florida state university college of music performance practice

movement occurred as a reaction to the “extreme indulgences of the past” and sought
economy of expression. 58
The creation in 1933 of the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis located in Basel,
Switzerland, represented a formalized entity whose purpose was to research pertinent
issues and questions regarding the performance of early music and implement such
findings in practice. 59 The academy‟s syllabus promoted the study of ornamentation,
continuo playing, notation and other courses related to early music. 60 The academy and
research center is still in existence, making it the oldest institution of its type in the world
and bolstering the argument against the notion that early music is nothing more than a
short-lived fad. One of the academy‟s most influential alumni, Gustav Leonhardt,
graduated in 1950 and would be a major thrust in the early music movement and is well
known for his collaboration with Nikolaus Harnoncourt in recording all of J.S. Bach‟s
cantatas beginning in 1971. 61
In 1939, Igor Stravinsky‟s Norton lectures at Harvard proposed that matters of
performance were of an ethical nature. 62 His “value-laden” rhetoric can be seen in the
following quotes: “Between the executant…and the interpreter…there exists a difference
in make up that is of an ethical rather than of an esthetic order, a difference that presents
a point of conscience.” 63
The Saint Matthew’s Passion by Johann Sebastian Bach is written for a chambermusic
ensemble. Its first performance in Bach‟s lifetime was perfectly realized by
a total force of thirty-four musicians, including soloists and chorus. That is
known. And nevertheless in our day one does not hesitate to present the work, in
complete disregard of the composer‟s wishes, with hundreds of performers,
sometimes almost a thousand. This lack of understanding of the interpreter‟s
obligations, this arrogant pride in numbers, this concupiscence of the many,
betray a complete lack of musical education. 64
58
Arnold Whittall, “Neo-classicism,” Grove Music Online (Accessed 11 December 2007),
59
Fabian, Bach Performance Practice, 1945-1975, 30.
60
Dorottya Fabian Somorjay, “Musicology and Performance Practice: In Search of a Historical Style with
Bach Recordings,” Studia Musicologica Academiae Scientarium Hungaricae T.41, Fasc. 1/3 (2000), 78.
61
Ibid.
62
Le Huray, Authenticity in Performance, 2.
63
Igor Stavinsky, Poetics of Music, Bilingual edition, 163.
64
Igor Stravinsky, Poetics of Music, 173.
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