
Performing by the Book?
Musical Negotiations between Text and Act
Bruno Forment(Editor)
Leuven University Press
Published on 15. October 2024
Book
Paperback/Softback
376 pages
978-94-6270-414-5 (ISBN)
Description
The challenges and limits for musicians dealing with texts.
To perform a musical score implies the transformation of a symbolically coded text into vibrant sound. In Performing by the Book? a carefully selected cadre of artist-researchers dissects this delicate act in critical ways. Offering first-hand insights into the notational, structural and interpretative challenges faced by musicians in dealing with texts of all kinds, the chapters traverse the spectrum between the Middle Ages and the age of Stockhausen. In a harmonious blend of scholarly allure and individual artistry, free from academic obfuscation, the contributors keep a keen eye on the limits of interpretation, both in terms of the interpretative process itself and of the balance between textual faithfulness and artistic autonomy. This comprehensive volume is an indispensable guide for everyone interested in the relationship between musical performance and texts.
Contributing authors: Niels Berentsen (Haute ecole de musique de Geneve-Neuchatel (HES-SO) / conductor of Diskantores), Bjoern Schmelzer (artistic director of Graindelavoix / independent researcher), Jonathan Ayerst (freelance organist and improviser), Elizabeth Dobbin (Le Jardin Secret / Haute ecole de musique de Geneve (HES-SO)), Camilla Koehnken (freelance pianist-researcher / Bern Academy of the Arts), George Kennaway (cellist, conductor, teacher, publisher and musicologist / University of Leeds), Kate Bennett Wadsworth (cellist / Guildhall School of Music and Drama), Nir Cohen-Shalit (conductor and independent researcher), Xiangning Lin (pianist / Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, National University of Singapore), Clare Lesser (independent performer, musicologist and composer).
Ebook available in Open Access. This publication is GPRC-labeled (Guaranteed Peer-Reviewed Content).
To perform a musical score implies the transformation of a symbolically coded text into vibrant sound. In Performing by the Book? a carefully selected cadre of artist-researchers dissects this delicate act in critical ways. Offering first-hand insights into the notational, structural and interpretative challenges faced by musicians in dealing with texts of all kinds, the chapters traverse the spectrum between the Middle Ages and the age of Stockhausen. In a harmonious blend of scholarly allure and individual artistry, free from academic obfuscation, the contributors keep a keen eye on the limits of interpretation, both in terms of the interpretative process itself and of the balance between textual faithfulness and artistic autonomy. This comprehensive volume is an indispensable guide for everyone interested in the relationship between musical performance and texts.
Contributing authors: Niels Berentsen (Haute ecole de musique de Geneve-Neuchatel (HES-SO) / conductor of Diskantores), Bjoern Schmelzer (artistic director of Graindelavoix / independent researcher), Jonathan Ayerst (freelance organist and improviser), Elizabeth Dobbin (Le Jardin Secret / Haute ecole de musique de Geneve (HES-SO)), Camilla Koehnken (freelance pianist-researcher / Bern Academy of the Arts), George Kennaway (cellist, conductor, teacher, publisher and musicologist / University of Leeds), Kate Bennett Wadsworth (cellist / Guildhall School of Music and Drama), Nir Cohen-Shalit (conductor and independent researcher), Xiangning Lin (pianist / Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, National University of Singapore), Clare Lesser (independent performer, musicologist and composer).
Ebook available in Open Access. This publication is GPRC-labeled (Guaranteed Peer-Reviewed Content).
Reviews / Votes
"Performers involved with HIP will find this collection of essays invaluable. Musicologists will also find much to ponder, and the relatively straightforward written style of almost all the contributions will appeal to a wide readership of concertgoers, especially those with an interest in historical performance." - John Potter, singer and author Bruno Forment has assembled a wonderful group of artistic researchers (of the highest calibre) working in a wide range of musical styles and periods; there is something here for everyone. - Neal Peres Da Costa, Sydney Conservatorium of Music Taruskin zette voor iedereen die verder kijkt dan de illusie van een kenbare bron de deur open, Bruno Forment (hij nam de redactie op zich) alsmede zijn auteurs kijken goed rond en nodigen uit anderen uit in de toekomst nog verder te kijken. - Emanuel Overbeeke, OpusKlassiek, december 2024, https://www.opusklassiek.nl/boeken/forment_hip.htmMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Leuven
Belgium
Target group
Professional and scholarly
US School Grade: College Graduate Student and over
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
Not illustrated
Dimensions
Height: 285 mm
Width: 195 mm
Thickness: 14 mm
Weight
638 gr
ISBN-13
978-94-6270-414-5 (9789462704145)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Book
03/2025
Leuven University Press
€81.90
Shipment within 10-20 days
Person
Bruno Forment is the principal investigator of the 'Resounding Libraries' research cluster at Orpheus Instituut and the Leader of the 'Performances' Working Group in the European COST Action EarlyMuse.
Bruno Forment is hoofdonderzoeker aan het Orpheus Instituut in Gent. Hij publiceerde talrijke boeken en essays over 18e-eeuwse opera, scenografie en artistiek onderzoek. Daarnaast is hij actief als musicus en als erfgoedspecialist.
Bruno Forment is hoofdonderzoeker aan het Orpheus Instituut in Gent. Hij publiceerde talrijke boeken en essays over 18e-eeuwse opera, scenografie en artistiek onderzoek. Daarnaast is hij actief als musicus en als erfgoedspecialist.
Content
Introduction. Musical Texts and Contexts: Stairway to Heaven or Highway to Hell?
Bruno Forment
Mind the Gap: Reimagining Incomplete Medieval Music
Niels Berentsen
Performing by the Book (Next to the Book You Were Looking For), or: Aby Warburg's "Good Neighbour"
Bjoern Schmelzer
Pluralising the Musical Text: Improvising on Canonic Repertoire
Jonathan Ayerst
A la recherche du chant perdu: The airs serieux in the Recueils d'airs serieux et a boire de differents auteurs (1695-99) as a Lens on Vocal Practices in the Seventeenth-Century Parisian Salon
Elizabeth Dobbin
From Beethoven Performance to Beethoven Interpretation: Carl Czerny and Franz Liszt's Evolving Relationship, 1822-57
Camilla Koehnken
Nineteenth-Century Texts in the Twenty-First Century
George Kennaway
The Flexible Text: Published and Unpublished Alterations to the Schumann Cello Concerto in the Nineteenth Century
Kate Bennett Wadsworth
The Romantic Conductor-Scholar: What I Learned from the Archives
Nir Cohen-Shalit
Relocating Ravel's "Sad Birds" in Alternative Forests of Place and Time
Xiangning Lin
The Virgin Act: Mediating Supplement and Repetition in Performance
Clare Lesser
Online materials
Notes on Contributors
Index
Bruno Forment
Mind the Gap: Reimagining Incomplete Medieval Music
Niels Berentsen
Performing by the Book (Next to the Book You Were Looking For), or: Aby Warburg's "Good Neighbour"
Bjoern Schmelzer
Pluralising the Musical Text: Improvising on Canonic Repertoire
Jonathan Ayerst
A la recherche du chant perdu: The airs serieux in the Recueils d'airs serieux et a boire de differents auteurs (1695-99) as a Lens on Vocal Practices in the Seventeenth-Century Parisian Salon
Elizabeth Dobbin
From Beethoven Performance to Beethoven Interpretation: Carl Czerny and Franz Liszt's Evolving Relationship, 1822-57
Camilla Koehnken
Nineteenth-Century Texts in the Twenty-First Century
George Kennaway
The Flexible Text: Published and Unpublished Alterations to the Schumann Cello Concerto in the Nineteenth Century
Kate Bennett Wadsworth
The Romantic Conductor-Scholar: What I Learned from the Archives
Nir Cohen-Shalit
Relocating Ravel's "Sad Birds" in Alternative Forests of Place and Time
Xiangning Lin
The Virgin Act: Mediating Supplement and Repetition in Performance
Clare Lesser
Online materials
Notes on Contributors
Index