Bach and the Riddle of the Number AlphabetIn 1947 the theologian and musicologist Friedrich Smend published a study which claimed that J. S. Bach regularly employed the natural-order number alphabet (A=1 to Z=24) in his works. Smend provided historical evidence and music examples to support his theory which demonstrated that by this means Bach incorporated significant words into his music, and provided himself with a symbolic compositional scheme. Since then many people have taken up Smend's theory, interpreting numbers of bars and notes in Bach scores according to the natural-order alphabet. By presenting a thorough survey of different number alphabets and their uses in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Germany, Dr Tatlow investigates the plausibility of Smend's claims. Her new evidence fundamentally challenges Smend's conclusions and the book sounds a note of caution to all who continue to use his number-alphabet theory. Dr Tatlow's painstaking research will fascinate all those with an interest in the music of J. S. Bach and German Baroque culture, and will be of particular importance for music historians and analysts. |
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ABC cum notis August Bohse Bach's music Berlin biblical numbers Buelow Cabbala Cabbala Speculativa cabbalistic Carbon copy A4 Christian Weise Christoph composition copy A4 Typescript cryptographic D-brd Dictionary of Music eighteenth-century Einmahl Erquickstunden example form of Cabbala Friedrich Smend gematria Georg Philipp Harsdörffer German Greek Grove Dictionary Hamburg Handwritten Heinichen Henk Dieben Hörner Hunold Ibid interpretation invention Irenæus J. S. Bach Jansen to Smend Johann Sebastian Bach Kabbalah Kirchen-Kantaten Kircher Kuhnau Latin milesian Leibniz Leipzig letters Lexicon loci topici locus notationis lusus lusus ingenii Lutheran Magdeburg Männling Martin Jansen Mattheson Michael Stifel milesian milesian alphabet Mizler natural-order alphabet natural-order number alphabet Neumeister notis variorum number alphabet number symbolism number-lines Nürnberg Olearius Paragramma Cabbalisticum trigonale Picander Picander's poem poetical paragram published reprint edn Rosicrucian Schwartzbach 1630 Schwenter Selenus Smend to Jansen symbolic numbers technique Telemann trigonal alphabet verse vols Weißenfels word Wratislavia writes wrote Zedler