Musik und Ästhetik im Berlin Moses Mendelssohns

Moses Mendelssohn (1729-1786) stands not only for the new identity achieved by an 'enlightened' Jewish élite but also (as this volume documents for the first time) for a new approach to 'aesthetic education' and music. Mendelssohn himself took piano lessons from Kirnberger, a pupil of Bach's, while Sara Levy (née Itzig) made her salon into a centre for the cultivation of Bach's heritage and numerous Berlin Jews took an active part in public performances even of such works as Handel's »Messiah« and Graun's »Tod Jesu«. The patent preference for 'ancient' and self-referential music in these circles permits the thesis that the Jewish minority in Berlin was centrally operative in preparing the ground for the idea of 'absolute music'.