I have been reading an excellent book of essays by the philosopher Peter Kivy called The Fine Art of Repetition: Essays in the Philosophy of Music that is, fortunately browsable by way of Google Books. Though I don't agree with everything Kivy says, and there are some glaring "innocences" in the chapter on the concept of "historically accurate" performance, like a reference to the Mozart Clarinet Concerto having been played on the clarinet and only the clarinet (we know now that it was written for the basset clarinet), and his reference to the term Adagio as a tempo marking rather than an indication of character, I really enjoy his writing and the spirit of his arguments.
You might notice that Kivy always refers to performing musicians and musicologists as "he or she," but he only refers to composers as "he." Hmm. I guess that is another "innocence."
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