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DFG-Centre for Advanced Studies Imaginaria of Force

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Prof. Dr. Ivana Rentsch

Curriculum

MA in musicology, media sciences and linguistics at the University of Zurich. Research fellow and doctoral studies at the University of Berne; PhD 2004 with a dissertation on Bohuslav Martinůs operas (Anklänge an die Avantgarde, Stuttgart 2007). 2005 postdoctoral fellowship of the Swiss National Science Foundation for the project “The Dance in the Score” at the Universities of Graz and Salzburg. 2006–2013 postdoctoral assistant at the University of Zurich, 2010 habilitation (Die Höflichkeit musikalischer Form, Kassel etc. 2012). Since 2013 Professor for historical musicology at the University of Hamburg.

Since 2015 DFG project “Thomas Selle – Opera omnia”; since 2020 project “Handwritten layers of operatic practices – The reception of Richard Wagner at the ‘Neues Deutsches Theater’ (1888–1938)” at the Cluster of Excellence „Understanding written Artefacts“ at the University of Hamburg. Board member of the International Schubert Society; member of the editorial board of the “Bohuslav Martinů Complete Edition” (Bärenreiter).

Publications (selection)

  • “Klang-Rede“ aus dem Geiste des Tanzes. Das Menuett als satztechnisches Ideal bei Johann Mattheson”, in: Musiktheorie, vol. 4 (2019), pp. 164–179.
  • “Musik und Rhetorik”, in: Die Musik in der Kultur des Barock, ed. by Bernhard Jahn, Laaber (2019) (= Handbuch der Musik des Barock), pp. 339–354.
  • "„Locus amoenus“. Klingende Naturbilder in der Tragédie lyrique”, in: Schweizer Jahrbuch für Musikwissenschaft. Neue Folge 34/35 (2017), pp. 11–40.
  • “„Abgegriffene Musiklappen“. Das Melodrama von Pygmalion bis Cardillac in Hamburg”, in: Bühne und Bürgertum. Das Hamburger Stadttheater (1770–1850), ed. by Bernhard Jahn and Claudia Zenck (Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 2016) (Hamburger Beiträge zur Germanistik 56), pp. 279–300.
  • Die Höflichkeit musikalischer Form. Tänzerische und anthropologische Grundlagen der frühen Instrumentalmusik (Kassel etc.: Bärenreiter, 2012)

Research project: The taming of musical forces in the early modern era

The idea that musical forces influence body and mind isn’t just a metaphor newly established in the early modern time, but a scientific conviction from the Antiquity. As old as the knowledge about the physical and psychical effects of musical reception is the anxiety to control the overwhelming forces. Yet Platon recommends in Politeia music for the education of a republican youth, but not without an insisting warning about the use of improper modes and rhythms corrupting the morality. The fundamental significance of the generally acknowledged musical forces leads to the conception of a “universal harmony” as a divine principle determining every single celestial, natural and human phenomenon. In fact, the theoretical discussions of harmony are crucial in the realm of theology, astronomy and medicine. On the contrary the musical practice stands under the necessity to regulate and restrain the overwhelming forces. The project is devoted to the early modern discussion of the taming of musical forces in the 17th and early 18th centuries. A special focus lies on the struggle of sensuality and moral in early modern France.

Research results: Marin Mersenne and the taming of musical forces in the early modern era

The idea of musical forces influencing body and mind isn’t just a metaphor newly established in the early modern time, but a scientific conviction from Antiquity. Just as old as the knowledge of physical and psychical effects of sound is the anxiety to control the overwhelming forces. Yet, Platon recommends in Politeia music for the education of a republican youth, but not without an insisting warning about the improper modes and rhythms corrupting the morality. The fundamental significance of the generally acknowledged musical forces leads to the conception of universal harmony as a divine principle determining every single celestial, natural and human phenomenon. In fact, the theoretical discussions of harmony are crucial in the realm of theology, astronomy and medicine. On the contrary the musical practice stands under the necessity to regulate and restrain the overwhelming forces.

The study focused on the legendary Minime Marin Mersenne, devoted to universal harmony, but as well interested in musical practice and especially in the epoch making improvements of modern physics. Crucial for Mersennes critical endeavour in music theory was his reception of Galileo Galilei’s discoveries in mechanic even at the moment of Galilei’s condemnation because of suspect of heresy by the Roman Inquisition. Mersenne’s universal harmony is paradigmatic for the intense struggle with theology, physics and courtly moral and shows the outstanding importance of musical forces in early modern France.