A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Marpurg, Friedrich

by Franz Gehring

MARPURG, Friedrich Wilhelm, eminent writer on music, born 1718 [App. p.711 "Oct 1"] at Marpurgshof, near Seehausen, in Brandenburg. Little is known of his musical education, as Gerber gives no details, although Marpurg furnished him with the history of his life. Spazier ('Leipzig musik. Zeitung,' ii. 553) says that in 1746 he was secretary to General Rothenburg in Paris, and there associated with Voltaire, Maupertuis, D'Alembert, and Rameau; and Eberhard remarks that his acquaintance with good society would account for his refined manners and his tact in criticism. The absence in his works of personality and of fine writing, then so common with musical authors, is the more striking as he had great command of language and thoroughly enjoyed discussion. His active pen was exercised in almost all branches of music—composition, theory, criticism, and history. Of his theoretical works the most celebrated are—the 'Handbuch beim Generalbasse, und der Composition,' founded on Rameau's system (3 parts, 1757–8, Berlin); 'Der kritische Musicus an der^[1] Spree' (Berlin, 1750), containing on p. 129 a lucid explanation of the old Church Modes; the 'Anleitung zur Singecomposition' (Berlin, 1758), and the 'Anleitung zur Musik' (Berlin, 1763), both still popular; the 'Kunst das Clavier zu spielen' (1750); the 'Versuch über die musikalische Temperatur' (Breslau, 1776), a controversial pamphlet intended to prove that Kirnberger's so-called fundamental bass was merely an interpolated bass; and the 'Abhandlung von der Fuge,' 62 plates (Berlin 1753–54; 2nd edition 1806; French, Berlin 1756), a masterly summary of the whole science of counterpoint at that period, with the solitary defect that it is illustrated by a few short examples, instead of being treated in connection with composition. This Marpurg intended to remedy by publishing a collection of fugues by well-known authors, with analyses, but he only issued the first part (Berlin, 1758). Of his critical works the most important is the 'Historischkritische Beiträge,' 5 vols. (Berlin, 1744–62 [App. p.711 "1754–78"]). Among the historical may be specified a MS. 'Entwurf einer Geschichte der Orgel,' of which Gerber gives the table of contents; and the 'Kritische Einleitung in die Geschichte der Tonkunst' (Berlin, 1751). A jeu d'esprit, 'Legende einiger Musikheiligen von Simon Metaphrastes dem Jüngeren' (Cologne, 1786), appeared under his pseudonym. Of compositions he published, besides collections of contemporary music, '6 Sonaten für das Cembalo' (Nuremberg, 1756); 'Fughe e capricci' (Berlin, 1777): and 'Versuch in figurirten Chorälen,' vols. i and 2; 'Musikalisches Archiv,' an elucidation of the 'Historisch, kritischen Beiträge,' was announced, but did not appear.

Marpurg died May 22, 1795, in Berlin, where he had been director of the government lottery from 1763.

[ F. G. ]

1. The Spree is the river which flows (or rather creeps) through Berlin.