Research Catalog

Title

Bach and the riddle of the number alphabet / Ruth Tatlow.

Author

Tatlow, Ruth.

Publication

Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 1991.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xiii, 186 pages : illustrations; 24 cm

Summary

In 1947 the theologian and musicologist Friedrich Smend published a study which claimed that J. S. Bach regularly employed the natural-order number alphabet (A=1 to Z=24) in his works. Smend provided historical evidence and music examples to support his theory which demonstrated that by this means Bach incorporated significant words into his music, and provided himself with a symbolic compositional scheme. Since then many people have taken up Smend's theory, interpreting numbers of bars and notes in Bach scores according to the natural-order alphabet. By presenting a thorough survey of different number alphabets and their uses in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Germany, Dr. Tatlow investigates the plausibility of Smend's claims. Her new evidence fundamentally challenges Smend's conclusions and the book sounds a note of caution to all who continue to use his number-alphabet theory. Dr. Tatlow's painstaking research will fascinate all those with an interest in the music of J. S. Bach and German Baroque culture, and will be of particular importance for music historians and analysts.

Subjects

• Criticism, interpretation, etc
• Germany
• Music
• Symbolism in music
• Alphabet
• Zahlensymbolik
• Symbolism of numbers in music
• Symbolisme des nombres dans la musique
• Symbolisme dans la musique
• Bach, Johann Sebastian
• Bach, Johann Sebastian, 1685-1750 > Criticism and interpretation
• Bach, Johann Sebastian, 1685-1750 > Critique et interprétation

Genre/Form

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Note

• "A revised version of ... doctoral thesis, Lusus poëticus vel musicus ... submitted to the University of London in January 1987"--Page xiii.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (pages 168-177) and index.

Contents

Introduction. Bach and mathematics ; Bach and cabbalism ; Bach and number symbolism -- Friedrich Smend. Smend's theory ; Smend's sources ; Smend and number symbolism ; The number alphabet ; The Smend-Jansen working method -- Number alphabets. Early number-alphabet forms ; Cabbalism ; Cabbala practica ; Mathematical puzzles ; Cryptography -- The poetical paragram. The invention and early development of the paragram ; Harsdorffer and the documentation of the paragram ; The fruition of the paragram -- A musical paragram? Lusus musici ; Johann David Heinichen ; Johann Mattheson -- Links to Bach. Bach and his poets ; Bach and invention ; Bach and the number alphabet -- Appendix 1. Number alphabets -- Appendix 2. Friedrich Smend's number-symbolism file -- Appendix 3. The Smend-Jansen correspondence -- Appendix 4. Solutions and translations.

ISBN

• 0521361915
• 9780521361910

LCCN

• 90001550
• 99995658999

OCLC

• ocm21226432
• 21226432
• SCSB-2829292

Owning Institutions

Columbia University Libraries