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Grundsätze des Generalbasses (178?) - Johann Philip Kirnberger
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Background
By the early 1700s, nearly every musical treatise written dealt with harmony and classification of chords. With the increasing number of chords to identify, “some means of organization was required for the figured-bass method to remain of practical use to musicians.”[1] In 1722, Jean Philippe Rameau published his Traité de l’harmonie. Rameau’s approach to harmony was scientific, and he based his theory on the premise that harmony “has its roots in acoustical phenomena and mathematical relationships.”[2] Rameau was the first theorist to propose that all chords can be related to one of two fundamental harmonies.
Johann Philip Kirnberger was one of several theorists in Berlin during the eighteenth century. Like many Germans, Kirnberger was resistant to Rameau’s theories, the principles of which opposed those of the German tradition of thorough bass. However, there are several similarities between Rameau’s and Kirnberger’s systems. Beach writes, “[Kirnberger] adopted Rameau’s definition of chord inversion and, like Rameau, related all chords to two fundamental harmonies, though, of course, in quite a different way.”[3] Cecil Powell Grant writes that both theorists’ systems share the principle that the fundamental bass is the foundation of harmonic progressions.[4] Of course, Kirnberger would not acknowledge his borrowing from Rameau. This fact vexed Kirnberger’s contemporary, Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg, and sparked heated correspondence between the two.
As a former student of J.S. Bach, Kirnberger sought to present his materials in a way that reflected Bach’s method of teaching. According to C.P.E. Bach, his father’s teaching method included the belief that students must begin composition practically; thus, beginning composition pupils focused on learning to realize a thorough bass. Kirnberger’s agreement with this method of teaching is illustrated in his Grundsätze des Generalbasses. Grundsätze was written for beginners, and may serve as an introduction to Die Kunst des reinen Satzes in der Musik. Kirnberger’s theoretical beliefs are combined “with practical training in the fundamentals of realizing a figured bass at the keyboard.”[5] In addition to supporting traditional German thought—that theory is derived from practice—Kirnberger also displays his conviction that “keen aural perception is fundamental to musical understanding.”[6]
[1] In David Beach’s introduction to his English translation of Johann Philip Kirnberger’s Die Kunst des reinen Satzes in der Musik, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1982), ix.
[2] Ibid., x.
[3] Ibid., xiii.
[4] Cecil Powell Grant, “The Real Relationship between Kirnberger’s and Rameau’s Concept of the Fundamental Bass,” Journal of Music Theory 21, no. 2 (1977): 328-36.
[5] David Williams Beach, The Harmonic Theories of Johann Philipp Kirnberger; Their Origins and Influences (Ph.D. diss., Yale University, 1974), 12.
[6] Ibid., 13.
Bibliography
Title from title page: GRUNDSÄTZE / des / General Basfes / als erste Linien zur / COMPOSITION
Genre: Theoretical treatise
Author: Johann Philipp Kirnberger, 1721-1783
First publication: Berlin, 3 February 1745
Print in the UNT Collection: Hamburg: Johann August Boehme, n.d.
For further reading on Grundsätze des Generalbasses, als erste Linien zur Composition, see:
Beach, David. The Harmonic Theories of Johann Philipp Kirnberger: Their Origins and Influences. Ph.D. diss., Yale University, 1975.
Grant, Cecil. Kirnberger Versus Rameau: Toward a New Approach to Comparative Theory. Ph.D. diss., University of Cincinnati, 1977.
Nelson, Richard and Daniel Boomgaarden. “Kirnberger’s Thoughts on the Different Methods of Teaching Composition as Preparation for Understanding Fugue.” Journal of Music Theory 30 (1986): 71-94.
Serwer, Howard. “Kirnberger, Johann Philipp.” Grove Music Online, ed. Laura Macy. [Accessed 27 July 2004]. <http://www.grovemusic.com>
________. “Marpurg versus Kirnberger: Theories of Fugal Composition.” Journal of Music Theory 14 (1970): 206-36.
Physical
Dimensions: 18.8 x 22.9 cm.
Conservation: Light bleed-through; light bleed-across; foxing; minor cockling.
Binding: Faded dark green hard cover; bumped and frayed corners; peeling spine reads, "Kirnberger / Vierling / Generalbass."
Comments: North Texas property stamps; Ex Libris Hibberd stamp on front pastedown.