Margret Scharrer , Heiko Laß , Matthias Müller (Eds.)
Musiktheater im höfischen Raum des frühneuzeitlichen Europa
Hof – Oper – Architektur
Höfische Kultur interdisziplinär (HKI) – Schriften und Materialien des Rudolstädter Arbeitskreises zur ResidenzkulturThe unification of the arts in the "Gesamtkunstwerk" of courtly opera has repeatedly been the subject of musicological research, but so far, for example, the specific spatial-architectural side of courtly opera has hardly been considered. Music theater means scenic performance and architecture alike. Both formed essential components of lordly representation in the 17th and 18th centuries. In the Old Kingdom, therefore, not only the aristocratic nobility arranged music-theatrical performances, but smaller courts also brought ballets and operas on stage. The interdisciplinary contributions of a conference of the Rudolstädter Arbeitskreis zur Residenzkultur deal with the topic in a European perspective and explain the diverse connections that existed between the music theater and the courtly space in the architectural, political-cultural and social sense.
Dr. Margret Scharrer is a research assistant at the Institute of Musicology at the University of Bern, working there on the research project „Der Klang der Macht: Klanglichkeit als intermediale Kategorie höfischer Festrituale in interkultureller Perspektive im 15.-17. Jahrhundert“ („The sound of power: intercultural perspectives of sound as an intermedial category of courtly celebratory rituals in the 15th-17th centuries”). Her main research interests include various musical phenomena of court culture from the 15th to 18th centuries, such as the music theatre of France and the Old Empire.
Dr. Heiko Laß is a research assistant at the Institute of Art History at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University in Munich. He works for the „Corpus der barocken Deckenmalerei in Deutschland“ („Corpus of baroque ceiling paintings in Germany“). His research focuses on architecture and court culture of the early modern period and the 19th century, as well as the history of the mentality of art.
Prof. Dr. Matthias Müller is Professor of Art History at the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, and includes among his activities being Vice President of the Medievalist’s Association, Chairman of the Rudolstadt Working Group on Residential Culture, and member of the steering committee „Residenzstädte im Alten Reich (1300-1800)“ (“Residential cities in the Old Empire [1300-1800]”) of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities.