Music Practice Commons^™

"How Equal Temperament Ruined Harmony (And Why You Should Care)" By Ross Duffin, Rudolf Rasch

Performance Practice Review

Rasch discusses and critiques Duffin's book on equal temperament.

"The Clarinet" By Eric Hoeprich, Colin Lawson

Performance Practice Review

Lawson discusses and critiques Hoeprich's book on the history of the clarinet.

"The End Of Early Music: A Period Performer's History Of Music For The Twenty-First Century" By Bruce Haynes, Roland Jackson

Performance Practice Review

Jackson critiques and discusses Haynes' book on the history of early music performance.

"Vivaldi's Music For Flute And Recorder" By Federico Sardelli, Jane Bowers

Performance Practice Review

Bowers discusses and critiques Sardelli's book on Vivaldi's music for flute and recorder.

On Divided Lines: Instrumentation For Bass Parts In Corelli-Era Sonatas, Peter Walls

Performance Practice Review

There has been considerable debate in recent years about the appropriate treatment of bass lines in Corelli Op. 5 and other duo and ensemble sonatas of the era. This article examines the relationship between continuo parts and separate bass parts in publications that include both. It argues that the case for accepting publication formats as a guide to performance practice is weaker than has often been claimed. The inadequacy of the standard terminology (particularly ‘trio sonata’) for Italian chamber-music ensembles in this period has been much commented on. Italian practice in the 17th century was to designate pieces a 2, …

In Search Of The Eighteenth-Century “Violoncello”: Antonio Vandini And The Concertos For Viola By Tartini, Marc Vanscheeuwijck

Performance Practice Review

In this rarely-quoted excerpt, Johann Philipp Eisel obviously paraphrases Johann Mattheson’s definition of the violoncello in Das Neu-eröffnete Orchestre. It is yet another description that does not conform precisely to our early twenty-first century historical construct of the “baroque” cello. In the past not much attention has been given to such descriptions, considered to be too deviant from the general understanding of what a cello was supposed to be: five or six strings were not considered to represent the “normal” cello, and the viola da spalla was considered a different instrument altogether. However, recent research has finally taken such descriptions …

How One Learned To Ornament In Late Sixteenth-Century Italy, Timothy J. Mcgee

Performance Practice Review

Several of the sixteenth-century ornamentation manuals state that they are self-sufficient tutors; that instrumentalists and vocalists could learn the skill without further assistance from a teacher. While this may have been possible for one type of ornamentation, it did not hold true for the newer, dramatic, Neapolitan style of ornamentation that was heavily based on rhetorical models, and which needed careful guidance from an experienced teacher (Author).

Bach's Tempo Ordinario: A Plaine And Easie Introduction To The System, Robert Marshall

Performance Practice Review

The initial impetus for this inquiry came from a question posed by Arthur Mendel during a coffee break in a Bach seminar some thirty years ago. Why, he asked, did Bach notate the last movement of the fifth Brandenburg Concerto in two-­four time, with triplets rather than in six-­eight time?...

"Attractively Packaged But Unripe Fruit"; The Uk's Commercialization Of Musical History In The 1980s, Colin Lawson

Performance Practice Review

The decade from 1980 proved to be truly significant in the development of historical performance, as recreations of post-Baroque repertory gradually became the norm. At its close, three complete cycles of Beethoven Symphonies had been recorded on “period” instruments, implicitly demonstrating the complexity of the spectrum between practical expediency and historical accuracy. By 1991, Clive Brown was issuing a timely warning that the pedigree of many of the instruments on these recordings was of doubtful authenticity. The commercially-motivated rush to push period-instrument performance ever more rapidly into the nineteenth century did not offer much hope for the consolidation of historical …

A Correctly-Attributed Fake, Bruce Haynes

Performance Practice Review

A few years ago, a harpsichord ascribed to Nicholas Lefébure and dated 1755 appeared on the scene. Although it was enthusiastically received, there was a problem with this instrument. It seems its attribution was incorrect; in fact, by some two and a half centuries. Shortly afterwards, its real maker, Martin Skowroneck, published an amusing and sensational article in which he described how he had created an instrument that was so stylistically convincing that harpsichord restorers didn’t hesitate to call it an original...

Consequentialism About Historical Authenticity, Aron Edidin

Performance Practice Review

The historical authenticity movement arrived on a wave of polemical prose, and was met by a similarly energetic polemical response. The controversy has persisted to the present day.

The Antebellum "Piano Girl" In The American South, Candace Bailey

Performance Practice Review

Throughout the nineteenth century, the education of young gentlewomen almost always included music lessons, with piano lessons being the most frequently recommended. The social context for these young women pianists, “piano girls,” has been described in several modern works, particularly since Arthur Loesser’s seminal work Men, Women, and Pianos: A Social History.1 In the 1980s, Judith Tick made the term “piano girl” a familiar one in musicological studies, and since that time the idea of the piano girl and her role in society has been explored by others.2 Most of these studies describe the social phenomenon of the piano girl, …

Performance Practice Bibliography (1995-1996)

Performance Practice Review

Bibliography of articles published in the field of Historical Performance Practices during 1995-1996.

Contributors/End Matter

Performance Practice Review

List of Contributors for the Fall 1996 of Performance Practice Review.

End matter and advertisements from the Fall 1996 (9/2) issue of Performance Practice Review.

Violes Esgales--Sainte Colombe, Marais, Couperin, Les Voix Humaines. Duo De Violes De Gambe, Annette Otterstedt

Performance Practice Review

Reviews and critiques Violes Esgales' record of Baroque music for two violes de gambe.

"Stolen Time: The History Of Tempo Rubato." By Richard Hudson., Barton Hudson

Performance Practice Review

Review's and critiques Hudson's 1994 book.

"Monsieur De Saint Lambert: A New Treatise On Accompaniment." Trans. And Ed. By John S. Powell, Charlotte S. Mattax

Performance Practice Review

Reviews and critiques Powell's translation and editorial work on Lambert's Accompaniment Treatise.

The Mandolin: Its Structure And Performance (Sixteenth To Twentieth Centuries), James Tyler, Paul Sparks

Performance Practice Review

RILM: "A history of the instrument, with information about the construction and repertoire, and particular reference to performance techniques. The derivation of the term "mandolin" is discussed, as are the differences between the mandolino and the Neapolitan mandolin."

Performing On The Trombone: A Chronological Survey, David M. Guion

Performance Practice Review

RILM: "A history of the trombone from the late 14th c. to the present, with special emphasis on performance practice."

Action And Singing In Late 18th And Early 19th Century England, Robert Toft

Performance Practice Review

RILM: "Examines the role that action played in the performance of vocal music in the late 18th and early 19th c., through descriptions in writings from the period. Gilbert Austin's Chironomia, or, A treatise on rhetorical delivery (London, 1806) provided instruction in elocution and described such topics as standing, using the hands and arms, and making gestures in relation to the text. Austin's notation of action is applied to Thomas Gray's poem An elegy written in a country church-yard--which was set to music by Stephen Storace--to illustrate how action might have been employed by singers in the late 18th …

Historical And Regional Pronunciations In Vocal Performance, Douglas Leedy

Performance Practice Review

RILM: "Particular pronunciations or dialects are important factors in the creation and execution of vocal music. Such sounds can have a dramatic effect on the coloration and rhythmic profile of a piece of music; the recreation of such sounds is thus of great importance."

With Intent To Stage: Editing Kurt Weill's Music For The Theater, Ed Harsh

Performance Practice Review

RILM: "A critical edition of Weill's opera and music theater works confronts special editorial problems. The complex and dynamic identity of a work for the theater conflicts with the paradigm of the stable, definitive text that critical editions usually aim to present. Further, the collaborative nature of such works allows significant influence to be exerted on the text by individuals other than the composer. A satisfactory solution to these problems is not possible by recourse to the conventional musical-editorial philosophy that has prevailed for most of the 20th c. Rather, a new philosophy that places a positive value on the …

Cover/Table Of Contents

Performance Practice Review

Table of Contents for the Fall 1996 issue of Performance Practice Review.

Contributors/End Matter

Performance Practice Review

List of contributors to the Spring 1995 (8/1) issue of Performance Practice Review.

End matter and advertisements from the Spring 1995 (8/1) issue of Performance Practice Review.

"A History Of Pianoforte Pedaling." By David Rowland, Sandra P. Rosenblum

Performance Practice Review

Rosenblum reviews and critiques Rowland's book on the history of pianoforte pedaling.

"Das Tempo In Der Musik Von Barock Und Vorklassik. Die Antwort Der Quellen Auf Ein Umstrittenes Thema." By Klaus Miehling, Wolfgang Aufhagen

Performance Practice Review

Auhagen reviews and critiques Miehling's book on tempo in the Baroque and Preclassic eras.

"Tudor Music." By David Wulstan, John Morehen

Performance Practice Review

Morehen reviews and critiques Wulstan's book on Tudor Music.

Musical Venues In Vienna, Seventeenth Century To The Present, Ingeborg Harer

Performance Practice Review

RILM abstract: "Consideration of musical venues is often neglected in research on historical performance practice. Many musical works are directly linked to a particular location. The characteristic features (type, size, Acoustics) of the room or building for which the music was written influenced the composer in the creation of his work. A number of venues have had a special place in the musical life of Vienna over the past four centuries. A list of principal Viennese musical buildings (theaters, opera houses, music rooms, concert halls) is included, along with the circumstances surrounding their construction, and the more important musical works--especially …

Musical Performance At San Petronio In Bologna: A Brief History, Marc Vanscheeuwijck

Performance Practice Review

RILM abstract: "The building of Bologna's most important church was decided by the Senate and begun in 1390. A regular musical chapel was created in 1436, and the first organ was installed in 1475. A second instrument was built in 1596 to perform double choir music with the chorus and the cornetto and sackbut band. During the 17th and 18th c. a considerable repertoire for large ensembles with vocal soloists, choirs, trumpets, and strings in concerted style developed in the basilica. Stylistic characteristics of the music result from the long reverberation time (12 seconds) and other acoustic qualities specific to …

Woodwind Vibrato From The Eighteenth Century To The Present, Dwight C. Manning

Performance Practice Review

RILM abstract: "Surveys methods of vibrato production in woodwind performance. Beginning with Jacques Martin-Hotteterre, 18th-c. authors recommended finger vibrato. In the 19th c., Anton Bernhard Furstenau mentioned finger as well as jaw and breath vibrato. Late in the century, Maximillian Schwendler proclaimed that vibrato is initiated in the larynx (throat). The 20th c. has seen the debate continue over whether vibrato is produced by the breathing and blowing apparatus or by the throat, with recent scientific experiments supporting the latter claim."