Books by Barbara Eichner
"Music played a central role in the self-conception of middle-class Germans between the March Rev... more "Music played a central role in the self-conception of middle-class Germans between the March Revolution of 1848 and the First World War. Although German music was widely held to be 'universal' and thus apolitical, it participated - like the other arts - in the historicist project of shaping the nation's future by calling on the national heritage. Compositions based on - often heavily mythologised - historical events and heroes, such as the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest or the medieval Emperor Barbarossa, invited individual as well as collective identification and brought alive a past that compared favourably with contemporary conditions.
History in Mighty Sounds maps out a varied picture of these 'invented traditions' and the manifold ideas of 'Germanness' to which they gave rise, exemplified through works by familiar composers like Max Bruch or Carl Reinecke as well as their nowadays little-known contemporaries. The whole gamut of musical genres, ranging from pre- and post-Wagnerian opera to popular choruses to symphonic poems, contributes to a novel view of the many ways in which national identities were constructed, shaped and celebrated in and through music. How did artists adapt historical or literary sources to their purpose, how did they negotiate the precarious balance of aesthetic autonomy and political relevance, and how did notions of gender, landscape and religion influence artistic choices? All musical works are placed within their broader historical and biographical contexts, with frequent nods to other arts and popular culture. History in Mighty Sounds will be indispensable reading for anyone interested in nineteenth-century German music, history and nationalism."
Publications: articles and chapters by Barbara Eichner
Reiner Tor und Superstar: Musiktheater als Gottesdienst? Bericht über das Symposium am 9. Mai 2024 zu den Neuinszenierungen von „Jesus Christ Superstar“ und „Parsifal“, 2025
In Kooperation mit Abb. 5 zu dem Text: "Theater, Rituale, Gottesdienste" (siehe S. 67) o o ... more In Kooperation mit Abb. 5 zu dem Text: "Theater, Rituale, Gottesdienste" (siehe S. 67) o o KUNDRY UNDALS MARIA MAGDALENA Zu den Frauenguren in "Jesus Christ Superstar" und "Parsifal" von Barbara Eichner Als Richard Wagners Bühnenweihfestspiel "Parsifal" am 26. Juli 1882 in Bayreuth uraufgeführt wurde, reagierte ein Teil des Publikums mit Verwirrung und Bestürzung. Besonders die Figur der Kundry befremdete mit ihrem Lachen und Schreien, ihren wilden Gebärden und ihrer musikalisch schillernden Charakteristik. In ihrer Verunsicherung suchten viele Kritiker Zuucht im Vergleich mit Bekanntem und hoben die Ähnlichkeit Kundrys mit der biblischen Maria Magdalena hervor, meist im Kontext einer tiefergehenden Diskussion um den religiösen Charakter der Oper. Dieser Vergleich el nicht unbedingt zugunsten der Operngestalt oder ihres Schöpfers aus, wie in der Rezension Karl Frenzels in der Berliner National-Zeitung: "Meinem Gefühl widerstrebt nun diese Vermischung der Religion mit dem Theater durchaus, ich kann mich des Unwillens nicht enthalten, wenn ich die rührende Legende, wie Magdalena die Füße des Rabbi von Nazareth salbt und mit ihren Haaren trocknet, auf der Bühne entweiht sehe: dieselbe Urteufelin und Höllenrose Kundry, die eben noch in stark aufdringlicher Weise den Helden Parsifal hat verführen wollen, salbt ihm die Füße als dem Gottesmenschen. Wohl ist die Magdalena des Evangeliums eine arge Sünderin, aber daß sie den Rabbi Jesus in ihren Liebesbänden hat fangen wollen, davon ist doch nirgends die Rede, das ist die Ausgeburt einer unnatürlich überreizten und dennoch ohnmächtigen Phantasie." Noch fünfzig Jahre später charakterisierte Thomas Mann Kundry als "ein desperates Doppelwesen aus Verderberin und büßender Magdalena mit kataleptischen Übergangszuständen 1 Großmann-Vendrey 1977, S. 42.
Gedenken ohne Grenzen zwischen Bayern und Italien: Memorialpraxis und Heiligenverehrung in der Vormoderne, 2024
Italian Requiem Compositions in Bavarian Monasteries: Transfer and Transformation in Early-Modern... more Italian Requiem Compositions in Bavarian Monasteries: Transfer and Transformation in Early-Modern Memorial Practices
The late sixteenth century saw a twofold shift in the musical aspect of monastic memorial practices. On the one hand, memorial observances were reorganised and rationalised; on the other hand, polyphonic music was increasingly introduced for the celebration of communal (e.g. the feast of All Souls) and individual memoria (e.g. exequies for monks, abbots and persons of high status). At the same time, music from Italy, which saw a marked increase in the number of compositions for the requiem mass, made its way into musical institutions in Southern Germany, including monasteries in Southern Germany. This paper investigates the transmission and use of requiem compositions by Italian composers such as Giovanni Matteo Asola, Gregorio Zucchini and Lorenzo Vecchi in religious houses in modern-day Bavaria. Several musical manuscripts (choirbooks) from the Benedictine monasteries St Ulrich and Afra in Augsburg and Irsee demonstrate how local musicians adapted the international repertoire to their needs, thus bringing a decisively post-Tridentine musical style to the urban and rural soundscape of Southern Germany.
Markgraf Alexander und sein Hof zu Triesdorf, 2022
Early Music, 2020
Gifts of music manuscripts continued to serve an important diplomatic function well into the 16th... more Gifts of music manuscripts continued to serve an important diplomatic function well into the 16th century. This article investigates the production, content and function of two choirbooks prepared by the Benedictine monk Ambrosius Mayrhofer of St Emmeram in Regensburg, which mainly contain sacred music by Orlande de Lassus. They were dedicated to Abbot Jakob Köplin of St Ulrich and Afra in Augsburg (1568) and the city council of Regensburg (1567) respectively. The programmatic opening motet and accompanying illuminations of the Regensburg choirbook suggest that it functioned as a politically motivated gift that helped to ‘harmonize’ the frictions within a city divided by ancient rights and new religious allegiances: Regensburg was a free imperial city with a predominantly Protestant population and council, but also harboured an episcopal see and several nunneries and monasteries (among them St Emmeram), with the Catholic Dukes of Bavaria as close and powerful neighbours. Mayrhofer’s music manuscript projects a conciliatory message that was particularly timely in the late 1560s, when the permission of Eucharistic communion under both kinds (with consecrated bread and wine) offered a short-lived hope of religious compromise.
Musikgeschichte auf der Bühne - Performing Music History
Im Jahr 2018 gelangte die Äbtissin, Visionärin und Komponistin Hildegard von Bingen in zwei musik... more Im Jahr 2018 gelangte die Äbtissin, Visionärin und Komponistin Hildegard von Bingen in zwei musikdramatischen Versionen auf die Bühne: in dem Schauspiel Hildegard von Bingen-die Visionärin von Susanne Felicitas Wolf mit Musik von Manuela Rzytki, und in der Kammeroper Hildegard (Libretto Kirsten Roosendaal) des niederländischen Jazz-Klarinettisten und Komponisten Steven Kamperman. 1 Beide Musiktheaterstücke vergegenwärtigen nicht nur Hildegards Lebenslauf, sondern auch ihr musikalisches Erbe, indem sie ihre Kompositionen in einem Akt »reflektierter Aneignung« zitieren und collagieren, der für den »produktive[n] Historismus« der Postmoderne typisch ist. 2 Die historischen Opern des 19. Jahrhunderts beschritten einen anderen Weg: Sie stellten Mönche und Nonnen weniger als Zentralgestalten denn als Kollektiv auf die Bühne (Puccinis Suor Angelica ist eine späte Ausnahme) und sie erfanden für sie eine Musiksprache, die »prinzipiell ahistorisch,[…] aber dennoch historisierend« ist. 3 Daher entsprach den ins kunstgeschichtliche Detail verliebten Bühnenbildern und den akribisch recherchierten Handlungsabläufen keine authentisch rekonstruierte Klangwelt. Der didaktische Anspruch des historischen Sprechdramas, das gebildete Publikum über (seine) Geschichte zu belehren und zu erziehen, der auch die (National-)Oper erfasste, erstreckte sich-zumindest bei Opern und Dramen, die im Mittelalter spielen-1 [theaterlust]: »Hildegard von Bingen-die Visionärin«, in: theaterlust, https://theaterlust.de/h ildegard-von-bingen (abgerufen am 06.12.2019
Heinrich Isaac and Polyphony for the Proper of the Mass in the Late Middle Ages and the Renaissance, 2011
Musik in Bayern, 2019
Antichrist reloaded: Orlando di Lasso’s choruses for the theatre, and the musical dramaturgy of t... more Antichrist reloaded: Orlando di Lasso’s choruses for the theatre, and the musical dramaturgy of the early Jesuit stage
The music of sixteenth-century Jesuit dramas has remained a grey area: contemporary descriptions focus on the staging of the dramas and their impact on the audience, while surviving musical pieces are often brief and simple, which sits oddly with the large-scale, festive performances staged at court or university, such as Orlando di Lasso’s contributions to Samson and Hester. Franz Körndle’s discovery that a group of late motets by Lasso was written for insertion in the drama Christus Iudex by the Italian Jesuit Stefano Tuccio allows us to study the contribution of the choruses to the overall dramaturgy, as well as the musical means Lasso employed to fit them to the dramatic situation and the practicalities of performance. The article traces the performance history of Christus Iudex from Rome to Graz and Olomouc, suggesting that Lasso’s choruses were possibly intended for an abandoned performance as part of the dedication of St Michael’s church in Munich.
The Oxford Handbook of Music and Medievalism, 2020
This chapter focuses on three aspects of Wagner’s medievalism: the historic medievalism of "Tannh... more This chapter focuses on three aspects of Wagner’s medievalism: the historic medievalism of "Tannhäuser" and "Lohengrin", set in a recognizable historical framework but also invoking the aura of the Middle Ages through marvel and miracle; the mythical medievalism of the Ring cycle where Nordic myth displaces the more familiar sphere of the medieval "Nibelungenlied"; and finally the civic medievalism of "Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg" where a medieval city is imagined in a way that glosses nineteenth-century issues of German patriotism, nationhood, and the relationship of the creative individual with the community of the people. Instead of focusing on Wagner’s relationship with and adaptation of his medieval sources, this essay will examine the kind of Middle Ages he created.
The Cambridge Companion to Wagner's "Der Ring des Nibelungen", 2020
In the years since its inception, Wagner’s Ring has generated significant commentary and controve... more In the years since its inception, Wagner’s Ring has generated significant commentary and controversy. Critics of the Ring asserted its influence in public discourse (beyond music criticism of the work and its performances) and generated ambitious intellectual and ideological debates about art, society, and politics. This chapter charts some milestones in these debates, including the contributions of well-known thinkers such as Nietzsche, Shaw, and Adorno, but also some of their French, German, or Russian contemporaries whose influence has waned since the fin de siècle. In the twentieth century, seminal musicological approaches emerged that transcend analytical-technical matters, such as Alfred Lorenz’s ideologically charged investigations of Wagnerian form or Richard Donington’s psychoanalytic explanations. More recently the task of interpreting the Ring has shifted from the written word to the operatic stage, where directors explore and expose its various and conflicting layers of meaning. Whether formulated by philosophers, writers, musicologists, or artists, two basic approaches emerge from these interpretations: They either develop a social or political interpretation from the Ring outward, or they insert the tetralogy into a preexisting worldview.
Musikalische Schätze in Regensburger Bibliotheken, 2019
The Fürst Thurn und Taxis Hofbibliothek holds one of the most comprehensive and varied collection... more The Fürst Thurn und Taxis Hofbibliothek holds one of the most comprehensive and varied collections of early-modern music sources from a South-German monastery. Manuscript choirbooks and partbooks, music prints and tablatures from between 1560 and 1620 create a rich image of the musical practices at the Benedictine monastery of Neresheim in Swabia, where polyphonic music was introduced in the wake of the Counter-Reformation. The demanding repertoire attests to the high standard of music making, while several uniquely transmitted compositions (including a mass by Orlando di Lasso, hymns by Jacobus Vaet and rare prints of Italian repertoire) attest the wide-ranging musical, political and spiritual networks that the Benedictines of Neresheim could draw on.
The richly illustrated chapter offers not only an exploration of the creation of the music library, but also detailed appendices listing unica and printed partbooks, inviting further research into this fascinating institution. It can be downloaded for free from the publisher's website at https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:bvb:355-epub-409222
Revue Belge de Musicologie 72, 2018
In recent years the eroticism of early-modern music has received increased scholarly attention. T... more In recent years the eroticism of early-modern music has received increased scholarly attention. The presence of an amorous subtext in the parody mass, however, continues to puzzle modern-day performers and listeners. It is particularly the persistence of the genre into the sixteenth century, beyond the alleged clampdown on the "wanton and impure" in sacred music after the Council of Trent which still demands an explanation. With so many potential models to choose from, why did composers continue to base masses on musical models with bawdy or frivolous texts?
Orlando di Lasso's short chanson masses, written for the Catholic court of Munich, are notorious for flouting the boundaries of sacred and secular, to an extent that the standard explanatory strategies - e.g. a projection of erotic desire onto the Virgin Mary - seem hardly sufficient. This article focuses on the "Missa super Entre vous filles" and proposes a reading that brings the ribald humour of the original into dialogue with sixteenth-century theology and spirituality. The transmission history of the mass suggests that it was written as a companion piece to the "Missa super Veni in hortum meum", based on a Song of Songs motet. A close reading of the textual and musical relationship between models and masses reveals that the pieces form part of an elaborate conversation about sin, redemption, eroticism and the Eucharist that is congruent with counter-Reformation sensibilities.
This article introduces Julius Cyriax, a London-based merchant and friend of Richard Wagner, who ... more This article introduces Julius Cyriax, a London-based merchant and friend of Richard Wagner, who not only maintained cordial relationships with the venerated "Master" (whom he furnished with rose oil and other luxury consumables) and his family, but also was a central figure in the early years of the first Wagner Society in London. The article, which was co-authored with Dr Guy Houghton, includes 11 hitherto unpublished letters by Wagner to his friend, written between 1878 and 1881.
Johannes Nucius (1556-1620), a native of Görlitz in Lusatia, was one of the most prominent Silesi... more Johannes Nucius (1556-1620), a native of Görlitz in Lusatia, was one of the most prominent Silesian composers of the Counter-Reformation. He became abbot of the Cisterican monastery Himmelwitz / Jemielnica in 1591, and published two volumes of motets in 1591 and 1613 respectively. His theoretical treatise "Musica Poetica" enjoyed a wide contemporary reception and is today consulted as one of the first sources for a formalised musical rhetoric. Information about his biography is sparse, and thus the discovery of an extended obituary poem on the death of his mother Anna (+ 1600) sheds new light on Nucius' upbringing, his religious background and his circle of learned friends Johannes Cyaneus Sylvanus, Martinus Mylius and Georg Wolff von Huldschönau.
Wagner - Gender - Mythen
Richard Wagner's final "Kunstschrift", "Eine Mittheilung an meine Freunde", occupies an ambigious... more Richard Wagner's final "Kunstschrift", "Eine Mittheilung an meine Freunde", occupies an ambigious position in his literary output: on the one hand it can appear like an afterthought to his main Zürich writings, on the other hand its biographic narrative make it more accessible and more widely read than any of the others. This chapter demonstrates how "Eine Mittheilung" constructs central myths about the artists' biography, and projects gendered dichotomies on the early operas as well as on the recently extended "Siegfried" project. For the first time the complex revision and publication history of "Eine Mittheilung" is considered here, which sheds an interesting light on the changing conception of quintessentially Wagnerian ideas such as "das Weib der Zukunft" and "Erlösung".
Early Music, Aug 1, 2011
1. Barbara Eichner is Lecturer in Musicology at Oxford Brookes University. She studied Musicology... more 1. Barbara Eichner is Lecturer in Musicology at Oxford Brookes University. She studied Musicology, German Literature and Scandinavian Studies in Munich and Southampton, and in 2006 received her DPhil from the University of Oxford for a study on music, history and ...
Nineteenth-Century British Music Studies, Jan 1, 2003
Goldsmiths Research Online. Goldsmiths - University of London. ...
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Books by Barbara Eichner
History in Mighty Sounds maps out a varied picture of these 'invented traditions' and the manifold ideas of 'Germanness' to which they gave rise, exemplified through works by familiar composers like Max Bruch or Carl Reinecke as well as their nowadays little-known contemporaries. The whole gamut of musical genres, ranging from pre- and post-Wagnerian opera to popular choruses to symphonic poems, contributes to a novel view of the many ways in which national identities were constructed, shaped and celebrated in and through music. How did artists adapt historical or literary sources to their purpose, how did they negotiate the precarious balance of aesthetic autonomy and political relevance, and how did notions of gender, landscape and religion influence artistic choices? All musical works are placed within their broader historical and biographical contexts, with frequent nods to other arts and popular culture. History in Mighty Sounds will be indispensable reading for anyone interested in nineteenth-century German music, history and nationalism."
Publications: articles and chapters by Barbara Eichner
The late sixteenth century saw a twofold shift in the musical aspect of monastic memorial practices. On the one hand, memorial observances were reorganised and rationalised; on the other hand, polyphonic music was increasingly introduced for the celebration of communal (e.g. the feast of All Souls) and individual memoria (e.g. exequies for monks, abbots and persons of high status). At the same time, music from Italy, which saw a marked increase in the number of compositions for the requiem mass, made its way into musical institutions in Southern Germany, including monasteries in Southern Germany. This paper investigates the transmission and use of requiem compositions by Italian composers such as Giovanni Matteo Asola, Gregorio Zucchini and Lorenzo Vecchi in religious houses in modern-day Bavaria. Several musical manuscripts (choirbooks) from the Benedictine monasteries St Ulrich and Afra in Augsburg and Irsee demonstrate how local musicians adapted the international repertoire to their needs, thus bringing a decisively post-Tridentine musical style to the urban and rural soundscape of Southern Germany.
The music of sixteenth-century Jesuit dramas has remained a grey area: contemporary descriptions focus on the staging of the dramas and their impact on the audience, while surviving musical pieces are often brief and simple, which sits oddly with the large-scale, festive performances staged at court or university, such as Orlando di Lasso’s contributions to Samson and Hester. Franz Körndle’s discovery that a group of late motets by Lasso was written for insertion in the drama Christus Iudex by the Italian Jesuit Stefano Tuccio allows us to study the contribution of the choruses to the overall dramaturgy, as well as the musical means Lasso employed to fit them to the dramatic situation and the practicalities of performance. The article traces the performance history of Christus Iudex from Rome to Graz and Olomouc, suggesting that Lasso’s choruses were possibly intended for an abandoned performance as part of the dedication of St Michael’s church in Munich.
The richly illustrated chapter offers not only an exploration of the creation of the music library, but also detailed appendices listing unica and printed partbooks, inviting further research into this fascinating institution. It can be downloaded for free from the publisher's website at https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:bvb:355-epub-409222
Orlando di Lasso's short chanson masses, written for the Catholic court of Munich, are notorious for flouting the boundaries of sacred and secular, to an extent that the standard explanatory strategies - e.g. a projection of erotic desire onto the Virgin Mary - seem hardly sufficient. This article focuses on the "Missa super Entre vous filles" and proposes a reading that brings the ribald humour of the original into dialogue with sixteenth-century theology and spirituality. The transmission history of the mass suggests that it was written as a companion piece to the "Missa super Veni in hortum meum", based on a Song of Songs motet. A close reading of the textual and musical relationship between models and masses reveals that the pieces form part of an elaborate conversation about sin, redemption, eroticism and the Eucharist that is congruent with counter-Reformation sensibilities.
History in Mighty Sounds maps out a varied picture of these 'invented traditions' and the manifold ideas of 'Germanness' to which they gave rise, exemplified through works by familiar composers like Max Bruch or Carl Reinecke as well as their nowadays little-known contemporaries. The whole gamut of musical genres, ranging from pre- and post-Wagnerian opera to popular choruses to symphonic poems, contributes to a novel view of the many ways in which national identities were constructed, shaped and celebrated in and through music. How did artists adapt historical or literary sources to their purpose, how did they negotiate the precarious balance of aesthetic autonomy and political relevance, and how did notions of gender, landscape and religion influence artistic choices? All musical works are placed within their broader historical and biographical contexts, with frequent nods to other arts and popular culture. History in Mighty Sounds will be indispensable reading for anyone interested in nineteenth-century German music, history and nationalism."
The late sixteenth century saw a twofold shift in the musical aspect of monastic memorial practices. On the one hand, memorial observances were reorganised and rationalised; on the other hand, polyphonic music was increasingly introduced for the celebration of communal (e.g. the feast of All Souls) and individual memoria (e.g. exequies for monks, abbots and persons of high status). At the same time, music from Italy, which saw a marked increase in the number of compositions for the requiem mass, made its way into musical institutions in Southern Germany, including monasteries in Southern Germany. This paper investigates the transmission and use of requiem compositions by Italian composers such as Giovanni Matteo Asola, Gregorio Zucchini and Lorenzo Vecchi in religious houses in modern-day Bavaria. Several musical manuscripts (choirbooks) from the Benedictine monasteries St Ulrich and Afra in Augsburg and Irsee demonstrate how local musicians adapted the international repertoire to their needs, thus bringing a decisively post-Tridentine musical style to the urban and rural soundscape of Southern Germany.
The music of sixteenth-century Jesuit dramas has remained a grey area: contemporary descriptions focus on the staging of the dramas and their impact on the audience, while surviving musical pieces are often brief and simple, which sits oddly with the large-scale, festive performances staged at court or university, such as Orlando di Lasso’s contributions to Samson and Hester. Franz Körndle’s discovery that a group of late motets by Lasso was written for insertion in the drama Christus Iudex by the Italian Jesuit Stefano Tuccio allows us to study the contribution of the choruses to the overall dramaturgy, as well as the musical means Lasso employed to fit them to the dramatic situation and the practicalities of performance. The article traces the performance history of Christus Iudex from Rome to Graz and Olomouc, suggesting that Lasso’s choruses were possibly intended for an abandoned performance as part of the dedication of St Michael’s church in Munich.
The richly illustrated chapter offers not only an exploration of the creation of the music library, but also detailed appendices listing unica and printed partbooks, inviting further research into this fascinating institution. It can be downloaded for free from the publisher's website at https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:bvb:355-epub-409222
Orlando di Lasso's short chanson masses, written for the Catholic court of Munich, are notorious for flouting the boundaries of sacred and secular, to an extent that the standard explanatory strategies - e.g. a projection of erotic desire onto the Virgin Mary - seem hardly sufficient. This article focuses on the "Missa super Entre vous filles" and proposes a reading that brings the ribald humour of the original into dialogue with sixteenth-century theology and spirituality. The transmission history of the mass suggests that it was written as a companion piece to the "Missa super Veni in hortum meum", based on a Song of Songs motet. A close reading of the textual and musical relationship between models and masses reveals that the pieces form part of an elaborate conversation about sin, redemption, eroticism and the Eucharist that is congruent with counter-Reformation sensibilities.
The presentation will focus on one such network around the abbey of Weingarten, a Benedictine Imperial monastery of exceeding wealth and in a central political position between the Habsburg territories, the Bavarian court and the Protestant cities of the German South-West. A succession of art-loving abbots ensured the employment of prominent composers and frequent contact with Orlandus Lassus’ Munich court chapel, but the function of music radically changed as Weingarten transformed from the secular court of a Renaissance prince to a hub of counter-Reformation activity.
The concert was supported through a British Academy Mid-Career Fellowship.
https://toccataclassics.com/product/orlande-de-lassus-requiem-a-5-motets/
A recording from the National Centre for Early Music in York is available on their Facebook site: https://www.facebook.com/yorkearlymusic/
I would welcome your feedback on this programme!