The Instrumental Music of Schmeltzer, Biber, Muffat and their Contemporaries

'Brewer bases his exhaustive, scholarly and highly readable and illuminating analyses of the work of these three composers and their contemporaries on stylistic considerations.' Classical Net 'Most performers of the repertoire alluded to in the book's title should read it. ... a valuable contribution to our knowledge and understanding of 17th-century Austro-German music...' Early Music Review 'Charles E. Brewers book is a seminal work about instrumental music of the 17th century in the parts of Europe under Habsburg rule, which Manfred F. Bukofzer mentions only tangentially in his splendid monograph. Even if the reader will not necessarily agree completely with certain opinions, the quantity of knowledge and context compiled in the book is imposing and valuable. No researcher dealing with music of the 17th century will be able to ignore Brewers book.' Hudebni veda

Charles E. Brewer is Associate Professor of Musicology at The College of Music of The Florida State University and Director of the Early Music Ensembles. His research interests have focused on the broader questions of music and culture both during the Middle Ages and Baroque period. Beginning with his dissertation on the music of medieval Poland, much of his published work has been focused on the early music of Central and East Central Europe. He has worked in many of the archives and libraries in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia with the support of the Fulbright-Hays Commission, the International Research and Exchanges Board, the Martha Baird Rockefeller Fund for Music, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. He is also an avid performer on early keyboard instruments and is currently editing a number of unpublished sonatas by C.P.E. Bach.

Contents: Preface; Stylus Phantasticus and Stylus Hyporchematicus: concepts of instrumental music in late 17th-century Central and East-Central Europe; Johann Heinrich Schmeltzer (c.1620/23-80) and music at the Viennese court; The chapel of Prince-Bishop Carl Liechtenstein-Castelcorn; Biber and Muffat at Salzburg; The dissemination and dissolution of the Stylus Phantasticus; Appendices; Select bibliography; Index.