Wendelin Bitzan

Wendelin Bitzan

Musician・Researcher・Digital Content Creator

The Pitfalls of Harmonic Functions

It continues to amaze me how German functional analysis is still used and taught in an idiosyncratic way, seemingly in disregard of critical approaches and enhancements of the past decades, and sometimes leading to apparent inconsistensies. Have a look at the following passage, taken from a harmony script which is currently used at a German music university. The self-referentiality and dogmatism of functional theory becomes already apparent in the title of the chapter (»The subdominant fifth-sixth chord in root position«). Your thoughts are appreciated.

»Just like the dominant, the subdominant harmony employs a characteristic dissonance: the sixth above the bass, which is also used in the S6 [= ii6] chord where it functions as a consonance. […] The added sixth [marked ›sixte ajoutée‹ in misattribution of Rameau’s concept of the same name] causes the fifth, despite being consonant to the bass, to become a dissonant note which must be correctly resolved.« (Manfred Dings, Harmonielehre I. Skript zur Übung im Wintersemester 2017/18, Hochschule für Musik Saar 2017, p. 40; see also: Wilhelm Maler, Beitrag zur Harmonielehre, Leipzig 1931, p. 15).

Chopin’s Barcarolle

Just completed the engraver’s copy and critical commentary of my first scholarly sheet music edition, due for publication during next year at Bärenreiter Verlag. It is one of Frédéric Chopin‘s most beautiful piano pieces, the F-sharp major Barcarolle, Op. 60, of 1846. The source material is complex and partly confusing: there are two autographs, three parallel first editions, and two annotated copies of Chopin’s pupils which I had to check for discrepancies and possible contradictions, as well as a number of newer editions. Looking forward to proofreading the new engraving, to which Hardy Rittner will contribute fingerings and remarks on performance.

Perpetrators in Tailcoats: Srsly?

I have recently been engaged with VG Musikedition, the German collecting society for music publishing, in a discussion on their recent publication on copying musical scores (which is largely based on an older brochure by the same author Thomas Tietze, titled »Perpetrators in Tailcoats«). The subliminally threatening tone of this publication tends to criminalise musicians as »sheet music pirates«, and behaviour due to lack of juridical knowledge is marked as »illegal action«. Using the hashtag #keinenotenkopieohnelizenz, VG Musikedition stereotypically claims that all music copying needs to be licensed regardless of the age of the composer and edition—which is a purely propagandistic view, considering that large portions of the repertoire are in the public domain. My correspondence with director Christian Krauß (at least I believe it’s him) is available through the screenshots below.

The First Commandment

This is the first general rule of classical music journalism: Do not, by all means, comment on a blogpost on Slipped Disc. Don’t even think of it. Do read the blog and comments if necessary, but #neverever take the bait to add your own two cents. Rather follow Norman‘s example: He will never comment one of his contributions himself (and I am pretty sure he won’t react to this post either). Mark my words, and keep clear of a whole load of embarrassment. Thanks for your attention!

New Insights from Munich

I don’t consider this article a particularly convincing piece of journalistic work, but at least it demonstrates the incredible extent of sexually offensive and abusive behaviour that, in all probability, has been carried out for decades by some professors of Hochschule für Musik und Theater München. To me this looks like a collective failure on all levels of academic administration, and in case I had the dubious honour of being employed by this institution, I would quit immediately. If only half of these accusations prove right, the state authority in charge should appropriately install an official committee of inquiry and, if the university fails to prevent further victimisation of their staff and students, take action to close it down as a last consequence.