PP390
Analítico de Periódico
MALHEIRO, Luís António
O estatuto profissional de Bach em Leipzig : pequena suite constitucional sobre a liberdade e o trabalho / Luís António Malheiro Meneses do Vale
Boletim da Faculdade de Direito, Coimbra, v.93 n.2 (2017) ; v.94 n.1 (2018), p.849-954 ; p.505-634
CIENCIA POLITICA / Alemanha, ECONOMIA / Alemanha, DESENVOLVIMENTO ECONÓMICO / Alemanha, POLÍTICA ECONÓMICA / Alemanha, CAPITALISMO / Alemanha, DIREITO DO TRABALHO / Alemanha, CONTRATO DE TRABALHO / Alemanha, DIREITO CONSTITUCIONAL / Alemanha, IGUALDADE / Alemanha, LIBERDADE DE TRABALHO / Alemanha, LIBERDADE DE CIRCULAÇÃO / Alemanha, LIBERDADE PROFISSIONAL / Alemanha, EVOLUÇÃO HISTÓRICA / Alemanha
PARTE I: Faced with a pressing refugee crisis, and lost within the labyrinths of its own political project, namely in what concerns the questions of social mobility, economic development, equality and real freedom (e.g. of movement), Europe’s present reality demands some critical and reconstructive reflection upon its future, hereby constitutionally sublimed. Aiming at some helpful aid to its achieving, the present endeavour rests on an exercise of historical deflection, personally and problematically focused on Johann Sebastian Bach’s deambulations and career, maxime on its professional situation as Kantor in Leipzig In this first part of the study, attention is drawn to the significance of the composer’s life example, as a singular testimony of the spiritual and material transformations set in motion by the Protestant Reform, precisely 500 years ago, and still in question in contemporary discussions about the inner contradictions of capitalism, and its political economy and personality imbued morality of work. PARTE II: In this second part of the article, our attention is specifically redirected to the professional status of Bach in Leipzig, focusing on the precise contractual terms subscribed by the composer and the evolution of the labor relation maintained with the authorities of the city they ignited. Therefore, after some introductory notes concerning the city of Leipzig and Bach’s previous curricula and professional experience (points 2 and 1), consideration is given to the public contest for the provision of the position of Cantor in Saint Thomas School (point 3), followed by a modest proposal of translation of Bach’s employment «contract». The juridical relation thereby created is subsequently analyzed, with regard to its nature, contents, characteristics, duration, vicissitudes and main controversies associated to it (point 4). Since another doctrinal reflection on the juridical meaning of Bach’s status has seen the light of the day in recent years, by the hands of Jonathan Yovel, point 5 develops a brief dialogue with the main thesis held by the author: These preliminary historical, dogmatic and dialogic exercises serve as a basis for the theoretical lucubrations unfolded under a social-democratic constitutional sign all along point 6. They take into account not only the meaning of contractual freedom, in general, but also of labor contracts, especially contracts of employment in the artistic field, celebrated with public authorities and invested with public and collective interest as possible expressions of self-determination and autonomy, and portray them as always embedded in a complex tissue of human interactions, social institutions and cultural systems of civilization, with particular economic, political and juridical infra-structures. This leads to the conclusion of their importance for the common good, supporting claims for a due constitutionalization of the democratic conditions of equal and free participation of everybody in the life of societies as intrinsic means-ends of personal (individual and collective) self-fulfilment.