Nobuaki Tanaka Nobuaki Tanaka

Lecturer, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences , Kitasato University *Profile is at the time of the award.

2026IncubateHumanities & Sociology

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Research topics: The Significance of Johann Gottlieb Graun in Music History: Based on His Instrumental Works

Keyword

Summary: This project reassesses the music-historical significance of Johann Gottlieb Graun (1702/03–1771), a musician active at the Prussian court under the reign of Frederick the Great, and seeks to illuminate the diversity and influence of Berlin’s musical culture, which has long been overlooked. Through stylistic and structural analysis of approximately 300 works, and from the perspective of “mixed taste” (vermischter Geschmack), it empirically investigates whether a distinctive instrumental style can be said to have emerged in the German-speaking regions.

Message

This project aims to examine its subject matter empirically through a philological investigation of musical sources together with stylistic and structural analyses of the transmitted works. Methodologically, the approach is traditional and may at first appear to lack novelty. Yet many sources that have already been identified and catalogued remain largely neglected in music-historical scholarship simply because they are not associated with well-known composers. By undertaking a careful examination of such materials, this project seeks to bring to light important facts that have so far been overlooked in the study of music history._x000D_
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In an academic climate that often places strong emphasis on methodological innovation and interdisciplinarity, I am deeply grateful to the Inamori Foundation for its decision to support this research project. I will continue to pursue this work with the aim of disseminating its results at an international scholarly level while also contributing to society through activities such as the preparation of critical editions of musical works.