(Re)creating the Past: Baroque Improvisation in the Early Music Revival

UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
Kailan Rubinoff, Assistant Professor of Musicology (Creator)
Institution
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/

Abstract: This article explores the contentious position of improvisation in the contemporary Baroque music revival. Paradoxically, historical performers aim to obey the composer‘s intentions by paying careful attention to the written instructions of the musical score yet they also seek to recreate the performative conventions—and freedoms—of an earlier era. The performance practice literature, the recording industry, and the conservatory education of historical performers reinforce a text-centered approach to music that is antithetical to spontaneous creativity. While in-depth understanding of Baroque performing conventions and repertoire is important, greater rapprochement with living improvisatory traditions might result in more liberatory performances of early music.

Additional Information

Publication
New Sound
Language: English
Date: 2009
Keywords
Early music, historical performance, Baroque music, 17th century Music, 18th century Music, improvisation

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