In the Middle Ages and early modern times, the term "author" was much closer to "authority" than to what we call "authorship" today. The fact that there were hardly any or at best nebulous examples of musical "authors" from classical times in particular did not make things any easier for the scholars of the time. While Petrarch could easily call himself a descendant of his classical-Latin "fathers", in the 1470s Johannes Tinctoris named composers as exemplary whose work (according to his account) dated back no more than forty years, such as John Dunstable. A list of names in a treatise may have the function of historical legitimization; the naming of a composer in an early music print has more of a "copyright" function; the transmission of the name of a St. Gall monk probably has a different significance. Michele Calella's publication now aims to present a differentiated view of when and how the idea of the composer as "author" emerged in medieval and early modern music.

The book examines music-historical contexts as well as the context that has led to the construction of more or less ideologically influenced images of the musical past. After an introductory and conceptually clarifying first chapter, where philosophical and meta-historical considerations take precedence, the following pages focus on concrete interpretations based on historical examples. The enormous wealth of material, from St. Gall in the 10th century to Monteverdi, is grouped into thematic chapters. The second chapter, on authorship in manuscript culture, culminates in reflections on the repertoire of the 15th century. The function of the author, who was often also named in the sung texts, probably increased at that time as part of a social revaluation of the musical profession. Consequently, the third chapter deals with a closely related question, namely the relationship between the (named) composer and his audience after the invention of music printing. Various contexts play a role here: from the relationship between the musician and his patrons to the protection of his financial rights via printing privileges.

In the context of a music-theoretical or music-historical discourse, an interest in musical composition (instead of a presentation of the philosophical doctrine of "musica") appears rather late. As expected, the fourth chapter focuses on the music writer Johannes Tinctoris, who attempted to write a practical music theory in Naples. A modern conception of the composer's role then appears in the theory of the 16th century. Exemplary is the construction of Josquin as an outstanding composer in Glarean's Dodecachordon, which is dealt with in the fifth and final chapter. As a kind of outlook, Calella's account ends with the well-known polemic between Giovanni Maria Artusi and Claudio Monteverdi, which inspired the latter to coin the term seconda prattica. The rational theorist came into conflict with the composer, who relied on sensory perception and close reference to the text to be set to music. What is new is that it is precisely the practitioner who creates a musical history here and consciously legitimizes his innovations historically.

An extremely rich list of sources and literature and the indispensable index of names round off the book. The inclusion of the book by Michele Calella, who is currently a professor at the University of Vienna, in the series Swiss contributions to music research is thanks to his former work at the Zurich Institute of Musicology. After more than ten years, the (naturally expanded and updated) habilitation thesis, which was written during his Swiss years, is published here.

Michele Calella, Musikalische Autorschaft: Der Komponist zwischen Mittelalter und Neuzeit, Schweizer Beiträge zur Musikforschung, vol. 20, 355 p., € 46.95, Bärenreiter, Kassel 2014, ISBN 978-3-761818-65-7

Who the title Popular music in the urban soundscape you will probably think of open air festivals or Bob Dylan performers in the pedestrian zone. Not far off the mark. But this fascinating anthology of ten essays is not about today, but about yesterday, about the pop of times gone by, so to speak. London's Vauxhall Gardens in the mid-18th century are discussed, as are Hamburg brass bands in the 19th century and the huge sound systems from the early days of the last century.

So what was pop around 1800? The musicologist Martin Thrun was interested in the public concerts in London's Vauxhalls - those amusement parks where fireworks took place, where paintings hung, statues stood, where people ate or sat. In 1764, Leopold Mozart praised the "beautiful music" of the Vauxhall concerts; around 1794, Joseph Haydn noted that the music in London's parks was "quite good". Thrun's finding that a change in repertoire occurred precisely with Beethoven as the representative of absolute music is impressive. While Joseph Haydn and George Frideric Handel were still often on the program until 1803, the focus was now more on marching and dance music, waltzes, quadrilles and brass music for military bands. The result: in 1815 the German trade press reported "very mediocre concerts", in 1834 German critics judged the "march and dance music" as "light, insubstantial stuff".

There are many other interesting findings when musicologists and cultural historians distance themselves from the elitist canon of high culture. Today, there is talk of "acoustic pollution". But it already existed in the 19th century, when German street bands were successful in London and even New York, but at the same time met with less approval due to their loudness. Musicologist Sonja Neumann addresses the political dimensions of public sound reinforcement in her article "The beginnings of electro-acoustic sound reinforcement in urban areas". So-called mushroom loudspeakers from the Telefunken company were used at the commemoration of the Hitler Putsch on 9 November 1935 on Munich's Königsplatz; the music program of the procession on the Day of German Art in 1937, which consisted of fragments of music by Richard Wagner, Georg Friedrich Handel and Anton Bruckner, was also electrically amplified. The fact that the din of electric amplification, 86 fanfares and 38 kettledrums was certainly questionable from an artistic point of view does not alter the fact that the consideration of music in public spaces is at least as important as that of concert hall music. Musicology has neglected a lot here - but now has a lot to work on.

Popular music in the urban soundscape. Cultural-historical perspectives, edited by Tobias Widmaier and Nils Grosch, 216 p., € 34.90, Waxmann, Münster 2014, ISBN 978-3-8309-2261-2

Rosina Baumgartner-Bäbler worked in a Glarus textile factory to provide her three daughters with vocational training and found distraction in playing the Glarus zither. This social environment is typical of the Mittenwald-shaped board zither, which is only used in the canton of Glarus. The author of the new publication, Rosina's daughter Adelheid, grew up in this milieu: her grandmother (see picture), her mother, her godmother and many other working women were able to relax from their hard everyday lives with this 11-15-stringed musical instrument.

The one-hundred-page, simple and beautifully designed book records all the amateur musicians, their zithers and, where possible, their repertoire in old and many new photos and reports.

The history of the Glarus zither - this stringed instrument has been known since 1876 - cannot be written without acknowledging the achievements of Albin Lehmann (1924-1995) in Näfels. This bricklayer's foreman selflessly collected and restored old Glarus zithers in the 1970s. The free lessons he offered were attended by 55 people aged between 12 and 80. During these group lessons, ensembles were formed: Glarus zither duos, the zither trio "Stubete", the zither groups "Glarner Unterland", "Bergli" and "Alperösli" as well as - with one male member - the "Original Glarner Huusmusig".

The traditional Glarus zithers made by Alois Suter, Salomon Trümpy and Kaspar Dürst were no longer sufficient to meet the demand for good instruments: Charly Hofmann provided new Glarus zithers until his death in 1993; Herbert Greuter is still at work today.

The beautiful volume is accompanied by a CD documenting the Glarus zither in various, mainly private recordings. It is striking that this simple stringed instrument has not yet found any use in experimental folk music or ethnoclassical music and has remained a women's instrument concentrated in the Glarus region to this day.

Adelheid Baumgartner, Glarner Zither, 104 p., 80 photos, Fr. 30.00, Ortsgeschichstverein 8765 Engi, 2014, ISBN 978-3-85948-149-7

info@ogv-engi.ch

www.ogv-engi.ch/publikationen/zither

No other 17th century composition has been published in as many editions as Monteverdi's Vespers. Carl Winterfeld made the start with a few excerpts. It was first published in full by Gian Francesco Malipiero in 1932 as part of the first complete Monteverdi edition. This version formed the starting point for the subsequent editions, some of which were re-instrumented and shortened for musical practice.

For a long time, the edition by Gottfried Wolters, published in 1966, was decisive in practice. It shaped the reception of Vespers like no other. Beginning in 1986 with Clifford Bartlett, a whole series of source-critical editions then appeared. Three new editions have also been published in the 21st century, most notably that by Antonio Delfino as part of the new Monteverdi Complete Edition.

This version follows the 1610 print as closely as possible. Erroneous passages have been corrected with the help of handwritten additions and corrections from the 17th century. The parts have been prepared in such a way that they serve well in performances with both small and large choirs; the instrumental scoring can be handled flexibly thanks to the variants suggested in the table. The edition includes a comprehensive critical report, a translation of the Latin text into German and English as well as six facsimile prints of the original manuscript and the title page with the dedication to Pope Paul V, dated September 1, 1610. The content includes eleven choral movements, a Sonata sopra Sancta Maria and the Magnificat in twelve movements.

Claudio Monteverdi, Vespro della Beata Vergine, Urtext edited by Uwe Wolf, score, CV 27.801/00, € 49.00, Carus, Stuttgart 2014

Beat Baumli & Jürg Morgenthaler Trio play classical jazz, accompanied by Giorgios Antoniou on bass. The Lucerne band Piri Piri plays swinging gipsy jazz, and the 25-year-old singer, pianist and songwriter Raphael Jost from Thurgau impresses with his debut album Don't Blame Me.

A total of five candidates have been nominated for the Swiss Jazz Award 2015 and selected by the public in an online voting process. A good 3000 jazz enthusiasts took part in this first round of the selection process. Their votes will make up 50 percent of the final score, which will be determined by the jury and audience after the live performances of the three bands at the Ascona Jazz Festival on June 28, 2015.

The 9th edition of the Swiss Jazz Award is organized by SRG broadcaster Radio Swiss Jazz and JazzAscona with the support of Migros Culture Percentage.

Hélène Grimaud smiles mysteriously on the cover of the CD box, as if she is trying to evade clear judgment. The Frenchwoman, who lives in Weggis, is not so easy to grasp. This can be impressively experienced in the six CD recordings released by Erato and Teldec between 1996 and 2001 and now reissued in a slipcase by Warner Classics. She has the soloistic paw for Brahms' full-bodied piano writing in the first piano concerto, but also a fine hand for the lyrical, melancholy intermezzi of his late work. She is both an expressive artist and a structuralist. She avoids extremes without becoming boring. Occasionally, as in Beethoven's Piano Sonata op. 109, one might wish for a somewhat more discreet use of the pedal, because some things are obscured that one would have liked to hear more precisely. In the 1995 recording, Grimaud shows herself to be a master of characterization, giving each of the variations in the finale "full of song, with the most heartfelt feeling" a very special note, an individual tone. In the A major Sonata op. 110, she does not slavishly adhere to the musical text in the Moderato by not playing the climax of the phrase as a sforzato as notated, but instead withdrawing into the piano, thereby achieving a special effect. She also takes these small liberties in Schumann's Piano Concerto with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin under David Zinman, but this only makes the interplay even more exciting. Grimaud also shows agogic flexibility in Rachmaninov's Second Piano Concerto (Philharmonia Orchestra/Vladimir Ashkenazy) without losing herself in the process. In the solo pieces such as the G minor Prelude, she proves herself to be a great storyteller.

As far as the orchestras are concerned, the studio recordings are also of very good quality. Only the live recording of Brahms' First Piano Concerto with the Staatskapelle Berlin under Kurt Sanderling lacks precision in the interplay and an exact tonal balance. Hélène Grimaud shows a different face with the piano concertos by Gershwin (F major) and Ravel (G major). With an almost percussive touch, she makes the motor skills vibrate here. And in the bluesy interludes, she shows that she is also completely at home far from the Romantic period.

Hélène Grimaud (piano): The Complete Warner Classics Recordings. Beethoven, Brahms, Gershwin, Ravel, Rachmaninov, Schumann, R. Strauss, 6 CDs, Warner Classics/Erato 2564622737

First trained as a pianist by her father, then by Johann Wenzel Kalliwoda and Clara Schumann, the Rheinberger pupil Luise Adolpha Le Beau, who was born in Rastatt in 1850 and died in Baden-Baden in 1927, left behind a versatile and extensive oeuvre as a composer. Her complete works for piano were published in two volumes by Schott (ED 8262 and 8263) by the Bernese pianist and music teacher Madeleine Stucki. It is again musicians teaching in Bern who have now recorded chamber music masterpieces by the German late Romantic composer for the first time.

The violinist Bartek Nizioł from Szczecin and the Ukrainian cellist Denis Severin teach at the Bern University of the Arts, as does the Russian pianist Tatiana Korsunskaya, who also works at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts. They combine their Slavic expressiveness with a musical temperament to create a passionate style of playing that matches the energetic and relaxed, lyrical music of Luise Adolpha Le Beau.

The Piano Trio in D minor op. 15, composed in 1877, leaves the strongest impression in terms of content and interpretation. While the influence of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy still shines through in the opening Allegro con fuoco movement and the slow movement - in the style of a song without words - with its passionately moving middle section, the wonderfully transparent Scherzo and the unconventional finale in sonata form with a fugal introduction sound much more personal. The violin sonata in C minor op. 10 and the sonata in D major op. 17 for cello and piano, recommended by Niels W. Gade and Carl Reinecke as an "enrichment of literature worthy of publication", are also characterized by vivid thematic development and formal balance.

At the heart of the joint activities are ideas for local cooperation between music schools and orchestras. For example, music school ensembles could perform as support acts for a regular symphony concert. In addition, existing orchestra sponsorships (under the label "tutti pro") are being further developed, particularly in the area of music school orchestras.

There are currently 51 sponsorships between youth and professional orchestras across Germany. The VdM and DOV also cooperate as part of the Young Ears Network. The network is committed to "innovative and proven" models of music education and is primarily active in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Another common goal is the expansion of the Abenteuer Klassik internet platform (www.abenteuer-klassik.de).
 

The International Weinberg Society aims to promote the music of Mieczysław Weinberg and raise awareness of his oeuvre. Musicians are to be encouraged to perform Weinberg compositions and make them known to a wider audience. Its aim is to organize concerts, lectures, exhibitions and multidisciplinary events that focus on Weinberg's music and work, his close connection to Shostakovich and his significance for the music of the 20th century.

One of the society's aims is also to raise funds to help finance recording productions of his music and the publication and translation of articles and books about his life.

Through the mediation of conductor Thomas Sanderling, contact was established with the International Shostakovich Society in Paris, with which the Weinberg Society would like to work closely. Irina Shostakovich, the wife of composer Dmitri Shostakovich, is Honorary President of the Weinberg Society.

In addition to Linus Roth and Thomas Sanderling, founding members Kevin Kleinmann (Professor of Cultural Management at the University of Sorbonne/Paris), Bertrand Dermoncourt (Editor-in-Chief of the magazine Classica) and Emmanuel Utwiller, Director of the Center for Documentation of Contemporary Music "Dmitri Shostakovich".

More info: www.weinbergsociety.com

According to the canton's official press release, the new funding model is based on four funding instruments: Financial aid, program funding, project funding and structural funding. In future, only the Basel Symphony Orchestra SOB will receive financial aid (state contribution for four years), which will guarantee its mission of providing a basic supply of symphonic repertoire and opera productions at the Theater Basel.

2016 will be used as a bridging year for the implementation of the new funding model. This year, the Basel Chamber Orchestra, the basel sinfonietta and Ensemble Phoenix will continue to receive the same level of support as in the current funding period.

With the three-year program funding, "concert programs by professional Basel orchestras from various disciplines can now be supported", writes the canton. Their selection will be made by a jury of experts and the Department of Culture in the Presidential Department according to defined guidelines and criteria. Project funding will continue to be available to those orchestras that do not receive cantonal support from other funding bodies via the existing funding bodies of the Basel/BL Music Committee, the Basel-Stadt cultural lump sum and the Basel-Stadt Swisslos Fund.

During the 6-week submission period, a total of 230 composers submitted over 350 works. The submissions came from over 40 countries and all 5 continents. According to the Forum's press release, 18 works were selected from over 350 submissions.

The "remarkable international response and the exceptional quality of the works submitted" prompted the festival management to double the number of entries and to spread the selected works over two concert evenings instead of a single concert.

In alphabetical order, they were: Marc Ainger (USA), Alfredo Ardia (Italy), Marie-Hélène Breault / Martin Bédard (Canada), Stijn Govaere (Belgium), Michael Fuchsmann (Russia), Volker Hennes (Germany), René Baptist Huysmans (Netherlands), Panayiotis Kokoras (Greece), Dimitris Maronidis (Greece), Alain Michon (France), Felipe Otondo (Chile), Andrián Pertout (Australia), Frederic Robinson (Germany/Switzerland), Nicolas Vérin (France), Jaeseong You (Korea).

Their works will be performed at Leuk Castle on May 22 and 23 as part of the Forum Valais festival. The Forum Wallis Festival for New Music is the festival of the Valais section of the IGNM (International Society for New Music) and takes place annually over Whitsun at Leuk Castle. The 2015 program includes Stockhausen's spectacular helicopter string quartet with the Arditti Quartet, André Richard, Air-Glaciers and TPC over the Valais Alps on Whit Sunday.

More info: www.forumvalais.ch/programm-2015arselectronica.htm

On March 20, the finale of the International Bern Organ Competition was held as part of the Bern Museum Night, a joint production of the V. International Church Music Congress, the cantars 2015 church music festival, the Federation of Swiss Protestant Churches and the parish of Münster Bern. Samuel Cosandey, Switzerland, Kensuke Ohira, Japan, Maximilian Schnaus, Germany, and Simone Vebber, Italy, played.

The international jury was made up of President Laurent Mettraux, Vice President of the Swiss Association of Musicians, Elisabeth Zawadke, Lucerne University of Music, Bernhard Haas, Munich University of Music, Dominik Susteck, Kunststation St. Peter Köln, and Daniel Glaus, Bern University of the Arts and organist at Bern Minster. As it stated in its report, the jury recommended that the program committee of the V. International Congress of Church MusicMaximilian Schnaus for the opening concert on October 21 in Bern. Samuel Cosandey from Bex, whose playing and visionary programming have received praise, is to perform in another concert. Coïncidences (2013) by Antoine Fachard. The jury was delighted with the performances, saying that all of the presentations were of the highest standard.

The organist and composer Maximilian Schnaus was born in Bad Neustadt in 1986. He studied church music and organ in Hanover and Amsterdam with Pier Damiano Peretti and Jacques von Oortmerssen, among others, and received scholarships from the Yehudi Menuhin Foundation and the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes. In February 2014, he passed his concert exam with distinction in Leo van Doeselaar's class at the Berlin University of the Arts. He has been organist at the Sophienkirche in Berlin-Mitte since 2014.
 

Sales of purely digital music offerings increased by 6.9% to 6.9 billion dollars and now account for 46% of global music sales. Total industry sales remained virtually stable at 14.97 billion dollars. Subscription services have increased dramatically by 39 percent, whereas traditional download sales have fallen by 8 percent.

Subscription services (such as Spotify) are now a mainstay of the music business with a turnover of 1.6 billion dollars. They account for 23% of the purely digital market. The industry expects further strong growth in 2015, with YouTube's Music Key, Jay Z's Tidal and a service expected from Apple likely to be the most significant.

According to the IFPI, licensing services and streaming will play an increasingly important role in the near future. New payment models, for example for high audio quality offerings, should further stimulate the market.

Each of the three prize winners will receive CHF 10,000 and a scholarship in the form of participation in this year's Lucerne Festival Academy worth a further CHF 10,000. The prize will be presented on September 6 by Fritz Gerber, Honorary President of the Fritz Gerber Foundation, at the Lucerne Festival in Lucerne this summer.

The Swiss clarinettist Mariella Bachmann (*1988) completed her musical training at the Zurich University of the Arts with Fabio Di Cásola and at the University of Music in Freiburg im Breisgau with Jörg Widmann. Rafal Zolkos was born in Poland in 1987 and studied flute in Paris, Strasbourg, Berlin and at the Zurich University of the Arts with Philippe Racine.

The third prizewinner, violinist David Sypniewski (*1990), originally comes from Toulouse and attended the Haute École de Musique de Lausanne with Lihay Bendayan. He is currently studying for a Master's degree at the Hochschule für Musik Basel, specializing in contemporary music.

The Fritz Gerber Award was established by the Fritz Gerber Foundation and Lucerne Festival at the beginning of 2015. Candidates must have Swiss citizenship or have lived in Switzerland for at least five years. The competition is organized by the Lucerne Festival Academy. The jury is made up of Michael Haefliger, the artistic director of the Lucerne Festival, the composer and conductor Heinz Holliger and lecturers from the Ensemble intercontemporain.

After reviewing the application documents and the video material sent in, writes the German Music Council, 24 candidates were invited to Hilchenbach to conduct with the Philharmonie Südwestfalen. A five-member jury chaired by Johannes Schlaefli, who teaches at the ZHdK, assessed the candidates' rehearsal work on various works as well as their accompaniment of a solo concert.

After two rounds, the jurors selected Nuno Coelho Silva (Zurich University of the Arts), Dominic Limburg (Zurich University of the Arts), David Niemann (Hamburg University of Music and Drama), Hossein Pishkar (Robert Schumann Hochschule Düsseldorf) and Jiří Rožeň (Hamburg University of Music and Drama).

The new scholarship holders can expect an extensive program of work with professional orchestras under the guidance of renowned conductors at the Conductors' Forum. The focus is on rehearsals and performances in the areas of music theater and symphonic music.

In addition, there are regular collaborations with chamber orchestras and specialist ensembles for early and contemporary music. Assistantships, sponsored concerts, prizes and scholarships round off the Conductors' Forum's sponsorship modules.