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The key work for understanding Nikolaus Harnoncourt’s musical practice – style-defining and groundbreaking. This book teaches you to listen differently, to listen with understanding

In his essays and lectures, Nikolaus Harnoncourt explains the basic principles of his musical practice, which has made him famous throughout the music world, with conviction and passion. The book, first published in 1982, has lost none of its explosive power and topicality; it is the key work of a new understanding of music and has long since become a classic – style-defining and groundbreaking. He is concerned with nothing less than placing our previous listening habits on completely new foundations in the sense of “understanding listening” and gaining striking impulses for today’s musical practice from the study of early music, its playing style and its instruments. “So today we find ourselves in an almost hopeless situation if we still believe in the transforming power and force of music and have to recognize that the general intellectual situation of our time has pushed music from its central position to the margins – from the moving to the pretty. But we cannot resign ourselves to this, indeed, if I had to see that this is the irrevocable situation of our art, I would immediately stop making music.”

‎ TBS The Book Service Ltd; New edition (1. Oktober 1988)

• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0931340055
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0931340055

Thoughts on Monteverdi, Bach and Mozart

Nikolaus Harnoncourt has placed the musical dialogue between the individual voices of the orchestra and the imaginary dialogue between musician and listener at the center of his reflections on questions of music ever since he recognized this dialogue, which paved the way for his own performance practice, as an essential means of expression for composers between 1600 and 1800. In detailed analyses of the great works of Monteverdi and Bach, he shows how this musical dialog can be made comprehensible again today.

Amadeus Press, 1989. ISBN 1574670239, 978157467023

Summary of a great interpreter: In numerous conversations with music journalists, the conductor, performing musician and scholar develops his ideas of an interpretation that is as true to the work as possible. He points out the difficulties that arise when performing historical music. Using his experiences with Mozart’s works as an example, he demonstrates their complexity and dramatic tension, thereby contributing to a deeper understanding of the musical genius’ works. These Mozart dialogues are embedded in an analysis of the cultural situation of our time. Many of his conversations revolve around the concepts of faithfulness to the original, authenticity and fashion trends. Harnoncourt emphasizes the eminent importance of art in general and music in particular for the development and preservation of human and moral values: “A computer cannot make music, nor can it love”.

This book has not been translated into English.

The definitive biography up to date (2019)

Nikolaus Harnoncourt is one of the last ‘grand masters’ in the musical life of our time and can polarise audiences and critics like no other. With his artistic standards and idealistic convictions, he has given new impetus to traditional events such as the Salzburg Festival and the Vienna Philharmonic’s New Year’s Concert. In her multi-layered biography, Monika Mertl not only traces Harnoncourt’s development from cellist and early music specialist to pioneering interpreter of great masterpieces, she also sheds light on the ideological background that made his work unmistakable.

This book has not been translated into English.