The New German School. A Collection of writings, database, and studies about a primary musical aesthetic controversy of the 19th Century and its consequences

• Applicant: Dominik von Roth, since 5/2017
• Subject Area: Musicology
• Term: from 2009 to 2017
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 107498543

The group gathered around the composers Liszt, Wagner and Berlioz, designated by Franz Brendel as the Neudeutsche Schule (New German School), created, represented and defended a new artistic ideal in music in the middle of the 19th century. Through this they triggered fundamental aesthetic, historical-philosophical and compositional controversies. In debates between Paris, Vienna, Berlin, Weimar, Leipzig and the Rheinland, the supporters and the opponents of the New German School discussed the social role of music, music criticism and musicology, arguing no less than questions of musics nature and its relevance for a future political modernization. The Neudeutsche Schule is an explicitly discursive formation. Their self-concept included opening their positions to public discussion through ongoing commentary, focusing on a thematic constellation that would enable divergent paths. Impacts can be found in the national schools of the late 19th century as well as in the politicization of music in the 20thcentury, and even in some musicological paradigms that remain valid today. The aim of this project is to produce the first extensive examination of these controversies. The research will not only focus on their musical consequences but also on their subliminal implications, political and ideological context and as far as possible also the reception throughout Europe and North America. The basis will be the analysis and evaluation of a body of important yet hardly known primary sources, which shall be published as an edition with commentary.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Ehemaliger Antragsteller: Professor Dr. Detlef Altenburg, until 4/2017 (†)