1790

Mozart listed among composers

Christian Daniel Beck, Entwurf der allgemeinen Welt- und Völkergeschichte der drey letzten Perioden. Leipzig: Weidmann, 1790.

[198]

[...]                       Die Tonkunst wird durch gros=
se Theoretiker, unter denen die berühmtesten
Mathematiker sind (J. Matheson, F. W. Mar=
purg, L. Euler, J. N. Forkel, C. Burney, J.
A. Hiller, G. F. Wolf, J. P. Kirnberger, C.
B. Funk, Cramer, Rousseau u. s. f.), Compo=
siteurs und critische Kenner der Tonkunst (Tele=
mann, Graun, Hasse, die Bach, die Benda, Rol=
le, Gluck, Naumann, Mozart, Haydn, Pergo=
lesi, Paisello, Cimarosa, Anfossi, Gazzaniga,
Händel, Roberts, Reichard, Marais Philidor
u. s. f. — Unterschied des musikal. Nationalge=
schmacks), Künstler in der Vocal= und Instru=
mentalmusik, stark besetzte Concerts (London
seit 1784), neue Instrumente (Verbesserungen
des Fortepiano, Bogenclaviere, Harmonica
u. s. f.) erweitert. [...]

Beck, Entwurf, 198 (resized)

Commentary

Christian Daniel Beck (1757–1832) was, amongst other activities, a distinguished professor of classics at the University of Leipzig. In 1787–88 he published the first two volumes of a universal history, Anleitung zur Kenntnis der allgemeinen Welt- und Völkergeschichte für Studirende, taking the account up to the division of the Carolingian empire. This volume of 1790 is a kind of teaser for the remainder of the history, beginning with summaries and increasing in detail as it approaches Beck’s own time. Beck viewed world history as divided into ten “periods,” each of which consisted of a number of “epochs.” The passage quoted above appears in a discussion of fine arts in the sixth and final epoch (1739 to the present) of the tenth period (from the European discovery of America to the present). A further two volumes based on this plan followed in 1802 and 1807, ending with the discovery of America, but Beck seems never to have continued the history beyond that point in its comprehensive form.


Credit: DB

Author: David Black

Search Term: mozart

Categories: Reception

First Published: Wed, 13 May 2015


Print Citation:

Black, David. 2015. “Mozart listed among composers (1790).” In: Mozart: New Documents, edited by Dexter Edge and David Black. First published 13 May 2015. https://www.mozartdocuments.org/documents/1790-beck/

Web Citation:

Black, David. 2015. “Mozart listed among composers (1790).” In: Mozart: New Documents, edited by Dexter Edge and David Black. First published 13 May 2015. [direct link]