Daube, Johann Friedrich

Daube, Johann Friedrich , important German music theorist; b. probably in Hesse, c. 1730; d. Vienna, Sept. 19, 1797. He became a theorist at the court of Friedrich the Great in Berlin when he was 11. In 1744 he was made Cammer-Theorist to the Prince of Wurttemberg in Stuttgart, and later was his chamber flutist (1750–55); from 1756 he was a flutist in the court orch. By 1770 he was in Vienna as council and first secretary to the royal Franciscan Academy of Free Arts and Sciences. His writings are invaluable sources on the musical aesthetics and compositional practices of the Classical era. He also was a composer of orch. works, chamber music, and vocal pieces.

Writings

General-Bass in drey Accorden, gegrilndet in den Regeln der alt- und neuen Autoren (Leipzig, 1756); Der musikalische Dillettant (3 vols., Vienna, 1770,1771, and 1773; ed. by S. Snook-Luther as The Musical Dilettante: A Treatise on Composition by J.F. Daube, Cambridge, 1992); Beweis, dass die gottesdientliche Musik von den alleraltesten Zeiten an unter alien Volkern des Erdbodens fortgewahret und ach in Eweigkeit dauern werde (Vienna, 1782); Anleitung zur Erfindung der Melodic und ihrer Fortsetzung, I (Vienna, 1797), and welcher die Composition enthiilt, II (Vienna, 1798); preceding 2 vols. also publ. as Anleitung zum Selbstunterricht in der musikalischen Composition, sowolf fur die Instrumental-als Vocalmusik (Vienna, 1798).

Bibliography

M. Karbaum, Das theoretische Werk F. D.s: Der Theoretiker J. F. D.: Ein Beitrag zur Kompositionslehre des 18. Jahrhunderts (diss., Univ. of Vienna, 1968).

—Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire