florida state university college of music performance practice

the French and Italians, characteristically incorporated expressive devices such as phrase
rubato and superfluous crescendi and decrescendi. 41
Interestingly enough, the romantic ideal of autonomous and transcendent art
resonated in the next century in the form of Werktreue, the idea of recreating the score to
reveal the composer‟s intentions and the work‟s original performance. 42 Nevertheless, as
Glen Carruthers (1992) suggests, even in the Nineteenth Century there was a school of
pianists whose teachings advocated that Bach‟s keyboard works should be played in a
literal and objective style, thus adhering as closely to the written score as possible. 43
A seed of historical awareness was planted by the Society of Saint Cecilia,
founded in 1868. The society and the movement for which it is named, Caecilian
movement, was particularly influential in continental countries with large Catholic
populations. The movement sought to reclaim the historical forms of plainchant in the
liturgy and to support polyphony in the conservative style of Palestrina. 44
The conclusion of the nineteenth century brought about much promise as well as
many uncertainties. The promise of technology to improve people‟s lives would be a
constant theme explored and debated in the coming century. In addition, the close of the
nineteenth century lacked a clear and decisive course that would be explored in the arts.
Evidence of this is visibly indicative in popular architecture known as the “neo styles.”
Neo-Gothic, Neo-Baroque and Neo-Classic all were styles explored from architecture‟s
historical past rather than creating a sustained interest in a new and genuine style. Such
experiences in architecture foreshadowed those that would besiege music in the coming
century as exemplified in neo-classical ideology.
Early Music - The Dawn of the Twentieth Century
The dawn of the twentieth century to after the Second World War possessed
actions, individuals, and groups who were tremendously important to the foundation,
development and implementation of ideas concerning early music and performance
41
Jürg Stenzl and Irene Zedlacher, “In Search of a History of Musical Interpretation, The Musical
Quarterly 79.4 (Winter 1995), 688.
42
Fabian, Bach Performance Practice, 1945-1975, 6.
43
Glen Carruthers. “Subjectivity, objectivity and authenticity in nineteenth – century Bach interpretation.”
Canadian University Music Review 12.1: 95-112.
44
Neal Zaslaw, “Reflections on 50 years of early music,” Early Music 29.1 (February 2001): 6.
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