Music Practice Commons^™

The Off-Board String On The Medieval Fiddle, Linda Marie Zaerr

Performance Practice Review

Drawing on explicit descriptions, iconographic representations, and contemporary narrative, this essay analyzes playing techniques and repertories plausible for one type of medieval fiddle and suggests that notions of historical fiddle performance may need to expand to accommodate the aesthetics and techniques implied by the off-board fiddle.

While it has been widely assumed that the left thumb was used to pluck the laterally divergent string described by Jerome of Moravia, the complete body of evidence suggests an alternative interpretation: the thumb can be used to stop this off-board string, extending the melodic range of the instrument down to a step below …

"Stradivari" By Stewart Pollens, Peter Walls

Performance Practice Review

Peter Walls discusses and reviews Pollens 2010 work.

Pollens, Stewart. Stradivari. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010.

ISBN 978-0-52187-304-8

Book Reviews: "Musical Instruments: History, Technology, And Performance Of Instruments Of Western Music." By Murray Campbell, Clive Greated And Arnold Myers, And "From Renaissance To Baroque: Change In Instruments And Instrumental Music In The Seventeenth Century: Proceedings Of The National Early Music Association Conference Held, In Association With The Department Of Music, University Of York And The York Early Music Festival, At The University College Of Ripon And York St Johan, York, 2-4 July 1999." By Jonathan Wainwright And Peter Holman., Rudolf Rasch

Performance Practice Review

Rasch reviews two books on musical instruments.

Campbell, Murray, Clive Greated, and Arnold Myers. "Musical Instruments: History, Technology, and Performance of Instruments of Western Music." Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004. ISBN 0-19-816504-8.

Wainwright, Jonathan, Peter Holman, eds. "From Renaissance to Baroque: Change in Instruments and Instrumental Music in the Seventeenth Century. Proceedings of the National Early Music Association Conference held, in association with the Department of Music, University of York and the York Early Music Festival, at the University College of Ripon and York St Johan, York, 2-4 July 1999." Aldershot Hampshire: Ashgate, 2005. ISBN 0-7546-0403-9.

Reading Between The (Ledger) Lines: Performing Mozart's Music For The Basset Clarinet, Robert Adelson

Performance Practice Review

RILM abstract: "The basset horn came into being around 1788. Mozart used it for his concerto K.622 and quintet K.581, and for certain arias in Cosi fan tutte and La clemenza di Tito. Other works of Mozart may have been realized with the basset horn, particularly in performances by Anton Stadler."

Invoking A Past Or Imposing A Present? Two Views Of Performance Practice, Roland Jackson

Performance Practice Review

RILM abstract: "Richard Taruskin has characterized performance practice or historical performance as not truly historical, but rather as a reflection of a mid-20th-c. Zeitgeist dominated by Stravinsky. In contrast with this presentist view, wherein spontaneous performance, the act, is deemed the highest value, the historicist view affirms that music (along with art works generally) is endowed with a quality of permanent value independent of how it was regarded in its own time or how people react to it now. Historicist performance practice holds that a composer's intention (the autonomous work) is rediscoverable, at least in part, and that the manner …

The Baroque Cello And Its Performance, Marc Vanscheeuwijck

Performance Practice Review

RILM abstract: "Provides a short survey of the earliest sources on the bass violin and discusses both the first appearance of the term violoncello (in 1665) and terms used in Italy and elsewhere. Performance practice, playing technique, and tuning from the 16th c. are described. The possible identity of the problematic 17th-c. violone (an 8' or 12' instrument of either the violin or gamba family) is proposed in relation to the violone in contrabbasso. A discussion of playing technique is given on the basis of treatises and compositions by late-17th-c. Bolognese musicians and 18th-c. descriptions by Michel Corrette and Salvatore …

Tromlitz On Playing The Flute: A Résumé, Jane Bowers

Performance Practice Review

Identifies the highlights of Ardal Powell's translation of Johann Georg Tromlitz's treatise Ausfuhrlicher und grundlicher Unterricht die Flote zu spielen. Tromlitz's treatise contains information on both flute technique and performance practice in the late 18th c. The following topics in Tromlitz's treatise are analyzed in detail: practicing, tone quality, playing with expressivity, intonation, Articulation, rhythm and tempo, ornamentation, and the trill. Excerpts from Powell's translation are included.

"Makers Of The Piano, 1700-1820." By Martha Novak Clinkscale, Malcolm S. Cole

Performance Practice Review

Cole reviews Clinkscales 1993 book.

Last Words On Inequality And Overdotting: A Review Of Stephen Hefling's Book, David Fuller

Performance Practice Review

Fuller attempts to make definitve decisions about "appropriate" articulation and rhythmic interpretation in 17th and 18th century music.

"Musica Getutscht: A Treatise On Musical Instruments (1511)."By Sebastian Virdung. Trans. And Ed. Beth Bullard, Keith Polk

Performance Practice Review

A book review of Beth Ballard's translation and edition of Musica Getutscht by Virdung.

Italian Split-Keyboard Instruments With Fewer Than Nineteen Divisions To The Octave, Denzil Wraight, Christopher Stembridge

Performance Practice Review

Checklists of (1) surviving Italian harpsichords and virginals with split black keys; (2) similar instruments not known to survive but whose existence can be documented; (3) 26 Italian organs built during the period 1468-1665 that are known to have had split keys. Gives the ranges of these instruments when known. Discusses Frescobaldi's probable involvement with such instruments.

The Cimbalo Cromatico And Other Italian Keyboard Instruments With Ninteen Or More Division To The Octave (Surviving Specimens And Documentary Evidence), Christopher Stembridge

Performance Practice Review

An earlier article (abstracted as RILM 9191) established that the cimbalo cromatico had 19 keys per octave. No such instrument survives, but two show traces of having been such (including a harpsichord by Franciscus Faber, 1631). Luython's clavicymbalum universale described by Michael Praetorius, and other documented instruments in Graz and in Ferrara, Rome, and elsewhere in Italy, are discussed. Harpsichords and organs with more than 19 keys per octave clearly related in design to the cimbalo cromatico include instruments made by Domenico da Pesaro, Vincenzo Colombo, Vido Trasuntino, and designed by Gioseffo Zarlino, Nicola Vicentino, Francisco de Salinas, Fabio Colonna, …

Interpretive Left-Hand Fingerings For Lute In Nicholas Vallet's "Le Secret Des Muses" (1615), Susan G. Sandman

Performance Practice Review

Lute fingerings for the left hand are a valuable source of information about the Articulation of Baroque music. Vallet's fingerings are given for 49 pieces in Le secret des muses. They affect linear Articulation, often indicating a preference for breaks before strong beats, before an anacrusis, and prior to ornaments, as well as articulating dance rhythms and sequential passages. His fingerings contribute to our understanding of some of the many performance details of early 17th-c. French music that may be mined for artistic guidance today.

Pedaling The Piano: A Brief Survey From The Eighteenth Century To The Present, Sandra P. Rosenblum

Performance Practice Review

Before World War II, most composers notated relatively few pedal indications, usually to create unsuspected effects. Mutations (Veranderungen) on the early pianos and the uses of hand stops, knee levers, and pedals are discussed based on information from extant instruments, composers' autographs, and comments in tutors by such teachers as Johann Milchmeyer and Louis Adam. Pedaling techniques and uses of the damper, una corda, and sostenuto pedals on the changing instruments of the 19th and 20th c. are described, with particular attention to compositions of Beethoven, Schumann, Chopin, Brahms, Debussy, Villa-Lobos, Boulez, Cage, and Stockhausen.

Was The "Well-Tempered Clavier" Performable On A Fretted Clavichord?, Richard Loucks

Performance Practice Review

Analysis of the Wohltemperirtes Clavier shows that some of the fretting schemes for clavichords used in Bach's time permit performance of the work with approximately 179 voice-leading conflicts, of which five are difficult to perform and two impossible.

"Bach's Continuo Group: Players And Practices In His Vocal Works." By Laurence Dreyfus, Patrick Rogers

Performance Practice Review

Rogers discusses and reviews Dreyfus' 1987 book.

Was The "Well-Tempered Clavier" Performable On A Fretted Clivichord?, Richard Loucks

Performance Practice Review

Analysis of the Wohltemperirtes Clavier shows that some of the fretting schemes for clavichords used in Bach's time permit performance of the work with approximately 179 voice-leading conflicts, of which five are difficult to perform and two impossible.

Some Observations Concerning Baroque And Modern Vibrato, Frederick Kent Gable

Performance Practice Review

Supports a narrow and ornamentally used vibrato in Baroque music, and the basic conclusions of Greta Moens-Haenen in Das Vibrato in der Musik des Barock (RILM 88-8038), adding personal observations and comparisons of present performance styles. Emphasizes solo and ensemble vocal vibrato and violin vibrato. Disputes the pro-vibrato views of Robert Donington (RILM 82-1459) and Frederick Neumann (RILM 91-3698).

More (And Less) On Bach's Orchestra, Joshua Rifkin

Performance Practice Review

Hans-Joachim Schulze has argued that Bach wanted his music to be performed by large forces, and therefore performances with sharply downsized, even so-called soloistic ensembles misrepresent the composer's intentions. A review of the matter, however, shows that Schulze has misread, and even misrepresented, the relevant evidence, and that Bach's preferences indicate a far more varied picture than Schulze would allow.

The Vibrato Controversy, Frederick Neumann

Performance Practice Review

Today's early music specialists either ban the use of vibrato or restrict it drastically. This position suffers from three principal weaknesses: the failure to understand the nature of a well-produced vibrato in which the so-called impurities of pitch become inaudible above a certain threshold of speed, through a mysterious brain function (comparable to that involved in stereophonic sound or stereoscopic vision); a misinterpretation of sources; and an unawareness of extensive historical evidence for vibrato use through four centuries, culminating in Mozart's eulogy of a fine vibrato for voice and instruments.

"Performance Practice Before 1600." Edited By Howard M. Brown And Stanley Sadie, Timothy J. Mcgee

Performance Practice Review

McGee discusses and reviews Brown and Sadie's 1989 book.

"Performance Practice: Music After 1600." By Howard M. Brown And Stanley Sadie, Albert R. Rice

Performance Practice Review

Rice discusses and reviews Brown and Sadie's 1989 book.

"Performance Practice: Music After 1600." By Howard M. Brown And Stanley Sadie, George Houle

Performance Practice Review

Houle discusses and reviews Brown and Sadie's 1989 book.

"New Essays On Performance Practice." By Frederick Neumann, Erich Schwandt

Performance Practice Review

Schwandt discusses and reviews Neumann's 1989 book.

"Performance Practice And Technique In Marin Marais' 'Pièces De Viole'." By Deborah A. Teplow, Frank Traficante

Performance Practice Review

Traficante discusses and reviews Teplow's 1986 book.

"The Early Mandolin: The Mandolino And The Neapolitan Mandoline." By James Tyler And Paul Sparks, Donald Gill

Performance Practice Review

Gill discusses and reviews Tyler and Spark's 1989 book.

"Beethoven On Beethoven: Playing His Piano His Way." By William S. Newman, Barry Cooper

Performance Practice Review

Cooper discusses and reviews Newman's 1988 book.

"J. S. Bach As Organist: His Instruments, Music And Performance Practices" George Stauffer And Ernest May, Eds., Kimberly Marshall

Performance Practice Review

Marshall discusses and reviews Stauffer and May's 1986 book.

"Performance Practices In Classic Piano Music" By Sandra P. Rosenblum, A. Peter Brown

Performance Practice Review

Brown discusses and reviews Rosenblum's 1988 book.

"Continuo Playing On The Lute, Archlute And Theorbo" By Nigel North, James Tyler

Performance Practice Review

Tyler discusses and reviews North's 1987 book.