Gesprachspiele, so bey Ehrn- und Tugendliebenden Gesellschaften aufzuüben vol. 3 - Harsdörffer, Georg Philipp 1607-1658 (Nuremberg Endter, 1643)
Contains plates (title-page, Erklärung, biv, 2, 20, 21, 156, 157, 159, 160, 162-164, 166, 167, 169-175, 185, 192, 200, 204, 212, 233, 241, 248, 251, 264, 266, 268, 346, 350, 353, and last page) and music
Some notes in German handwriting in inner cover
Influenced by the French ideal of the "honnête homme", the "informed and socially polished type of man", in his "Frauenzimmer Gesprächspielen" the Nuremberg native takes his cue not least from the model and content of the public "Conférences" in Paris - the kind of informal gathering in which representatives of fiction and the education-hungry middle class, but no less so representatives of the natural sciences, debate "all the fine matters of physics, morals, mathematics and other disciplines". Because they combine "information and narration" in a variety of ways, combine "knowledge and intellectual pleasure", take the "delectare" of the ancient and humanistic dual purpose of literature alongside the "prodesse" really seriously, one rightly sees a "conversational aesthetic of 'impromptu'" at work in the layout of the "Gesprächspiele". These mind games of intellectual sociability were also part of the Italian Academies (such as the "Intronati", "Incogniti" and "Oziosi") Harsdörffer got in contact with during his Italian travels. Subjects of all kind are discussed in the form of a free conversation in which six persons, of both sexes and different ages, take part.
Subjects of all kind are discussed in the guise of a free conversation in which six persons, of both sexes and different ages, take part. A great number of fine copperplates, some emblematic, others taken from contemporary life, illustrate the text, so that the work has become a treasure house for literary research.
Conversation CXXX (p.170-242) seems to be a musical drama entitled 'Von der Welt Eitelkeit', offering information on libretto, cast, stagesets, music (instrumentation, score) & lighting. As the opera (allegorical shepherd's play) 'Seelewig' is found in the fourth volume on a libretto by Harsdörffer himself, and music composed by Sigmund Theophil Staden (1607-1655), this could probably be by the same team.
Front plate (double paged) represents the company of six persons (a quartet and a duo) walking in a courtyard of a beautiful villa under a starry night sky, far from the world, as they turn to erudite, entertaining, perceptive conversation.
Keywords: 17th Century (1601-1700); Poetry; Emblem; Play (theater); Linguistics; Philosophy; Esthetics; Scenography; Mythology; Applied arts; Moral education; Rhetoric; Nuremberg (Germany); ad lib. bezetting; bibliotheek; Balzac; Opitz, M; orgel; orgelbc; dansen; echoeffekt; tabak; geigenwerk; trompet; wijn; luit; luit bc; mise-en-scène; Mersenne; muziek; cabalistiek; Lope de Vega; lyra; Schurman, Anna Maria; Staden, H