Abbe Vogler and the Bach Legacy

Abstract

ABBE GEORG JOSEPH VOGLER (1749-1814) remains as much an enigma in our day as he was a subject of controversy in his own. Our chronicles preserve the image of a perplexing theoretician, a successful composer of church and theater music, a virtuoso of perishable fame whose path crossed Mozart's and Beethoven's, and a teacher of unknown merit whose pupils included Carl Maria von Weber and Giacomo Meyerbeer. This shadowy picture stands in contrast to the flamboyance of contemporary accounts-especially Vogler's own-that illuminate the exploits of an intrepid reformer, a zealot for the cause of enlightenment, and a stormer of the bastions of central European conservatism. I What are we to make of the redoubtable abbe, whose many-sided endeavors in the realms of theory, pedagogy, performance, and composition would inspire both unrelenting scorn from his enemies and the unreserved devotion of his disciples, yet whose memory would fade so quickly from the consciousness of later generations? Vogler was certainly not remiss in promoting himself and his ideas. Occupied with teaching for most of his career, he established music schools at Mannheim and Stockholm, lectured in the university at Prague, and presided over an illustrious gathering of pupils at Darmstadt in his later years. An intermittent stream of published writings, mostly by-products of these teaching experiences, served to spread enlightenment in wider circles by explaining the master's theories, offering model critiques of his own music, and demonstrating the application of his principles through Verbesserungen [improved versions] of other composers' works. But