Performance Practice (Music)

Concerto in G Major for oboe, strings and basso continuo by Antonín Reichenauer (c. 1694-1730), which is edited for the first time, is a significant and rare sights instrumental works by Czech composers of the late Baroque. The work was composed probably in the third decade of the 18th century for Count Wenceslas Morzin band for whom Reichenauer worked at that time. This ensemble was one of the best bands in the Czech Republic and as "Maestro di Musica in Italia" for him composed music also Antonio Vivaldi, who dedicated this Morzin a collection of the Concertos op. 8 with the famous "Le quattro stagioni". Also, the Reichenauer's handwriting on the Concerto in G major is obvious direct influence of Vivaldi's music. This critical edition prepared a music historian and musician Lukáš M. Vytlačil to satisfy the scholarly community and also meet the needs of musicians. The score is therefore complemented by Czech and English commentary, complete facsimile copy of the Dresden manuscript and instrumental parts. The concerto is possible without transposition also play on the flute.

Brian Ferneyhough wrote six challenging and complex pieces for flute solo: Cassandra’s Dream Song (1970), Unity Capsule (1975-1976), Superscriptio (1981), Carceri d’Invenzione IIb (1985-1986), Mnemosyne (1986) and Sisyphus Redux(2011). Besides understanding Ferneyhough’s compositional vocabulary, every piece also requires a different practicing method. This dissertation is a musical, interpretational, analytical and motivating guide for flutists who desire playing Ferneyhough’s oeuvre. After many years of practicing and researching these six pieces, I developed a performance practice method that may help aspiring flutists in the future while discovering this rich oeuvre.

Where Cassandra’s Dream Song is a modern and complex transcription of an ancient myth, Superscriptio is a mathematically complex fight against the nature of the piccolo. Sisyphus Redux holds a real risk of experiencing Camus’ ‘philosophy of the absurd’, while Carceri d’Invenzione IIb confronts both the performer and the audience with the limits of unbearably high and loud registers. Unity Capsule Tests the performer because of the extreme length of such a complex piece, while Mnemosyne transcends the limits of information in notated music.

This performance practice method includes mythological, philosophical, mathematical and musical analyses, as well as a technical explanation and instrumental tricks that will enlarge the performer’s creativity and freedom in interpreting this complex oeuvre.

Doctoral thesis, errata and reading instructions were electronically published 2011-02-18. The first occurrence of track 1-32 is marked/highlighted and linked to the soundtrack (mp3). The soundtrack will open up in a new window or tab. The first occurrence of an author or a composer is marked/ highlighted and linked within the thesis to Appendix 1. Navigate back to the text by clicking the marked name in Appendix 1.

This article examines the issue of self-assessment of musical performance and the role of the learner in this process, with particular reference to the Australian context. Initially, traditional methods of assessment are discussed and references made to alternative methodologies in action. Following this, the rationale for and structure of a new method of self-critical assessment is outlined. The initial trial is discussed along with the evaluative questionnaire. The resultant data are then analysed and discussed, as are the implications for adopting and for developing this method.

Shortly after Beethoven’s death, several of his closest associates provided performance indications for editions of his works. Previous discussions of Carl Czerny’s and Ignaz Moscheles’s metronome marks for Beethoven’s piano sonatas have highlighted the importance of these indications for our understanding of the intended performance practice of these works. Nevertheless, the provenance and meaning of these metronome marks have remained unclear, which has led to some confusion in the literature.

By presenting new evidence, including the discovery of what are most likely the metronome marks intended for the missing sonatas from the first ‘complete’ edition by Tobias Haslinger, the article presents a more complete overview of the indications in these editions, as well as their chronology. In addition, it also discusses to what degree the editors seem to have influenced each other, which indications are most likely representative of Beethoven’s intended speeds, as well as why the metronome fell out of favour later in the nineteenth century. Finally, it discusses the meaning of these metronome marks for modern performers, and how these editions give options to disentangle the author from the text.

‘Fräulein Klarinette’, ‘signorina clarinetto’, così Brahms amava soprannominare il clarinetto e il clarinettista Mühlfeld, la cui maestria aveva ispirato al compositore il Trio op. 114, il Quintetto op. 115 e le Sonate op. 120, capolavori scritti negli ultimi anni di vita che posseggono modernità di linguaggio assieme a uno spiccato significato di epilogo e di sintesi dell’attività creativa brahmsiana. Come mette in risalto Michael Struck nella Prefazione, Andrea Massimo Grassi – clarinettista la cui attività di interprete è sempre sostenuta da un profonda ricerca musicologica – offre con questo libro un contributo particolarmente notevole nell’ambito della genesi delle opere brahmsiane. Il punto di partenza è ambizioso e insieme convincente: la loro genesi – raccontata attraverso le testimonianze del tempo, molte delle quali tradotte per la prima volta in italiano – la storia della loro pubblicazione e della prima ricezione. A ciò si aggiungono riflessioni sul processo compositivo, sul pensiero musicale e sulle peculiarità della scrittura di Brahms che allargano ulteriormente l’orizzonte della ricerca. Dunque, un libro sulle straordinarie opere per clarinetto della tarda maturità del compositore che contribuisce alla comprensione dell’intera opera di Johannes Brahms.
Vengono qui presentate le pagine introduttive.

Only in the 18th century do we begin to find specific mention of woodwind vibrato production. In the treatises of Hotteterre (1707) and of Quantz (1752) a finger vibrato is recommended. Hotteterre explains in detail how to produce the finger vibrato on flute and oboe, which he calls flattement. Finger vibrato is produced by moving the fingers up and down over the holes at a distance from the last hole covered for any particular note. 1 Quantz also recommends the finger vibrato, but makes only very brief mention of it. 2 It is recommended exclusively by Tromlitz as late as 1791:

The Dutch-born American and Oscar-winning composer Richard
Hageman encapsulated various musical cultures in his artistic output
as conductor, pianist, and composer of mainly art songs and
film. He is best known, particularly among the American Art Song
community, for his songs for voice and piano. Of his output of 69
published songs the 1917 setting of Rabindranath Tagore's Do Not
Go, My Love received the most attention by performers since its
composition to the present day. Having generally been neglected in
scholarly investigation until now, this presentation aims to briefly
introduce Hageman as a song composer, and then pinpoint the
emergence of a performance practice of his songs. The commercial
recordings from between 1924 and 1999 of Do Not Go, My Love,
plus some live performances by professional artists, form the basis of
this research project.

Composed in 1850, Robert Schumann's cello concerto in A minor Op. 129 is nowadays considered as one of the masterpieces of the instrument's repertoire, but the piece took a long time to achieve this prestige among critics and performers. It was composed in a span of two weeks, but only published after four years and first performed only in 1860, four years after the composer's death. It is the first cello concerto by a major composer since Joseph Haydn, but it is also very innovative for the genre, not only because of its continuous form (without breaks between movements) but also for the composers option to deviate from the typical bravura concert pieces, establishing the lyrical character of the instrument that would be explored by future composers. In order to contest the common sense that Schumann's late works are faulty because of the composer's mental illness, previous works by other composers and by Schumann himself will be pointed as possible sources of inspiration for the concerto as a proof that the composer's experimentations were intentional and not a result of a weak mind condition. This research is based on works that portrait the trajectory of Schumann as a composer (especially his last years in Düsseldorf), analysis of the relationship between the concerto and previous works, discussions about the impact that this cello concerto had in the history of the genre, as well as recordings and scores of the piece.

Lorents Nicolai Berg published an instrumental treatise entitled "Den forste Prove for Begyndere udi Instrumental-Kunsten" (The First Lessons for Beginners in the Art of Instrumental Music) in 1782 in Kristiansand, southern Norway.  It is one of the few eighteenth-century books on musical instruments printed in that country and both interesting and original in its content. This article briefly describes the treatise and provides biographical information about Berg.  Berg's discussion of the clarinet provides information not found in any other contemporary source. He is the first to recommend the "lower lip" embouchure with the reed placed on the lower lip; and he prints a fingering chart for the three-key clarinet for beginners, although he describes the standard five-key eighteenth century clarinet. The Swedish text of the clarinet chapter is reproduced next to an English translation.

“What is the role of the performer in musical communication? Discuss by reference to the following two quotes, stating whether you agree with them or not: 1) 'the performer, for all his intolerable arrogance, is totally unnecessary except as his interpretations make the music understandable to an audience unfortunate enough not to be able to read it in print." (Schoenberg, in D. Newlin, Schoenberg Remembered: Diaries and Recollections (1938-76), New York: Pendragon Press, 1980, p. 164). 2) "The conductor must be humble before the composer; he [must] never interpose himself between the music and the
audience; all his efforts, however strenuous or glamorous, [must] be made in the service of the composer's meaning." (Leonard Bernstein, in The Joy of Music, London: Weidenfeld
and Nicolson, 1959, p. 56).”

Dragonetti devoted his life to the double bass. His career in England (1794-1846) is one of the most remarkable success stories in the annals of musical history. His unprecedented virtuosity elevated the double bass to a new status. In combination with his charismatic personality his musical talent dominated the English cultural world for more than fifty years. As performer, composer, collector, and friend, he exposed the unforeseen potential of the double bass. His formidable talent as a musician and businessman provides an unusual insight into nineteenth-century entrepreneurship.

This first substantial biography and assessment of Dragonetti's career allows us to understand his importance in the history of music in general and of double-bass performance in particular.

The primary purpose of this project is to record five pieces from living composers, and discover the
differences and use of Baroque flute through the collaboration with these five composers. This
project also comes with a short thesis introducing contemporary works for Baroque flute and
explores the existing repertoire for its application of contemporary extended techniques.
The following pieces are the recorded works in this project: Ami for solo Baroque flutes by Marc
Vallon (b. 1955); Tombeau(1982) by Robert Strizich(b.1945); Stanza, Book XVIII for Baroque flute
solo by Les Thimmig (b. 1943); Mili for Baroque flute and tape by Filippo Santoro (b.1971) and
Gists and Piths for modern flute and Baroque flute duet by Stephen Dembski (b.1949). All of them
were newly composed in 2014 except for Tombeau, which was composed in 1982. The liner notes
and a short biography of composers of the recording will be provided in Appendix 2.

In the written part, I will focus on several subjects which are important for the playing and writing
of contemporary music for Baroque flute: 1) About the Baroque flute 2) Contemporary music
written for Baroque flute—compositional styles and the application of extended techniques.
Furthermore, I will list the music for Baroque flute having been composed up till 2015. Some of the
repertoire before 2001 was discussed in the previous investigation by Linda Pereksta’s dissertation
written in 2001, at Florida State University. My research will tackle the technical issues one will
encounter when one plays contemporary music on the Baroque flute. The technical issues include
the choices of the pitch, the intonation and tuning, the challenges of uneven response between
different notes, and the balance of volume, etc.; in addition, the contemporary works require
techniques that go far beyond Baroque music performance practice, for example, imitating Japanese
shakuhachi, etc.. Thus, I will describe music the compositional style and the application of extended
techniques from some of the contemporary music written for Baroque flute. This project aims to
give information about how composers apply contemporary concepts in writing pieces for Baroque
flute in the hope that it could encourage more performance as well as composition in this medium.

Organological basis for the development of keyboard technique from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries Historical keyboard instruments have for many years been a valuable source of information regarding historical building techniques and performance practices. However, almost no attention has been paid to the evidence of wear present on these instruments. This physical trace documents the form in which an instrument has been used throughout time. Of particular interest is the evidence of wear found on the surface of the keys. An analysis of this physical trace might provide insight into a number of aspects which have defined the manner in which performers have approached their instruments. A survey of historical keyboard playing practices will help to visualise in a broader form the mechanical reasons behind the impact of the fingers on the surface of the key. However, it is important to consider that while the process behind the appearance of a trace of wear is primarily of a mechanical nature, the fact that both instrument and the performer's body are cultural objects calls for an examination of a number of issues which seem to influence the form in which the mechanical action is applied.

Although most auctioneers do not self-identify as musicians, the practice of auctioneering in the United States reveals a sophisticated musical approach to metric improvisation based on the establishment of musical expectation and the strategic thwarting of that expectation through flexible treatment of meter. Auctioneers establish a “referential” meter wherein a consistent organization of the pulse returns repeatedly, alternating with expansions or contractions of that primary meter. Listeners are entrained to expect musical consistency, but through disruptions of familiar musical patterns, the auctioneer focuses bidder attention on the chant rather than the realities of the economic transaction in progress. Thus, meter is employed as an improvisational tool that unites the listening and bidding audience within a musical space and plays with expectations just enough to keep bidders alert and engaged.

En marzo del 2012, comenzó la difusión en internet de un video titulado "Lang Lang--Liszt Now Trailer" 1 . El cortometraje muestra imágenes del pianista Lang Lang (Shenyang, China, 1982-) durante un recital celebrado durante el iTunes Festival 2011, y dedicado enteramente a música compuesta o arreglada por Franz Liszt (1811--1886) 2 . El discurso audiovisual se desarrolla de la siguiente manera: aparece el logotipo de la compañía discográfica Sony Classical (hoy Sony Masterworks) 3 ; desde el inicio, la imagen es acompañada sonoramente por la Rapsodia Húngara S.244/15 ("Marcha Rakoczy") de Liszt, en la versión arreglada por Vladimir Horowitz (1903--1989), gritos y aplausos de los espectadores. Justo después de que se disipa el nombre de la empresa discográfica, aparece Lang Lang acercándose al centro del escenario donde se encuentra un pianoforte, rodeado de humo, una iluminación tenue y unas pantallas de video al fondo del proscenio. Hacia el segundo quince, se muestra el título Lang Lang Liszt Now (ver Imagen 1) y la acción por fin coincide con el hasta entonces fondo musical, es decir que se puede ver al pianista interpretando la rapsodia de Liszt. A partir de entonces, la edición de las imágenes, junto a la iluminación escénica y las proyecciones en las pantallas detrás del piano interactúan con el desarrollo de la obra musical de una manera imposible de percibir durante un recital para piano solo; presumiblemente, la cinematografía hace uso de efectos visuales para generar una impresión ah hoc a la ejecución de Lang Lang.

Beethoven’s tempo indications have been the subject of much scholarly debate, but a coherent understanding of his intended tempos has not yet emerged. There are several reasons for this. Firstly, some of the discussion has been based on unreliable sources, or an unrepresentative sample of sources. Secondly, the substantial differences between tempo preferences in the early nineteenth century and now has made these tempo indications difficult to approach for musicians in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Thirdly, discussions of Beethoven’s tempo have typically focussed on works in one particular genre. This thesis overcomes these limitations by incorporating all of Beethoven’s works, and rooting the whole research in a wide variety of sources from the eighteenth and nineteenth century that have a plausible relationship with Beethoven’s practice. In particular the metronome marks by Beethoven, as well as those from his close contemporaries Carl Czerny, Ignaz Moscheles, and Karl Holz, provide great insight into the composer’s sense of tempo. By using as many sources on Beethoven’s tempo as possible, this approach makes reasonable estimations of the actual speeds that Beethoven had in mind for his works. Furthermore, it also allows an exploration of the musical intuitions that are the root cause of these speeds.

Winner of the Royal Musical Association (RMA) 2023 Practice Research Prize:

If there is one trope that has become the lynchpin of the origin narratives of the young discipline of music performance studies, it is the idea that musical performance represents the "other" of the musical score. Many of the recent debates that effected a paradigm shift in music scholarship highlight the ontological and epistemological divergences between the score and musical performance, and also debunk the various myths and prejudices that have been woven around music performances and performers through the textualist paradigm, which essentialised and naturalised the musical score as the holder of "the music" and "the" source of disciplinary knowledge. Following the disciplinary "performative turn" during the twenty-first century, the effects of textualist habits of thought on scholarly discourses have been steadily on the wane. Nevertheless, the myth of a direct and immediate route between the score and performance - between the page and the stage - appears especially obstinate and continues to lurk around, particularly in the context of the analysis and performance literature. In this article, I discuss some of the complex embodied-affective processes that connect the page and the stage from a performer's perspective, through case studies involving my performance experiences of a Corrente by J. S. Bach, a keyboard sonata by Domenico Scarlatti, and an excerpt from Rachmaninoff's "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini".

In this article, I aim to open up and explore the meaning making processes, from a performer’s perspective, that unfold in the creative space between the page and the stage that textualist approaches eliminated through their disembodied, ahistorical, essentialising and naturalizing discourses, and show the thoroughly contingent nature of these processes. One of the most significant arguments that will emerge from my discussion is that between the page and the stage are a large number of factors, including the uniquely embodied senses, artistic sensibilities, experiences and expert practical knowledge of each performer, that together constitute her artistic intentions, in the absence of which there would be no artistic musical performance. My discussion proceeds by drawing together critical evaluation of relevant scholarly literature, analytical thought, phenomenological enquiry and, most significantly, artistic research: the latter mobilizes the artistic processes of performance making as research tools and opens up novel lines of enquiry motivated by a performer’s expert knowledge about, as well as situated experiences of, performing music. I further argue that eradicating the deleterious effects of the textualist urge to discipline the performer's body and emotions, to assimilate their individuality into an enforced utopia and homogenise performance expression requires introducing, into scholarly thinking and discourses, all the deep level contingencies that I emphasise in this article as essential elements connecting musical texts and performances. It also requires analysts to give up the modernist de-historicising fantasy that allows them to regard themselves as privileged and exemplary listeners standing in for all auditors, and in the case of the analysis and performance literature, standing in for all performers. However much textualist habits might sideline the drastic qualities of musical performance in scholarly discourses, performers continue to be fleshly, willful, creative individual affectively committed to the unruly and dynamic realm of performance making, and invest their performances with aesthetic qualities that grow out of their lived experiences and intentions as they continually move between the page and the stage.
Winner of the Royal Musical Association (RMA) 2023 Practice Research Prize:


In this article, I aim to open up and explore the meaning making processes, from a performer’s perspective, that unfold in the creative space between the page and the stage that textualist approaches eliminated through their disembodied, ahistorical, essentialising and naturalizing discourses, and show the thoroughly contingent nature of these processes. One of the most significant arguments that will emerge from my discussion is that between the page and the stage are a large number of factors, including the uniquely embodied senses, artistic sensibilities, experiences and expert practical knowledge of each performer, that together constitute her artistic intentions, in the absence of which there would be no artistic musical performance. My discussion proceeds by drawing together critical evaluation of relevant scholarly literature, analytical thought, phenomenological enquiry and, most significantly, artistic research: the latter mobilizes the artistic processes of performance making as research tools and opens up novel lines of enquiry motivated by a performer’s expert knowledge about, as well as situated experiences of, performing music.

This essay proposes the concept of corporeal liveness and applies it to a discussion of Glenn Gould’s solo piano recordings. The term corporeal liveness refers to a perception of the physical actions involved in making music, and is particularly useful in confronting notions of disembodied sound so often thought to be represented in recordings. Gould’s recordings, considered in conjunction with his intellectual persona—which often overshadows the physical aspects of his musicianship—present a fascinating opportunity to address these issues. Despite the overwhelming discursive focus on Gould’s intellectual abilities, his recordings are as much evidence of his performing body as of his brilliant mind. In addition to Gould’s constant humming, we also hear evidence of Gould’s body in the act of performance. The concept of corporeal liveness is invoked with two goals in mind: to challenge Gould’s conventional image as a cerebral musician—emphasizing instead the importance of his body in realizing his brilliant interpretations—and to confront the characterization of recordings as agents of musical disembodiment—focusing instead on their potential for reproducing the sounds of musical bodies themselves.

Cornelis Jacobus van Oeckelen (1798-1865) was a Dutch maker of organs and mechanical instruments. Cornelis initially worked with his father, Cornelis senior, repairing organs and in 1820 entered a mechanical piano in the Exhibition of Trade and fine Arts in Ghent, receiving an honorable mention. A number of inventions followed including a "Hamaton" in 1830, a clarinet-shaped instrument with a cupped metal mouthpiece with several free reeds producing 25 notes when blown, with separate keys for each note. Another in 1833, a Keyboard-oboe, used free reeds and a keyboard that operated a bellows, to produced an oboe-like tone. After the failure of this invention van Oeckelen worked at a country house for about three and one-half years to complete his most complicated invention, the android clarinetist. The clarinetist is 6' 5 3/4" tall standing on a thin iron platform holding a pseudo-clarinet, dressed as a medieval troubadour in a silk, gold-trimmed velvet cap, neck ruff, formal shirt, pantaloons, stockings, and buckled shoes. The mechanism includes pinned wooden and brass barrels, bellows, and two clockwork motors, linkages in the shoulders, elbows, arms, and fingers, with connections between the two. It was able to play four musical works in one hour with van Oeckelen accompany at the piano. Performances are noted from newspaper reports in The Netherlands, Boston, and New York.

The recordings of pianists born before the turn of the century provide perhaps the most tangible link available to a previous performance practice. Evidence such as eye-witness accounts of live performances, editions and recorded performances of pianists born before 1900 suggest overwhelmingly that in the 19th century the printed page had nowhere near its present significance. This dissertation documents and compares temporal and dynamic deviations employed by a representative group of early recorded pianists with respect to both Chopin’s score and 19th century performance treatises. It features a unique methodology for evaluating and summarizing common piano performance approaches of the 19th century in fine detail.

Lessons from an 18th-Century master of the Viol: Some Markings in a Copy of Marais' Pieces de Violes, Book 2, 1701. These pencilled and inked handwritten notations from an original print in the Sibley Library, Rochester, NY, give an extraordinary glimpse of a huge range of expressive bow techniques in music for viola da gamba, and by extension in string/instrumental music generally, in this period.

This research analyses seven musical works from the 17th and 18th centuries written for plucked instruments, and aims to determine whether or not these works contain the typical elements of music performed in an improvised manner known as “fantastic style” or stylus phantasticus. Based on the period’s authoritative theoretical writings, we will analyze the musical works in an attempt to find the characteristic elements of this style. Our findings may allow musicians to deepen their knowledge of the style, and help them in making informed interpretative decisions.

Keywords: baroque – musical analysis – fantastic style – baroque guitar – lute – theorbo

In recent years, Beethoven’s metronome marks for his Ninth Symphony have experienced a renewed relevance, with several ensembles incorporating the indicated speeds in their performances. Nevertheless, previous research has shown that some of the marks have been incorrectly transmitted, and there is the suspicion that further mistakes are still undiscovered. Focusing particularly on the second and fourth movements, this article discusses the historical sources and scholarly contexts for these markings, within a historical framework that draws on Beethoven’s general tempo principles, as well as observations from contemporaries. The article suggests that the trio of the second movement has three speeds that can be justified historically, although the most popular option, minim = 160, arguably has the least supporting evidence. The discussion also draws attention to another metronome mark for the final section of the symphony that has been often overlooked. Finally, it argues that one of the most often cited examples of an erroneously transmitted metronome mark, the dotted minim = 96 for the Schreckensfanfare found in the later sources, is consistent with Beethoven’s wider practice, and should provide an incentive for performers to experiment with historically informed tempi in this familiar repertory.

Anhand von Schumanns Lied "Ich grolle nicht" wird hier der Frage nachgegangen, inwiefern Musikforschung und musikalische Praxis in einem Wechselverhältnis stehen. Insbesondere geht es anhand von Interpretationsanalysen um die Frage, inwiefern die musikalische Praxis die Musikforschung beeinflusst.

Organ tuning and temperament are essential elements of the soundscape of an organ.
It is commonly assumed today that organ temperament practice shifted away from the well-documented standard of meantone temperament toward circulating temperaments (well-tempered or equal) around 1700. Written records and evidence from extant instruments, however, strongly suggest that unmodified meantone temperament remained common practice in North German organs until the 1740s. Even advocates of the new temperament designs such as Andreas Werckmeister had to admit that organ builders did not follow their suggestions. There is no evidence that retunings resulted in well-tempered systems; only meantone and equal temperaments are mentioned in the sources for retunings.
The reason for suggesting new temperament systems was the requirements of ensemble accompaniment. The simultaneous use of instruments tuned at different pitches (Chorton, Kammerton) required extensive transposition, a practice that, due to the development of major-minor tonality, became increasingly difficult if not impossible with organs tuned in meantone temperament. Modifications of this temperament were suggested and sometimes carried out, but were generally not successful.
Re-tempering an existing organ was a time-consuming task: in a large organ it could take months of work even for an experienced builder. The circumstances under which the organs had to be tuned constituted an important impediment to the introduction of new temperaments. An analysis of payments to bellows-treaders as recorded in church account books shows that the organs of St. Marien, Lübeck, were not retuned during the tenures of Franz Tunder and Dieterich Buxtehude. Thus, some of their organ works could not have been played on the organs available to them during their lifetimes. At this time, however, playing from a score was not acceptable for a professional organist, who was expected to extemporize even complex contrapuntal music. Organ music seems to have been written down mainly for study purposes.

Altough the organ was involved in the continuo practice in a much larger measure than the harpsichord or other instruments, there is a noticeable scarcity of studies on this subject. This article intends to present a series of documents concerning organ continuo practice which date back mostly to seventeenth-century Italy. These sources consist mostly of avvertimenti to the reader published in the organ part-books of concertata sacred music of the early seventeenth century, mostly unknown up to now. After giving a cursory view of the different kinds of organ which were used in Italy at the time, this article deals with three fundamental aspects of the subject: 1. registration of the organ continuo; 2. number of the different parts harmonizing the basso continuo; 3. range of the accompaniment on the keyboard.

This study investigates the idea and practice of liveness in modern music. Understanding what makes music live in an ever-changing musical and technological terrain is one of the more complex and timely challenges facing scholars of current music, where liveness is typically understood to represent performance and to stand in opposition to recording, amplification, and other methods of electronically mediating music. The book argues that liveness itself emerges from dynamic tensions inherent in mediated musical contexts—tensions between music as an acoustic human utterance, and musical sound as something produced or altered by machines. Sanden analyzes liveness in mediatized music (music for which electronic mediation plays an intrinsically defining role), exploring the role this concept plays in defining musical meaning. In discussions of music from both popular and classical traditions, Sanden demonstrates how liveness is performed by acts of human expression in productive tension with the electronic machines involved in making this music, whether on stage or on recording. Liveness is not a fixed ontological state that exists in the absence of electronic mediation, but rather a dynamically performed assertion of human presence within a technological network of communication. This book provides new insights into how the ideas of performance and liveness continue to permeate the perception and reception of even highly mediatized music within a society so deeply invested, on every level, with the use of electronic technologies.

The emergence of the saxophone in 1839 and the subsequent popularity of the saxophone family (soprano through bass) after 1870 in France is a unique development in music history. This development proceeded in two stages: the first, up to May 11, 1866, the date on which Adolphe Sax's patent expired under Sax's patent protection; the second, after this date when other makers developed their own models. The result was a rapid adoption of the saxophone family by composers and players throughout Europe and the United States beginning in the late 1880s. The first section summarizes Adolphe Sax's professional life and focuses on the development of the earliest saxophone and its evolution through May 1866. The second section discusses the saxophone after May 1866, emphasizing the explosion of saxophone makers and dealers after the expiration of Sax's French patent and the contributions of makers including Buffet-Crampon & Cie, Lecomte, and Besson. Fifty-four nineteenth-century saxophone makers and dealers are identified with examples listed in public and private collections.

This research presents an overview of performance practices related to the cello
in the city of Naples in around 1700, with special focus on its training in the Neapolitan
conservatori. The Neapolitan cello school, neglected in modern studies till very
recently, is a turning point in the development of this instrument. This research sheds
some light on this fascinating aspect of the Mid-Baroque period. The paper examines
the historical, cultural and musical context of the time, the teaching methods employed in the Neapolitan conservatori, the skills the pupils were expected to acquire (with special attention to the cellists), and the main roles and duties of professional cellists in the Neapolitan musical scene. Moreover, it presents some biographical information on the main Neapolitan cellists of the period, e.g. F. Alborea, R. Greco, G. Ruvo, F.P. Supriano, and offer a catalogue of Neapolitan Baroque cello repertoire, comprising more than 120 compositions.

After completing this research I have realized that we, as modern-day performers, should get more inspired by the approach to music learning that the Neapolitan conservatori had. Specifically as historically informed musicians, we should try to get as close as possible to these practices, since this would bring us a better insight about how this music was thought, composed, learnt, experienced and performed. As Neapolitan music became so influential throughout the 18th century, and as the pedagogical tools used at the conservatories spread through Europe, this approach might in fact be expanded to an even broader context.

Liner notes for Great Pianists: Artur Schnabel - Beethoven Sonata Society Recordings (1932-1935), an eleven-CD set of recordings released on the Naxos Historical Label (2003-2006). Remastered by Mark Obert-Thorn. The notes provide a reception history of the recordings, drawing on reviews as well as biographical and autobiographical works. Naxos recording numbers: 8.110671, 8.110694, 8.110695, 8.110756, 8.110759, 8.110760, 8.110761, 8.110762, 8.110763, 8.110764, 8.110765

Born in 1980 in Rio Grande do Sul, Yamandu Costa is one of Brazil’s most celebrated guitarists. Yamandu Costa began his musical journey at the age of seven, taking informal guitar lessons from his father, Algacir Costa. Raised in a musical family, his childhood was marked by extensive touring alongside the family band, who made their living from entertaining at vibrant dance parties across Brazil. His father was the leader of the band Os Fronteiriços, whose music was rooted in the regional music of southern Brazil, known there as música gaúcha (gaúcho music). Amidst this inherently regional upbringing, Yamandu Costa’s music was shaped and influenced by the gaúcho culture and music of southern Brazil and Argentina. In addition, the migration of Argentinian guitarist Lucio Yanel to Rio Grande do Sul in 1982 had a major impact on the life and music of Yamandu Costa. Finding lodging at the Costa family home in Passo Fundo during the initial period of his migration, Yanel brought with him to Brazil his guitar music, rooted heavily in the folkloric regional styles of Argentina. The young Yamandu Costa found a musical mentor in Yanel, resulting in a musical career that would come to be heavily influenced by Yanel’s pioneering approach to gaúcho music as a guitar soloist. A composer and virtuoso guitarist, the presence of Yamandu Costa’s gaúcho identity is unmistakable. Yamandu Costa frequently draws upon idiomatic instrumental and compositional techniques indicative of his gaúcho music influences. His music is eclectic, as he pieces together a mosaic of diverse Brazilian music styles like choro with Argentinian chamamé, chacarera and zamba. Through an analysis of five original works, this thesis illuminates the influences of Yamandu Costa and demonstrates the presence of gaúcho musical idioms in his music. The analysis is contextualised amidst biographical details, and investigates his formative years spent in Rio Grande do Sul and his relationship with Lucio Yanel, which are critical to his musical formation. The legacy of Yanel’s presence in Rio Grande do Sul is measured by an analysis of parallels in guitar technique between Yanel and Yamandu Costa, and demonstrates the musical cues the protégé has taken from his mentor. This thesis shows that Yamandu Costa’s roots in gaúcho music distinguish him amongst the Brazilian guitar landscape.

Johann Friedrich Fasch's music displays a stylistic variability characteristic among some composers of the early eighteenth century, a time in which the mature Baroque style period of Western art music was beginning to show new elements of the Classical style. Opinions regarding Fasch's contribution vary from praise for his role as one of the most important pioneers to simple acknowledgment as merely one among many significant, forward-looking, transitional composers. During the early eighteenth century, a wealth of fine literature for solo oboe was produced. Current oboe repertoire includes many standard, mature Baroque concertos of the early eighteenth century; few works representative of evolutionary compositions hinting toward the development of a new historical style period are available. The primary purpose of the lecture recital is to introduce to the oboe repertoire an edition of a concerto by Fasch, one representative of the transition from Baroque to Classical eras.

Traces the early history of the violoncello in Naples, discussing the presence of the instrument in the Royal Chapel and in the Conservatories. Includes an overview of the cello repertory and of the activity of Neapolitan cello virtuosi, such as Francesco Alborea, and new documents on F. P. Supriani's career and early cello method.

During the 18th and 19th centuries, vibrato as well as the articulation of fast passages was often not indicated in the musical scores, but was left to the players’ discre- tion within prevailing practice. A finger-vibrato technique that this study names the flattement technique was the most recommended vibrato technique in Western classical music throughout the 18th century. Another finger-vibrato technique used was called martellement or Schwebungen. During the first half of the 19th century the flattement technique coexisted on equal terms with chest vibrato, which was during most of the period under investigation slow and controlled, typically four waves on a long note.
The syllables and spellings documented for double-tonguing on the flute can be categorized in three techniques, d-g/t-k, d-r/t-d and d-l/t-tl, where d-g, d-r and d-l represent softer nuances. During the 18th and first half of the 19th century, d-l/t-tl was the most common double-tonguing technique in England and Germany, whereas in France it was not much used. Legato could be applied when not indicated; during the late 18th century and the first half of the 19th century the articulation patterns paired slurs and two slurred, two tipped were commonly recommended. In France, d-g/t-k was the dominating double-tonguing from the late 18th century and on, and the embracing of this technique also in Germany and England in the second half of the 19th century reflects a transition from the 18th century ideal of a rounder execution of an articulated fast passage towards a shorter staccato ideal.
The playing techniques recommended in the sources have been tested and eva- luated in musical practice by the author. For a more complete understanding of the problem areas, sounding examples from concerts and recordings are integrated in the dissertation.