An attempt to distinguish between ‘alte Musik’, as German musicians used to conceive it, and ‘early music’, as is now the common phrase in English, provides a new – and perhaps better – lens through which to view the old historical schisms of twentieth-century music. The recourse that musical innovators have always had to ancient precedents, as inspiration and as validation, has many variations, and these variations are reliable reflectors of aesthetic attitudes.

‘Alte Musik’ or ‘Early Music’?

The Oxford History of Western Music

Poetics Of Music In The Form Of Six Lessons

Roots of the classical

https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S1478572211000260

Style and Idea

"The Oxford History of Western Music" is a magisterial survey of the traditions of Western music by one of the most prominent and provocative musicologists of our time. This text illuminates, through a representative sampling of masterworks, those themes, styles, and currents that give shape and direction to each musical age. Taking a critical perspective, this text sets the details of music, the chronological sweep of figures, works, and musical ideas, within the larger context of world affairs and cultural history. Written by an authoritative, opinionated, and controversial figure in musicology, "The Oxford History of Western Music" provides a critical aesthetic position with respect to individual works, a context in which each composition may be evaluated and remembered. Taruskin combines an emphasis on structure and form with a discussion of relevant theoretical concepts in each age, to illustrate how the music itself works, and how contemporaries heard and understood it. It also describes how the context of each stylistic period - key cultural, historical, social, economic, and scientific events - influenced and directed compositional choices. Unlike earlier surveys, Taruskin provides greater attention to the full range of 20th century music, including American music as part of the mainstream tradition of western music, women in music, and popular music. The five volumes of main text each have musical examples and black and white pictures throughout, source notes, and an index. The sixth volume contains a comprehensive chronology, further reading, and an index to the entire set.

The Oxford history of western music

Gathers together for the first time Taruskin's influential and insightful essays and articles on musical performance practice written over the past decade. Links issues in musical performance with wider cultural scene. Author's highly respected and controversial viewpoints and reputation will spark intellectual debate in the musical field. Text and Act, a collection of essays and reviews, published over the last dozen years, offers a brilliant evaluation of the early music movement, transforming the debate about "early music" and "authenticity". Demolishing the argument that the movement to revive period instruments and performance practices represents the recovery of an ancient truth or a reinstatement of a lost tradition, these writings show that the movement actually represents the triumph of a modernist esthetic - and consequently that "period" performances are in fact the only truly modern performances of classical music on offer. Yet far from impugning the movement's claim to authenticity, Taruskin argues that as the only truly contemporary performance practice, "early music" is authentic in a much more profound and relevant sense than a mere historical verisimilitude could ever be. These essays cast fresh light on many aspects of contemporary music-making and music-thinking, with lighthearted debunking taking its place alongside impassioned argumentation. A wide-ranging, newly written introduction explores the relationship between issues surrounding musical performance and other areas of contemporary intellectual ferment in the humanities and the social sciences, including philosophy, law, history, and anthropology. Bringing his considerable skills as a scholar and a performer to bear on the situation, Taruskin's essays, ranging from theoretical speculation to practical criticism, cover a repertory that includes Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, and Stravinsky.

Text and Act: Essays on Music and Performance

Preface by George Seferis 1. Getting Acquainted 2. The Phenomenon of Music 3. The Composition of Music 4. Musical Typology 5. The Avatars of Russian Music 6. The Performance of Music Epilogue

‘Alte Musik’ or ‘Early Music’?

Citations

The Oxford History of Western Music

Poetics Of Music In The Form Of Six Lessons

Roots of the classical

References

Style and Idea

The Oxford history of western music

Text and Act: Essays on Music and Performance

Poetics of music in the form of six lessons

The Oxford History of Western Music

Related Papers (5)

Music and dance

The transmission of ancient music theory into the Middle Ages

Tonal consciousness and the medieval West

War and Music in the Sixteenth Century

Music as Performance: Living in the Immaterial World