Hermeneutics decodes the message of a work rather than describing its outward form. The general hermeneutics of Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768-1834) is highly suggestive for music, and hermeneutic prescriptions by Rochlitz (1798), Nägeli (1802), Brendel (1845), and Kretzschmar (1903-07) provide a framework for interpretive music analysis in the 19th c. Elucidatory analysis aims to reveal the content or substance of music. Newly translated analyses by Berlioz, Wagner, Lenz, Elterlein, Spitta, Wolzogen, and Kretzschmar exemplify the category. The operation of the hermeneutic circle shuttles between the whole and part, objective and subjective, to yield the music’s message. Analyses by Momigny, Hoffmann, Schumann, Basevi, Marx, and Helm are used.
Mattheson’s Concept of Klangrede in Two Fugues by Bach and Mozart
Source(s) of analysis: Score Musical work: Fugue in D major BWV 873 / The Well-Tempered Clavier (vol. 2), Kyrie / Requiem in D minor K. 626 Year of creation: 1739–42, 1791 Composer's name: Johann Sebastian Bach, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Methods of analysis: Formal analysis, Rhetoric analysis, Style analysis
Target Group / Study LevelLevel of music analysis knowledge: Intermediate
Study cycle: Bachelor, Master
Read more



