Musicology Annotation << Back Enjoying Counterpoint: A Combination of Scholarship and Gallantry in German Music in the middle of the XVIIIth century Alexandr Velikovskiy This article is devoted to the phenomenon found in German music in theory and practice of the middle of the XVIIIth century and consisting in the interaction and combination of aesthetically polar phenomena, the contrapuntal scholarship and the then modern gallantry. By using phrases like «galant fugue», «galant imitation», «galant counterpoint» etc., German authors (Walther, Mattheson, Marpurg et al., in particular Quantz) emphasize in their treatises that polyphony (associated by their contemporaries with music of the past ages) is capable of charming ear as well, being in certain cases gentle, pleasant, and natural. One of the «kings» of the gallant style, G. Ph. Telemann, in his «Canons mélodieux» boldly combines a strict polyphonic form with various elements of galanterie. A similar combination is to be found in the music of J. S. Bach, especially in his later works («Goldberg Variations», «Canonic Variations», «Musical Offering» etc.), showing that the composer acted quite in line with the trends of his time. Keywords: German music, gallantry, galant style, galanterie, scholarship, polyphony, counterpoint, J. S. Bach, G. Ph. Telemann, Mattheson, J. J. Quantz, «Goldberg Variations», «Canonic Variations». Contacts: E-mail: velalex@hotmail.com Pp. 46-54.