The past ten years have seen a rapidly growing interest in performing and recording Classical and Romantic music with period instruments; yet the relationship of composers' notation to performing practices during that period has received only sporadic attention from scholars, and many aspects of composers' intentions have remained uncertain. Brown here identifies areas in which musical notation conveyed rather different messages to the musicians for whom it was written than it does to modern performers, and seeks to look beyond the notation to understand how composers might have expected to hear their music realized in performance. There is ample evidence to demonstrate that, in many respects, the sound worlds in which Mozart, Beethoven, Wagner, and Brahms created their music were more radically different from ours than is generally assumed.
Industry Reviews
"This book will revolutionize the study of music...The book weaves strong patterns from the conflicting habits of different places, people and periods. It doesn't tell you exactly what to do, but inspires a confidence that your own decisions, thus informed, will work."--BBC Music Magazine
"Brown has produced a work of the greatest scholarship and utility....Recommended--required!--for all libraries with music collections serving upper-division undergraduates and above."--Choice
"His substantial book presents many new findings and demonstrates new approaches. Brown has contributed greatly to our understanding of period technique, especially for string instruments" --Notes
"His book offers a wealth of advice and ideas, ideas which should be thought of as creative and enabling, not restrictive."--Early Music Review
"Brown's grasp of primary sources is wide-ranging and scholarly, lavishly illustrated with musical examples, often of unfamiliar repertory. He uncovers many questions and possible answers, which can hardly fail to stimulate the thinking performer."--Gramophone Early Music
"The fact that the book focuses on notation will make it permanently useful, something to consult."--The Musical Times
"This book will revolutionize the study of music...The book weaves strong patterns from the conflicting habits of different places, people and periods. It doesn't tell you exactly what to do, but inspires a confidence that your own decisions, thus informed, will work."--BBC Music Magazine
"Brown has produced a work of the greatest scholarship and utility....Recommended--required!--for all libraries with music collections serving upper-division undergraduates and above."--Choice
"His substantial book presents many new findings and demonstrates new approaches. Brown has contributed greatly to our understanding of period technique, especially for string instruments" --Notes
"His book offers a wealth of advice and ideas, ideas which should be thought of as creative and enabling, not restrictive."--Early Music Review
"Brown's grasp of primary sources is wide-ranging and scholarly, lavishly illustrated with musical examples, often of unfamiliar repertory. He uncovers many questions and and possible answers, which can hardly fail to stimulate the thinking performer."--Gramophone Early Music
"The fact that the book focuses on notation will make it permanently useful, something to consult."--The Musical Times
