Athanasius Kircher (1602-1680) and Joseph Johann Fux (1660-1741) and the defense of the stile antico in the German Counter-Reformation world

• Grant number: 23/16145-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: April 01, 2024
• End date: March 31, 2028
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Arts - Music
• Principal Investigator: Monica Isabel Lucas
• Grantee: Caio Amadatsu Griman
• Host Institution: Escola de Comunicações e Artes (ECA). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 25/07418-8 - The Enduring Legacy of Gradus ad Parnassum: Posthumous Reception and Adaptation of Fuxian Contrapuntal Method, BE.EP.DR

Abstract

The musical production spanning from the late 18th century to the early 20th century conferred upon Austria, the center of the Counter-Reformation Germanic world, a central position as a field of musical studies. However, there are still very few studies specifically dedicated to Austrian musical production before Haydn. Nevertheless, it is a relevant subject of study, as it points out historical, cultural, and political-religious incompatibilities assumed in an alleged continuity between a German "baroque" repertoire of a Reformed nature and Austrian production of "classicism" with a Catholic bias. In this incompatibility lies the debate over stile antico and stile moderno. On one hand, authors from the Lutheran world, such as Mattheson and Quantz, defended stile moderno due to a more empirical approach, advocating trust in the ear. On the other hand, writers associated with the Society of Jesus and the Austrian branch of the House of Habsburg, such as Athanasius Kircher and Johann Joseph Fux, advocated for a more rationalistic and traditionalist approach, arguing in favor of preserving stile antico. This research project addresses the hypothesis that one of the main underlying reasons for the creation of the treatises "Musurgia Universalis"(1650)by Athanasius Kircher and "Gradus ad Parnassum" (1725) by Joseph Johann Fux was the intention to preserve stile antico by exposing compositional principles that could harmonize tradition with the compositional innovations associated with stile moderno. This study will enable a reevaluation of the influence of Kircher's and Fux's works on contemporary and subsequent generations of musicians, as well as propose a historiographical revision based on the study of Catholic treatises from the 17th and 18th centuries.