The Oxford Handbook of Music Performance, Volume 1 by Gary McPherson;

Author:Gary McPherson;
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: OUP Premium
Published: 2021-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 17

Performance Practices for Romantic and Modern Repertoire

Neal Peres Da Costa

Introduction

In 1999, conductor Sir Roger Norrington, known for his groundbreaking historically-informed interpretations of canonical nineteenth-century orchestral works with London Classical Players, wrote an enthusiastic preface to Clive Brown’s monumental Classical and Romantic Performing Practice (1750–1900). Norrington’s opening statement provides a useful point of departure for this chapter. He extols the fact that the previous thirty years had seen the forging of links between performers and scholars, producing exciting results (in the area of historically informed performance [HIP]) and leading to an accumulation of performing practice information for the sixteenth through eighteenth centuries. The nineteenth century, he notes “has been largely a closed book, assumed, perhaps dangerously, to be part of a received ‘tradition,’ ” and he praises Brown’s work for revealing “just how wrong that tradition can sometimes be” (Norrington, quoted in Brown, 1999, p. vii). Norrington’s thoughts about the dangers of assuming a received tradition for the Romantic era ought to be extended to include at least the first half of the twentieth century—the rise of the Modern era, a time of rapid change in performance practices clearly captured in sound recording.

This chapter looks at the long nineteenth century roughly spanning 1800–1950. It is structured in three parts. The first explores important concepts about performance traditions and performance practices in the era. The second introduces key performance practices pertinent to vocal and/or instrumental repertoire, drawing on a rich tapestry of evidence. The third provides case studies demonstrating the author’s utilization of pertinent performance practice information—expanding the palette of expressive means, to produce novel interpretations of canonical repertoire.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.