transmission 168 VIII. Remarks on the History of Textual Criticism in Music 172 Selected Bibliography 176 Index of Persons 182 Index of Topics and Terms 191 Georg Feder (1927-2006) 208 Now available in English, this is an essential, intellectually engaging but concise discussion of the complex and multi-faceted tasks in the traditional scholarly editing of music. Examining the relationships of music and language, tradition and understanding, work and text, Feder describes the fundamentals of music philology and its tasks.