Studien zu den deutsch–französischen Musikbeziehungen im 18. und 19. Jahrhundert

This volume includes the papers held at the symposium entitled “Musikbeziehungen zwischen Frankreich und Deutschland in der 2. Hälfte des 18. Jahrhunderts” as well as free papers on the problems of Franco- German music transfer held during the first joint conference of the Gesellschaft für Musikforschung and the Société française de musicologie in Saarbrücken in 1999.

After the war of the buffoonists, music transfer and the spread of ideas across the borders accelerated considerably. German composers and instrumentalists became active in France in hitherto unprecedented numbers. Gluck’s Parisian operas were considered as revolutionary not only in France; they were also important points of orientation for the musical theatre of the 19th century. Up to the performances of the symphonies of Beethoven by Habeneck, Haydn’s symphonies remained standard works of the concert repertoire in Paris. While French troupes of actors played their repertoire in the original French at the German and Austrian courts, first German troupes of actors and then the national theatres included the genres of musical drama in their repertoire in translated form. In the field of piano and chamber music, too, there was a lively exchange.

The articles published here thus deal with a wide range of topics and methodical approaches to problems of music transfer which open new perspectives for further work.