Extract

This book is part of a flowering of research on the contexts in which J. S. Bach operated, and on the directions musical life took after 1750. Sposato adds to the insights of Celia Applegate, David Gramit and William Weber that have complicated the traditional narrative of the emergence of secular subscription concerts. He contributes to insights by Michael Maul, Manual Bärwald, Andrew Talle and others that are reshaping our view of J. S. Bach’s musical environment and working life. He also builds on the work of Janice Stockigt and Robin A. Leaver regarding Catholic religious music in Leipzig. Through extensive research in archival, manuscript and obscure contemporary print sources, Sposato provides a long-term view of the evolution of the city’s musical culture. The book is handsomely produced and well illustrated with tables, music examples and concert programmes.

The book is structured by parallels that Sposato draws between the activities of the St Thomas cantors and the directors of the city’s leading secular organization: the Grosses Concert, which evolved into the Gewandhaus Orchestra. From the 1740s to the 1840s, there was considerable overlap between these positions, with three secular concert directors (Johann Friedrich Doles, Johann Adam Hiller and Johann Gottfried Schicht) moving from one position to the other. Additionally, Sposato argues persuasively that Felix Mendelssohn was instrumental in encouraging city councillors to appoint Moritz Hauptmann to the position of cantor at St Thomas’s in 1842.

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