Performance Practice, Vol. 1: Music Before 1600 (The Norton/Grove Handbooks in Music)

By: Brown, Howard

Book Overview

This handbook, an entirely new work, is not simply another guide to the performance of music of the past; it is, rather, a book about the study of past performance. Each main section - Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and Twentieth Century - contains an introduction dealing with contexts of performance as well as sources and theory. This is followed by detailed discussions of vocal and instrumental performance. In the sections on instruments, for example, acknowledged authorities such as Professor Brown, Peter Williams, Malcolm Bilson and Robert Winter, consider how the techniques and sound of instruments of the past differ from those of today. Vocal music and its demands on the performer at different times in history are discussed by David Hiley, Ellen T. Harris, and Will Crutchfield, among others. In addition, the reader will find in each section articles on such technical topics as notation, pitch, fingering, tempo, tuning, and ornamentation.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0393028070
• ISBN13: 9780393028072
• Release Date: March 1990
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 281 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.6" x 0.9" x 6.4"