Friedrich Ludwig (musicologist)
Encyclopedia
Friedrich Ludwig was a German historian, musicologist, and college instructor. His name is closely associated with the exploration and rediscovery of medieval music in the 20th century, particularly the compositional techniques of the Ars Nova
and the isorhythmic motet.
at the Victoria-Gymnasium (Now Helmholtz-Gymnasium, Potsdam), he studied historiography with Harry Bresslau at the University of Strasbourg
, where he earned a doctorate in 1896. He owed his musical education on one hand to Gustav Jacobsthal, the only full-time professor of historical musicology in Germany at the time, and on the other hand to philosopher-organist Albert Schweitzer
and composer Hans Pfitzner
, both of whom he met in Strasbourg where he settled. For about a decade, Ludwig made numerous trips throughout Europe to investigate the sources of medieval music. He joined the faculty of Strasbourg University upon Jacobsthal's retirement in 1905, first as a lecturer, and in 1910 as an associate professor of music history. He was expelled from Strasbourg when it fell into French hands at the end of the First World War. In 1920, he became an associate professor at the University of Göttingen, where he served as Rector in 1929/30.
. These researches have made the practice and theory of music of the Middle ages accessible. His research area was music before Palestrina-style
polyphony; namely, the Ars Antiqua
, Ars Nova
, and the polyphony of the Franco-Flemish school
. As a historian, Ludwig was already familiar with the cultural unity of Europe in the Late Middle Ages
, and he approached it through the narrative and source-based methodology of Leopold von Ranke
, of whom Ludwig's teacher Bresslau was a disciple. These methods had, for instance, moved Slavic cultures into a new perspective. In contrast to the prevailing view among music historians of the 19th century - a view epitomized in Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel's Phenomenology of the Spirit (1807) asserting that music is an art in and of itself, Ludwig followed a systematic method to explore the relationships between music and other cultural phenomena such as architecture and liturature, finding in it unity through the poetry of medieval languages. For this purpose, he used the philology
of High Middle German, the Romance languages, and medieval Latin, the chorale
, and historic chronicles. He made stylistic comparison of primary sources to date musical works, and introduced these methods to music historiography.
Ludwig's contributions to musical scholarship include his investigations into Organum
, deciphering early neumatic notation (square note notation), the discovery of Rhythmic mode
s in the unison songs of the 13th century, and the systematic respresentation of compositions of the Notre Dame School
and the motet
s of the Ars Nova
. He transcribed many multi-part works of the 15th century and published them in critical editions. Ludwig discovered the compositional principal of isorhythm
– a term he coined.
Ars nova
Ars nova refers to a musical style which flourished in France and the Burgundian Low Countries in the Late Middle Ages: more particularly, in the period between the preparation of the Roman de Fauvel and the death of the composer Guillaume de Machaut in 1377...
and the isorhythmic motet.
Life
Ludwig was born in Potsdam, and after completing the abiturAbitur
Abitur is a designation used in Germany, Finland and Estonia for final exams that pupils take at the end of their secondary education, usually after 12 or 13 years of schooling, see also for Germany Abitur after twelve years.The Zeugnis der Allgemeinen Hochschulreife, often referred to as...
at the Victoria-Gymnasium (Now Helmholtz-Gymnasium, Potsdam), he studied historiography with Harry Bresslau at the University of Strasbourg
University of Strasbourg
The University of Strasbourg in Strasbourg, Alsace, France, is the largest university in France, with about 43,000 students and over 4,000 researchers....
, where he earned a doctorate in 1896. He owed his musical education on one hand to Gustav Jacobsthal, the only full-time professor of historical musicology in Germany at the time, and on the other hand to philosopher-organist Albert Schweitzer
Albert Schweitzer
Albert Schweitzer OM was a German theologian, organist, philosopher, physician, and medical missionary. He was born in Kaysersberg in the province of Alsace-Lorraine, at that time part of the German Empire...
and composer Hans Pfitzner
Hans Pfitzner
Hans Erich Pfitzner was a German composer and self-described anti-modernist. His best known work is the post-Romantic opera Palestrina, loosely based on the life of the great sixteenth-century composer Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina.-Biography:Pfitzner was born in Moscow, Russia, where his...
, both of whom he met in Strasbourg where he settled. For about a decade, Ludwig made numerous trips throughout Europe to investigate the sources of medieval music. He joined the faculty of Strasbourg University upon Jacobsthal's retirement in 1905, first as a lecturer, and in 1910 as an associate professor of music history. He was expelled from Strasbourg when it fell into French hands at the end of the First World War. In 1920, he became an associate professor at the University of Göttingen, where he served as Rector in 1929/30.
Works
Friedrich Ludwig belonged to the school of thought among cultural historians that did not ascribe to the Romantic view that Baroque Polyphony was the only type of polyphony of highest worth; rather, he sought to explore its historical development and evolution, leading to a critical reassessment of earlier musicEarly music
Early music is generally understood as comprising all music from the earliest times up to the Renaissance. However, today this term has come to include "any music for which a historically appropriate style of performance must be reconstructed on the basis of surviving scores, treatises,...
. These researches have made the practice and theory of music of the Middle ages accessible. His research area was music before Palestrina-style
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina was an Italian Renaissance composer of sacred music and the best-known 16th-century representative of the Roman School of musical composition...
polyphony; namely, the Ars Antiqua
Ars antiqua
Ars antiqua, also called ars veterum or ars vetus, refers to the music of Europe of the late Middle Ages between approximately 1170 and 1310, covering the period of the Notre Dame school of polyphony and the subsequent years which saw the early development of the motet...
, Ars Nova
Ars nova
Ars nova refers to a musical style which flourished in France and the Burgundian Low Countries in the Late Middle Ages: more particularly, in the period between the preparation of the Roman de Fauvel and the death of the composer Guillaume de Machaut in 1377...
, and the polyphony of the Franco-Flemish school
Franco-Flemish School
In music, the Franco-Flemish School or more precisely the Netherlandish School refers, somewhat imprecisely, to the style of polyphonic vocal music composition in Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries, and to the composers who wrote it...
. As a historian, Ludwig was already familiar with the cultural unity of Europe in the Late Middle Ages
Late Middle Ages
The Late Middle Ages was the period of European history generally comprising the 14th to the 16th century . The Late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern era ....
, and he approached it through the narrative and source-based methodology of Leopold von Ranke
Leopold von Ranke
Leopold von Ranke was a German historian, considered one of the founders of modern source-based history. Ranke set the standards for much of later historical writing, introducing such ideas as reliance on primary sources , an emphasis on narrative history and especially international politics .-...
, of whom Ludwig's teacher Bresslau was a disciple. These methods had, for instance, moved Slavic cultures into a new perspective. In contrast to the prevailing view among music historians of the 19th century - a view epitomized in Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel's Phenomenology of the Spirit (1807) asserting that music is an art in and of itself, Ludwig followed a systematic method to explore the relationships between music and other cultural phenomena such as architecture and liturature, finding in it unity through the poetry of medieval languages. For this purpose, he used the philology
Philology
Philology is the study of language in written historical sources; it is a combination of literary studies, history and linguistics.Classical philology is the philology of Greek and Classical Latin...
of High Middle German, the Romance languages, and medieval Latin, the chorale
Chorale
A chorale was originally a hymn sung by a Christian congregation. In certain modern usage, this term may also include classical settings of such hymns and works of a similar character....
, and historic chronicles. He made stylistic comparison of primary sources to date musical works, and introduced these methods to music historiography.
Ludwig's contributions to musical scholarship include his investigations into Organum
Organum
Organum is, in general, a plainchant melody with at least one added voice to enhance the harmony, developed in the Middle Ages. Depending on the mode and form of the chant, a supporting bass line may be sung on the same text, the melody may be followed in parallel motion , or a combination of...
, deciphering early neumatic notation (square note notation), the discovery of Rhythmic mode
Rhythmic mode
In medieval music, the rhythmic modes were set patterns of long and short durations . The value of each note is not determined by the form of the written note , but rather by its position within a group of notes written as a single figure called a "ligature", and by the position of the ligature...
s in the unison songs of the 13th century, and the systematic respresentation of compositions of the Notre Dame School
Notre Dame school
The group of composers working at or near the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris from about 1160 to 1250, along with the music they produced, is referred to as the Notre Dame school, or the Notre Dame School of Polyphony....
and the motet
Motet
In classical music, motet is a word that is applied to a number of highly varied choral musical compositions.-Etymology:The name comes either from the Latin movere, or a Latinized version of Old French mot, "word" or "verbal utterance." The Medieval Latin for "motet" is motectum, and the Italian...
s of the Ars Nova
Ars nova
Ars nova refers to a musical style which flourished in France and the Burgundian Low Countries in the Late Middle Ages: more particularly, in the period between the preparation of the Roman de Fauvel and the death of the composer Guillaume de Machaut in 1377...
. He transcribed many multi-part works of the 15th century and published them in critical editions. Ludwig discovered the compositional principal of isorhythm
Isorhythm
Isorhythm is a musical technique that arranges a fixed pattern of pitches with a repeating rhythmic pattern.-Detail:...
– a term he coined.
Selected bibliography
- Die mehrstimmige Musik des 14. Jahrhunderts. in: Sammelbände der Internationalen Musikgesellschaft. vol. 4, 1902/03, pp. 16–69
- Die 50 Beispiele Coussemaker’s aus der Handschrift von Montpellier. In: Sammelbände der Internationalen Musikgesellschaft. Vol. 5, 1903/04, pp. 177–244
- Die mehrstimmige Musik der ältesten Epoche im Dienste der Liturgie. Ein mehrstimmiges Sankt-Jakobs-Offizium des 12. Jahrhunderts. In: Kirchenmusikalisches Jahrbuch. Vol 19, 1905, pp. 1–16
- Über die Entstehung und die erste Entwicklung der lateinischen und französischen Motette in musikalischer Beziehung. In: Sammelbände der Internationalen Musikgesellschaft. Vol 7, 1905/06, pp. 514–528
- Die Aufgaben der Forschung auf dem Gebiete der mittelalterlichen Musikgeschichte. Strasbourg 1906
- Die mehrstimmigen Werke der Handschrift Engelberg 314. In: Kirchenmusikalisches Jahrbuch. Vol 21, 1908, pp. 48–61
- Die liturgischen Organa Leonins und Perotins. In: Festschrift für Hugo RiemannHugo RiemannKarl Wilhelm Julius Hugo Riemann was a German music theorist.-Biography:Riemann was born at Grossmehlra, Schwarzburg-Sondershausen. He was educated in theory by Frankenberger, studied the piano with Barthel and Ratzenberger, studied law, and finally philosophy and history at Berlin and Tübingen...
. Leipzig 1909, pp. 200–213 - Die mehrstimmige Musik des 11. und 12. Jahrhunderts. In: Kongress-Bericht zur Haydn-Zentenarfeier. Vienna 1909, pp. 101–108
- Repertorium organorum recentioris et motetorum vetustissimi stili. I. Catalogue raisonné der Quellen, Abt. 1. Handschriften in Quadratnotation. Niemeyer, Halle 1910
- Perotinus Magnus. In: Archiv für Musikwissenschaft. Vol 3, 1921, pp. 361–370
- Die Quellen der Motetten ältesten Stils. In: Archiv für Musikwissenschaft. Vol 5, 1923, pp. 185–222 and vol. 6, 1924, pp. 245ff.
- Die geistliche nichtliturgische, weltliche einstimmige und die mehrstimmige Musik des Mittelalters bis zum Anfang des 15. Jahrhunderts. In: Guido AdlerGuido AdlerGuido Adler was a Bohemian-Austrian musicologist and writer.His father Joachim, a physician, died of typhoid fever in 1857...
(Ed.): Handbuch der Musikgeschichte. dtv, Munich 1924/1930, pp. 157–195 - Die mehrstimmige Messe des 14. Jahrhunderts. In: Archiv für Musikwissenschaft. Vol. 7 1925, pp. 417–435 and Vol. 8, 1926, pp. 130
- Versuch einer Übertragung der Motetten Herenthals Nr. 4 und 5. In: Zeitschrift für Musikwissenschaft. Band 8, 1925/26, pp. 196–200
- Beethovens Leonore. 1930