Editorial Conventions and How to Cite

Editorial Conventions (On the Musically Beautiful)

Alexander Wilfing and Meike Wilfing-Albrecht, 2023

This edition is based on the ten editions of Eduard Hanslick’s treatise Vom Musikalisch-Schönen: Ein Beitrag zur Revision der Ästhetik der Tonkunst (On the Musically Beautiful: A Contribution towards the Revision of the Aesthetics of Music), published between 1854 and 1902 in occasionally revised textual versions. Whereas editions 1 to 3 (1854–1865) were published by Rudolph Weigel (Leipzig), Johann Ambrosius Barth (Leipzig) produced the treatise from edition 4 onward (1874–1902). Other sources, like sketches, setting copies, proof copies, etc., are no longer known today, since Hanslick’s estate was lost during the Second World War. The printed copies are thus the only available templates for our digital edition. The articles or chapters from which this treatise presumably originates, some of which were published in advance (see the first two entries under “Eduard Hanslick’s Writings”), did not figure into this edition.

The editions of the original treatise—transcribed and corrected by Meike Wilfing-Albrecht—are reproduced as faithfully as possible; the spelling is retained. Errors that were corrected by Hanslick himself within the editions—e.g., the change from “psychisch” (psychic) to “physisch” (physical), 2.13, from edition 9 onward—are also reproduced faithfully. Only evident errata (e.g., “Mnsik” instead of “Musik,” 5.6, in edition 3) have been corrected without indication. Paragraphs are maintained (except for in poems), and changes between editions are indicated by the following markers: contraction → &; subdivision → a and b; addition → 3rd decimal place; deletion → number gap. A revised collation feature is currently being developed. Page numbers and breaks can either be shown or masked via the “Annotations” menu. Verse breaks are indicated by slashes /. We have converted the footnotes to endnotes with jump marks and numbered them consecutively instead of using the original asterisks * to provide a more precise attribution. Up to edition 7, the headings of individual chapters were only displayed in the table of contents. For purposes of manageable navigation, we have incorporated them into the transcription of editions 1–7.

The printed copies of Vom Musikalisch-Schönen contain several fonts, the meticulous reproduction of which, however, did not seem sensible for a digital edition. The German main text is set in Fraktur script throughout, while Latin, French, Italian, or English passages are usually produced in Latin typeface (especially prominent in the extended original French quotation in 2.43, but also, for example, in “Dr.” on the title page). Since this difference in typeface has no semantic relevance, the present edition refrains from any respective visual demarcation. Text passages formatted in bold face, however, are reproduced according to the templates (cf. 1.31). In the original, moreover, textual emphases are marked with spaced letters, which have been turned into italics for our online edition.

Whereas the facsimiles of editions 1 and 4–10 were digitized and prepared by Alexander Wilfing and Mehmet Emir, the MDZ provides premium digital copies of editions 2 and 3. The music examples shown in chapters 2.19, 2.25 and 2.28 (edition 1), as well as 2.19 and 2.17 (editions 2–10), have been typeset anew and arranged according to the original template by our colleague Vasiliki Papadopoulou, for which we thank her sincerely. Only the bracket breaks diverge from the original, as they are only due to the smaller printing format of the respective hard copy and thus have no semantic validity. Hanslick probably had the musical examples set for this specific purpose, but their print templates are not known either. In the example of Christoph Willibald Gluck’s “Che farò” (2.27, from edition 2 onward), the deviations in syllable division between editions are not indicated separately. These can be checked against the respective facsimile reproduction.

The TEI annotation of Vom Musikalisch-Schönen was provided by Alexander Wilfing, who oversaw the entire edition process. In a first step, names, works, and places were marked up as entities, each of which can be color-coded in the online edition via the “Annotations” menu. In the index—where persons (historical as well as fictional) and works are further linked with each other—and the detailed information of annotations, we used the spelling of the GND data base for person names (if available in each case) and that of GeoNames for place names. In the case of names and places, only names and places themselves and terms directly related to them are marked, not groups of people that have such references. For example, “Griechenland” (“Greece”) and “griechisch” (“Greek”) are annotated, “Griechen” (“Greeks”), however, are not, which then also applies to “Gluck” and “Piccini”, as opposed to “Gluckisten” (“Gluckists”) and “Piccinisten” (“Piccinists”) (2.43). Such terms can of course be found via a full-text search. The logo of “Hanslick Online” was designed by Olivia Reichl. David Heyde proofread the English version of explanatory texts.

How to Cite (On the Musically Beautiful)

Eduard Hanslick, Vom Musikalisch-Schönen: Ein Beitrag zur Revision der Ästhetik der Tonkunst, ed. by Alexander Wilfing in collaboration with Meike Wilfing-Albrecht (2023), edition number, paragraph number, hyperlink.

Editorial Conventions (Hanslick’s Writings for the Neue Freie Presse)

Alexander Wilfing, 2023

The guidelines for the current edition of Hanslick’s writings for the Neue Freie Presse for the most part match those specified for his aesthetic treatise. They thus will only be defined insofar as they differ from the principles explicated above. For now, the edition is based on Hanslick’s extensive feuilletons clearly marked by the initials “Ed. H.” from 1864 onward, the founding year of Neue Freie Presse, to 1904, the year of his death. Other music-related writings contained in Neue Freie Presse will then follow, provided Hanslick can be reasonably considered to have authored them. Alexander Wilfing compiled a register of these texts in 2011 as part of Christoph Landerer’s research project “Nietzsche’s Reception of Hanslick” via ANNO. The digital copies we use are also obtained from ANNO (Austrian Newspaper Online) and transcribed, proofread, and partially annotated with the help of Transkribus. Formatting and editorial finishing touches are performed via the XML editor Oxygen. Information pertaining to named entities is integrated and cross-linked via a custom Baserow database. For purely pragmatic reasons, the editors proceed in ascending and descending order as regards chronology.

The guidelines for markup and textual layout mirror those of the treatise except for three issues: (1) Footnotes are indicated by asterisks * according to the original template, since they occur only rarely and, compared to On the Musically Beautiful, as part of shorter essays. (2) Ambiguous indications of works—as in the case of, for example, Schubert’s “A-Moll-Sonate” (Sonata in A minor), which Hanslick mentions on December 1, 1864, without further clarification of which piano sonata he is currently speaking (D537, D784, or D845)—are indicated by including multiple references to the options in question. (3) On occasion, named entities might include more than one title: (a) a main title, which in the case of an actual person corresponds to the standard GND spelling and in the case of fictional characters, works, and places matches the spelling of their respective native language (rendered in Latin letters); (b) an alternative title reflecting the spelling(s) and name(s) utilized by Hanslick. This way, users can successfully search the index for, for example, Niccolò Piccinni, whom Hanslick at times spells “Picinni” and “Piccini,” or Offenbachs Les Géorgiennes, which he names “Die Georgierinnern,” “Die schönen Georgierinnen,” and “Die schönen Weiber von Georgien,” respectively.

How to Cite (Hanslick’s Writings for the Neue Freie Presse)

Eduard Hanslick, “Title: Subtitle,” in Neue Freie Presse, No. / Date, ed. by Alexander Wilfing in collaboration with Katharina Bamer and Anna-Maria Pfiel (2023), hyperlink.