of the Dissertation ............................................................................................. ii Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................v Table of

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Ecstatic anthems: music and the persistence of enchantment in modern america

Performance discourse in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries (i.e., writing about interpretative performance in treatises, reviews, dictionaries, articles, and philosophical works) is distinct from that in both earlier and later periods. Although a full early Romantic paradigm of interpretative performance, as articulated in Hegel9s Aesthetics , came about piecemeal and was instantiated in different ways in different kinds of sources, the texts examined in this essay communicate two particularly salient features. These are, first, the idea that interpretative performance involves a profound spiritual transformation on the part of the performer, requiring the merging of his own soul with that of the composer; and second, the idea that performance both establishes and collapses apparently intractable dualisms. This structural feature of performance discourse, as well as its content, links the idea of performance to contemporary discussions of consciousness in such a way that performance emerges as a simulacrum of early Romantic subjectivity. At the same time, this discursive structure also finds its way into the more mundane world of pedagogy. Performance thus emerges as more central to the intellectual milieu of Romanticism than has previously been recognized. The structures of discourse established at the turn of the nineteenth century persist in classical music culture today, but devoid of their historical underpinnings.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/10.1525/jams.2005.58.2.357.pdf

“To Play as if from the Soul of the Composer”: The Idea of the Performer in Early Romantic Aesthetics

This thesis examines issues of historical performance in the piano music of Franz Liszt, positing cultural exegesis as an overlooked source of evidence. Philosophical biases underlying mainstream C20th performance approaches (and their inhibiting potential) are discussed. A detailed reconstruction of Romanticist style is made with attention to primary sources, including historical recordings. A nomenclature for score annotation and an analytical paradigm for identification and application of Romanticist performance characteristics are proposed. These are experimentally applied, referencing exegetical insights, in Liszt’s Consolations and Années de Pèlerinage: Première Année through annotated scores and studio recordings on an 1860’s Érard grand. Acknowledgements I wish to express my deep thanks to both my supervisors, Associate Professor Jonathan Paget and Professor Geoffrey Lancaster, for their tireless and insightful support. Without their challenging comments this work would have been significantly weakened; without their encouragement in may not have been completed. However, all opinions expressed, and inevitable errors of fact and judgement, remain the responsibility of the author.

Vital performance: Culture, worldview, and romanticist performance practice with application in Franz Liszt’s Consolations and Années de Pèlerinage Première Année

With the exception of some opera singers, portamento is avoided as far as possible by today's performers. It is an aspect of singing that even today's early music specialists have chosen not to recover from the past despite overwhelming evidence for its use. This paper examines the historical literature on portamento, first in the pregramophone era then in the context of recordings in the twentieth century (when the literature can be matched with actual performances). There is a short case study of portamento in twentieth-century performances of Schubert's 'Standchen' from Schwanengesang. Finally, current performance practice is examined and explanations offer as to why something considered for several hundred years to be essential to good singing is now rarely taught or practised.

Beggar at the Door: The Rise and Fall of Portamento in Singing

Introduction Part I. Imagined Voices: Mythology and Muses Part II. Historical Voices: 1. The genesis of the Western tradition 2. The emerging soloist and the primacy of text 3. The age of the virtuoso 4. The nineteenth-century revolution Part III. Recorded Voices: 5. A great tradition: singing through history - history through singing 6. Classical singing in the twentieth century: recording and retrenchment 7. Post-classical: beyond the mainstream 8. The emancipation of the popular voice 9. Sung and unsung: singers and songs of the non English-speaking world Part IV. Sources and Reference: 10. Sources Bibliography.

A History of Singing

Foreword Introduction 1. Accentuation in Theory 2. Accentuation in Practice 3. The Notation of Accents and Dynamics 4. Articulation 5. Articulation and Expression 6. The Notation of Articulation and Phrasing 7. String Bowing 8. Tempo 9. Alla Breve 10. Tempo Terms 11. Tempo Modification 12. Embellishment, Ornamentation, and Improvisation 13. Appoggiaturas, Trills, Turns, and Related Ornaments 14. Vibrato 15. Portamento 16. The fermata Recitative Arpeggiation The Variable Dot and Other Aspects of Rhythmic Flexibility Heavy and Light Performance Index

Roger Norrington

Papers

Classical and Romantic Performing Practice 1750-1900