Friedrich Suppig was an 18th-century
music theorist
Music theory is the study of the practices and possibilities of music. ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' describes three interrelated uses of the term "music theory". The first is the " rudiments", that are needed to understand music notation (k ...
and
composer. Practically nothing is known about him or his life, or even if he was in fact a professional composer. He is known for two
manuscript
A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand – or, once practical typewriters became available, typewritten – as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced in ...
s; in one of which he discussed theoretical
tuning
Tuning can refer to:
Common uses
* Tuning, the process of tuning a tuned amplifier or other electronic component
* Musical tuning, musical systems of tuning, and the act of tuning an instrument or voice
** Guitar tunings
** Piano tuning, adjusti ...
systems:
*''Calculus musicus'' is a treatise on tuning systems: a 19-tone
just intonation and a 31-tone system. According to the research of John Charles Francis, a further tuning system may be shown in diagrammatic form on the cover sheet.
*''Labyrinthus musicus'' contains a short preface and a musical composition entitled ''Fantasia'', which uses all 24
keys and is intended for an
enharmonic keyboard An enharmonic keyboard is a musical keyboard, where enharmonically equivalent notes do not have identical pitches. A conventional keyboard has, for instance, only one key and pitch for C and D , but an enharmonic keyboard would have two different ...
with 31 notes per
octave and pure
major third
In classical music, a third is a Interval (music), musical interval encompassing three staff positions (see Interval (music)#Number, Interval number for more details), and the major third () is a third spanning four semitones.Allen Forte, ...
s.
Both manuscripts are dated Dresden, 24 June 1722.
Johann Mattheson
Johann Mattheson (28 September 1681 – 17 April 1764) was a German composer, singer, writer, lexicographer, diplomat and music theorist.
Early life and career
The son of a prosperous tax collector, Mattheson received a broad liberal education ...
mentioned the ''Labyrinthus musicus'' in his ''Critica musica'' (1722), describing Suppig as an organist in the
Dresden
Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...
suburbs. In 1863, the document was in the possession of Louis Kindscher of
Köthen who mentioned the work in the periodical ''Euterpe'' (22, 1863). Although the manuscripts were dedicated to the government of Dresden, the surviving documents surfaced in Köthen in the 19th century. It follows that either they did not become the property of the city of Dresden, or that they were returned to Suppig for some reason, or else they are copies.
References and further reading
*Fredrich Suppig, Labyrinthus musicus, Calculus musicus, facsimile of the manuscripts. Tuning and Temperament Library volume 3, edited by Rudolf Rasch. Diapason Press, 1990.
Suppig Unveiled
German music theorists
German musicologists
German Baroque composers
18th-century German people
Year of birth unknown
Year of death unknown
German male classical composers
{{Germany-musicologist-stub