Studien zur Dresdner Uberlieferung von Instrumentalkonzerten deutscher Komponisten des 18. Jahrhunderts (review)

Studien zur Dresdner Überlieferung von Instrumentalkonzerten deutscher Komponisten des 18. Jahrhunderts. By Manfred Fechner. (Dresdner Studien zur Musikwissenschaft, 2.) Laaber: Laaber-Verlag, 1999. [437 p. ISBN 3-89007-349-2. DM 128.]

From 1694 to 1763, Dresden's Churfürstlich Sächsische Capell- und Cammer Musique contributed much to the city's status as Europe's most important concerto center north of Venice. This acclaimed court orchestra regularly participated in Hofkonzerte and Tafelmusiken, as documented by numerous primary sources housed at the Sächsische Landesbibliothek --Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Dresden. Manfred Fechner, a student of Vivaldi scholar Karl Heller, first investigated Dresden concerto manuscripts in his insightful 1992 dissertation (University of Rostock). In this revised version, he draws attention to 226 autographs and manuscripts of concertos composed by Georg Philipp Telemann (1681- 1767), Johann David Heinichen (1683- 1729), Johann Georg Pisendel (1687-1755), Johann Friedrich Fasch (1688-1758), Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel (1690-1749), Johann Joachim Quantz (1697-1773), and Johann Gottlieb Graun (1702/3-1771). Their works shed light on the Dresden orchestra's repertory and chronicle the development of the concerto con molti istromenti in northern Europe during the first half of the eighteenth century. In the years 1765-68, orchestral scores and parts dating from that earlier period, as well as compositions from the late concertmaster Pisendel's estate, were cataloged and stored away in a closet, "Schranck No: II" (p. 11), having received a generic orchestral-library cover.

Taking Heller's Die deutsche Überlieferung der Instrumentalwerke Vivaldis (Leipzig: Deutscher Verlag für Musik, 1971) as his starting point, Fechner carefully examines the manuscripts and provides approximate dates of composition, tracing each primary source to either the orchestral library or Pisendel's personal music collection. Interestingly, Pisendel was a major collector of music during the early eighteenth century, and most of the deposited scores are from his own library, as Fechner points out. Fechner also analyzes the handwriting of each composer (pp. 26-42), investigates in detail the autographs and manuscripts prepared by Pisendel (pp. 43-59), and describes watermarks (pp. 60-66, 138-40). He presents new clues on the identities of scribes (pp. 66-132), the most prolific of whom are "A" (Johann Gottfried Grundig?) and "D" (Johann George Kremmler? Johann Gottlieb Morgenstern?), and he provides multiple handwriting samples (pp. 141-206). An exemplary, two-hundred-page thematic catalog offers a wealth of new information on the Dresden manuscripts, attesting to Fechner's scholarly thoroughness, patience, and insight, as well as his contextual knowledge relating to the physical makeup of these primary sources.

The chapter on Pisendel's proofreading of submitted manuscripts deserves special mention. He composed entirely new parts for solo instruments, added ripieno parts, changed scorings, and even altered the formal structure of movements, especially for works by Fasch. Pisendel's multiple revisions seem to denote a certain dissatisfaction with Fasch's abilities as a composer, as Fechner notes. Perhaps Pisendel, who left comparatively few compositions of his own, wanted to encourage Fasch to compose for a large, first-rate orchestra rather than for his smaller ensemble at Zerbst.

Fechner has produced a well-thought-out study, and the volume contains virtually no spelling errors; spot checks revealed a truly commendable accuracy with regard to page numbers, abbreviations, and bibliographic references in endnotes. Lengthy technical passages abound in this book, however; some chapters read like abstract, analytical reports and require constant flipping of pages in order to compare handwriting samples. Yet these chapters contain Fechner's most informative and original research. Readers interested in tracings, dimensions, and origins of Dresden watermarks are referred to Steven Zohn's outstanding dissertation on Telemann's sonatas ("The Ensemble Sonatas of Georg Philipp Telemann: Studies in Style, Genre, and Chronology" [Cornell University, 1995]); this study and other relevant specialized literature published outside Germany after 1992 cannot be found in the bibliography, even though Fechner states in the preface that recent secondary sources have...