Performing Baroque Music - Hardcover

Cyr, Mary

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0859679608 ISBN 13: 9780859679602

Publisher: Routledge, 2011

Synopsis

Listeners, performers, students and teachers will find here the analytical tools they need to understand and interpret musical evidence from the baroque era. Scores for eleven works, many reproduced in facsimile to illustrate the conventions of 17th and 18th century notation, are included for close study. Readers will find new material on continuo playing, as well as extensive treatment of singing and French music. The book is also a concise guide to reference materials in the field of baroque performance practice with extensive annotated bibliographies of modern and baroque sources that guide the reader toward further study. First published by Ashgate (at that time known as Scolar Press) in 1992 and having been out of print for some years, this title is now available as a print on demand title.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

Mary Cyr's Performing Baroque Music is unique as a practical guide devoted in its entirety to the most important issues of baroque performance practice. Listeners, performers, students, and instructors will find here, carefully explained and thoroughly documented, the analytical tools they need to understand and interpret musical evidence from the baroque era. Cyr, an acclaimed baroque musician as well as a noted scholar, considers "both the boundaries and the freedom that were inherent in baroque performing techniques". Chapter 1 introduces the field of performance practice and its goals, the limits of "authenticity", and the characteristics of baroque sound. Chapters 2 through 8 explore issues critical to the performance of baroque music: tempo, dynamics, pitch and temperament, the basso continuo, articulation, rhythm and notational conventions, and appropriate ornamentation. Readers will find new material on continuo playing, as well as extensive treatment of singing and French music. Scores for eleven works, many reproduced in facsimile to illustrate the conventions of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century notation, are included for close study. These works are also available on the cassette tape offered as a companion to this book, featuring recent performances by musicians of international reputation. The literature on baroque performance practice has grown to such vast proportions in recent decades that this thoughtful volume serves also as a concise guide to reference materials. Extensive annotated bibliographies of modern and baroque sources will be useful to performers and fans. During the baroque period, performer and composer shared a more equal role in the compositionalprocess than is typical today, so that interpretation in performance is particularly important. Mary Cyr's work contributes greatly to our understanding of the creation of baroque sound and to the shared goal of effective and enjoyable performance.

About the Author:

Mary Cyr is Professor of Music, Emerita, at the University of Guelph, Canada.

About this edition

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0859679608
• ISBN 13: 9780859679602
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 254