Stefan Hanheide, Pace. Musik zwischen Krieg und Frieden, Kassel 2007

In this companion, Stefan Hanheide, Professor for Historical Musicology at Osnabrück University, presents forty compositions related to the topic of peace. As an expert on music in the light of political violence, Hanheide is involved in research projects on peace music and anti-war compositions, the impact of the First World War on music, compositions on the Thirty Years’ War and the Peace of Westphalia, political music during French Absolutism, and others. Furthermore, he is responsible for organization and conceptualization of the concert series “musica pro pace”.

The given examples are ranging from the 15^th to the 21^st century, while the section on contemporary music focuses on the 20^th century. In many of the compositions, the topic of peace is being addressed by the rejection of war and violence. A list with the basic literature on the topic of war and peace in music is provided at the beginning of the companion. It includes publications by Ben Arnold, Dieter Senghaas, Hartmuth Lück, Annemarie Firme, Ramona Hocker, Susanne Rode-Breymann, and by the author himself.

The works are grouped by subject and presented in chronological order: The first chapter focuses on cries for peace in the early modern period (work selection ranging from 1433 to 1749), the second on threats of war in modern times (1796–1936), the third on the Second World War as presence and retrospective (1939–1962), the fourth on memorials for the victims of National Socialism (1941–1954), and the fifth on attitudes against war and dictatorships after 1950 (1963–2003). In a cross-sectional walk through the different musical genres – opera and oratorio, symphonic and concert works, chamber music, pieces for piano and organ, choir literature, and lied are represented – the author shows the continuous presence of the topic of war and peace throughout musical history. Following the depiction of the respective historical and political context, the specific form of the work and its message are being analyzed. For further studies, Hanheide closes each work analysis with references to further publications, the sheet music / facsimile editions, and recordings.

Some of the pieces already contain a reference to the topic of war and peace in their title. One of these is Joseph Haydn’s Missa in tempore belli, Hob. XXII:9 (1796), which was composed and performed during the Coalition Wars in the face of the threat caused by the Napoleonic troops getting closer and closer to Vienna. Particularly vivid in the mass with the epithet “Paukenmesse” is the rhythm given to the timpani in the Agnus Dei, evoking associations with approaching military troops, just as the musical setting of the word “peace” (long note values, many repetitions alternating with rests) in the Dona nobis pacem.

The compact and concise character of Hanheide’s Pace does not only make the book a useful reference work for students and researchers in the fields of musicology and music, but also makes it accessible to a musically interested interdisciplinary or general public, especially as its structure allows for the selective study of individual works. A little more detailed introduction could encourage establishing more connections to peace- and conflict-related research questions, however, being a companion, it is fully understandable that the direct access to the individual work analyses was given priority.