Proportions in Emotion : Zur Recreation des Gemüths

• Three well-known Bach scholars explore the question of where and how one might locate the emotional potential of J. S. Bach’s music, drawing on historical methods and discourses as well as on insights from current performance practice. Under the heading of ‘affect’, the emotional qualities of Bach’s music have been a topic of sustained scholarly discussion since at least the early twentieth century. Arguably that discussion has advanced only haltingly since George Buelow’s critique of the traditional Affektenlehre back in the 1980s. Meanwhile, over the past thirty years or so historians have increasingly embraced the emotional dimension of past events as a productive new area of inquiry, alerting us not only to the fact that emotions and their expression are historically contingent, but that these affective forces played a much more vital part in shaping historical realities than has often been acknowledged. The panel members propose several new, historically grounded approaches to the question of emotion in Bach’s music, building on some of the frameworks developed in recent emotions history. Conversely, they consider what the study of music (and Bach’s music in particular) might fruitfully contribute to the writing of emotional histories.

Keyword

Emotion; Dance; Music; Proportion; J.S.Bach

Estetik

Aesthetics

Musikvetenskap

Musicology

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)