Arteaga, Esteban (Stefano) de
Arteaga, Esteban (Stefano) de
Arteaga, Esteban (Stefano) de, Spanish writer on music; b. Moraleja de Coca, Dec. 26, 1747; d. Paris, Oct. 30, 1799. He became a Jesuit at age 16, but was banished to Corsica when the order was proscribed in Spain. He left it in 1769. He went to Bologna, where he studied philosophy at the Univ. (1773–78), and was befriended by Padre Martini. At Martini’s behest, he wrote the important study on opera Le rivoluzioni del teatro musicale italiano dalla sua origine fine al presente (Bologne, 1783–88; 2nd ed., Venice, 1785; German tr., 1789, by J. Forkel). Arteaga’s work antagonized many Italian writers who resented a foreigner’s intrusion into their field, and an acrimonious polemical exchange ensued. Among his other writings were Investigaciones filosóficas sobre la belleza ideal.. (Madrid, 1789) and Del ritmo sonoro e del ritmo muto nella musica degli antichi(ed. by M. Batllori, Madrid, 1944).
Bibliography
E. Rudat, The Aesthetic Ideas of E.d. A.: Origin, Meaning and Current Value (diss., Univ. of Calif., Los Angeles, 1969).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire