Musicology Commons^™

Commonality And Diversity In Recordings Of Beethoven’S Middle-Period String Quartets, Nancy November

Performance Practice Review

A widespread opinion in recent research about the performance of Beethoven’s works is that artists need to restore a connection to "tradition," and that recordings from the early twentieth century can help with this. However, these early recordings tell us most about the aesthetics and performance ideals of their day, and hence how Beethoven and his string quartets were received by early twentieth-century audiences. Case studies of early recordings of Beethoven middle-period quartets reveal ways in which these these performances differed, sometimes radically, from the kinds of performances Beethoven would have expected to hear, especially with regard to the use …

By Word Of Mouth: Historical Performance Comes Of Age, Ingrid E. Pearson

Performance Practice Review

Since Clive Brown’s 1991 accusation that many twentieth-century manifestations of historical performance lacked an appropriate degree of musical sensitivity, the historical performance movement has truly come of age. In the arena of Western Art music, historical performance is now an essential component of musical training and education. Successful performers must be able to seamlessly function across the widest possible range of musical styles, accommodating an equally wide gamut of tastes, both individually and collectively.

In 1982, nine years earlier, Walter Ong’s Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word explored differences between oral and literate cultures. Of particular interest to …

Francesco Rognoni's "Selva De Varii Passaggi" (1602): Fresh Details Concerning Early Baroque Vocal Ornamentation, Stewart Carter

Performance Practice Review

"One of Milan's most important musicians during the late 16th and early 17th centuries was Francesco Rognoni (died before 1626), a Knight and Count Palatine, son of Richardo Rogniono. The father had published an important treatise on ornamentation nearly thirty years prior to Francesco's. The title page of Francsco's Selva tells us that Francesco was head of instrumental music at the ducal court and maestro di cappella at Santo Ambrosio Maggiore in Milan. In an earlier publication he calls himself a "player of the violin, of the viola bastarda, and other instruments." He may in fact have written the first …