«Верное наставление в сочинении генерал-баса» Давида Кельнера: о первичном тексте русского перевода

Abstract

The first translation into Russian of the European manual textbook on figured bass, David Kelner’s “Treulicher Unterricht im General-Baß” was made in 1791 and came out under the title of “Vernoe nastavlenie v sochinenii general-basa…” [“Accurate Instruction in Composition with Figured Bass…”]. Despite the apparent character of the source, there remained the appropriate question about the primary text for the Russian, since prior to the latter’s publication, Kelner’s work had undergone seven German publications, the half-century long history of which testified to bringing in changes of various types. A collation of the texts of the first three editions (1732, 1737, 1743) and the comparison of all of them with the publication in Russian has made it possible to establish the primary text of the “Accurate Instruction.” The author cites as his proof for this decision a certain number of discrepancies discovered in the German editions (insertions, abridgements, details of musical examples, etc.) the correlation of which with the Russian edition makes it possible to arrive at the conclusion of the first edition being the primary text for the translation. This conclusion discloses the path for further research of the translation of the “Accurate Instruction,” stipulating the objectivity of the analysis of its quality and technique and the understanding of the level of interference into the text’s structure on the part of the translator. Close examination of the terminology of the “Accurate Instruction” in the context of the formation of the special music theory apparatus of the end of the 18th century will be conducive to the development of such a new branch of contemporary scholarship as the historical lexicology of Russian musicology. Keywords: David Kelner, “Treulicher Unterricht im General-Bass,” 18th century Russian music theory, figured bass