First comprehensive historical study, going back to 18th century. Influence of Schola Cantorum; instrument builders; performers such as Wanda Landowska, Alfred Deller, others. Includes 46 illustrations. "Well informed" -- Christopher Hogwood.

The twentieth-century revival of early music unfolded in two successive movements rooted respectively in nineteenth-century antiquarianism and in rediscovery of the value of original instruments. The present volume is a collection of insights reflecting the principal concerns of the second of those revivals, focusing on early keyboards, and beginning in the 1950s. The volume and its authors acknowledge Canadian harpsichordist Kenneth Gilbert (b. 1931) as one of this revival’s leaders. The content reflects international research on early keyboard music, sources, instruments, theory, editing, and discography. Considerations that echo throughout the book are the problematics of source attributions, progressive institutionalization of early music, historical instruments as agents of artistic change and education, antecedents and networks of the revival seen as a social phenomenon, the impact of historical performance and the quest for understanding style and genre. The chapters cover historical performance practice, source studies, edition, theory and form, and instrument curating and building. Among their authors are prominent figures in performance, music history, editing, instrument building and restoration, and theory, some of whom engaged with the early keyboard revival as it was happening.

Why is music from the past significant today and how has it been transformed to suit new values and agendas? This volume examines the globally recurrent cultural processes of revival, resurgence, restoration, and renewal. Interdisciplinary perspectives shed new light on authenticity, recontextualization, transmission, institutionalization, globalization, and post-revival legacies.

This work represents the first comparative study of the folk revival movement in Anglophone Canada and the United States and combines this with discussion of the way folk music intersected with, and was structured by, conceptions of national affinity and national identity. Based on original archival research carried out principally in Toronto, Washington and Ottawa, it is a thematic, rather than general, study of the movement which has been influenced by various academic disciplines, including history, musicology and folklore. Dr Gillian Mitchell begins with an introduction that provides vital context for the subject by tracing the development of the idea of 'the folk', folklore and folk music since the nineteenth century, and how that idea has been applied in the North American context, before going on to examine links forged by folksong collectors, artists and musicians between folk music and national identity during the early twentieth century. With the 'boom' of the revival in the early sixties came the ways in which the movement in both countries proudly promoted a vision of nation that was inclusive, pluralistic and eclectic. It was a vision which proved compatible with both Canada and America, enabling both countries to explore a diversity of music without exclusiveness or narrowness of focus. It was also closely linked to the idealism of the grassroots political movements of the early 1960s, such as integrationist civil rights, and the early student movement. After 1965 this inclusive vision of nation in folk music began to wane. While the celebrations of the Centennial in Canada led to a re-emphasis on the 'Canadianness' of Canadian folk music, the turbulent events in the United States led many ex-revivalists to turn away from politics and embrace new identities as introspective singer-songwriters. Many of those who remained interested in traditional folk music styles, such as Celtic or Klezmer music, tended to be very insular and conservative in their approach, rather than linking their chosen genre to a wider world of folk music; however, more recent attempts at 'fusion' or 'world' music suggest a return to the eclectic spirit of the 1960s folk revival. Thus, from 1945 to 1980, folk music in Canada and America experienced an evolving and complex relationship with the concepts of nation and national identity. Students will find the book useful as an introduction, not only to key themes in the folk revival, but also to concepts in the study of national identity and to topics in American and Canadian cultural history. Academic specialists will encounter an alternative perspective from the more general, broad approach offered by earlier histories of the folk revival movement.

Isolde Ahlgrimm (1914-1995) was an important pioneer in the revival of Baroque and Classical keyboard instruments in her native city, Vienna, and later, throughout Europe and the United States. She trained as a pianist at the Musikakademie in Vienna under the instruction of Viktor Ebenstein, Emil von Sauer and Franz Schmidt. In 1934 she met the musical instrument collector, Dr Erich Fiala, whom she married in 1938. His activities opened up the world of early instruments to her. Using a 1790 fortepiano by Michael Rosenberger, Isolde Ahlgrimm began her career as a specialist on early keyboard instruments with the first in her notable series of Concerte fur Kenner und Liebhaber, given in Vienna's Palais Palffy in February 1937. Ahlgrimm's career as a harpsichordist also began in 1937, when a new instrument was commissioned from the Ammer brothers in Eisenberg, Germany. In 1943 Ahlgrimm performed her first all-harpsichord programme, which consisted of the Goldberg Variations by J.S. Bach. From 1949 to 1956, she devoted herself to performing and recording nearly all of Bach's harpsichord music for the newly-founded Dutch label, Philips, presenting her new approach to the harpsichord to a wider audience. Ahlgrimm's performances of Baroque music represented a radical departure from the distinctly twentieth-century interpretations by the much more famous Wanda Landowska and her followers. Most obviously, Ahlgrimm's harpsichord performances eliminated frequent registration changes (her instrument had hand stops rather than pedals to change registers), and largely eschewed the massive ritardandi and other anachronistic performance practices that were hallmarks of Landowska's essentially Romantic style. Ahlgrimm researched and emphasized rhetorical traditions on which the music was based. This became more pronounced throughout the course of her later performing, writing and teaching career, and it was the beginning of an approach to the performance of eighteenth-century musi

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From Washington Square Park and Café Society to WNYC Radio and Folkways Records, New York City's cultural, artistic, and commercial assets helped to shape a distinctively urban breeding ground for the famous folk music revival of the 1950s and '60s. Folk City, by Stephen Petrus and Ronald Cohen, explores New York's central role in fueling the nationwide craze for folk music in postwar America.

Haynes (U. of Montreal) traces the history of musical pitch standards over the last four centuries, linking frequency values to pitch names and telling where, when, and why various pitch levels have been used. With a focus on Italy, France, Germany, the Netherlands and the Hapsburg lands, he covers the pitches of about 1,400 historical instruments and how the design and function influenced and were influenced by changes in pitch. In addition, he studies the effect of pitch differences on musical notation and choice of key. The author has also written a book on the oboe, the instrument that plays the "A" to which a symphony orchestra tunes. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

This resource considers the Baroque cello's revival as part of the period instrument movement from the viewpoints of more than forty cellists from three generations and four luthiers who have worked on period cellos. What emerges is a nuanced and detailed picture of the cello in the past and present and the varied instruments now played under the label 'Baroque cello.' Period instruments played with appropriate techniques have become a major presence in classical music. For the cello, which changed substantially between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries, it is challenging to describe specific traits for certain time periods. Through improvements in strings and the efforts of luthiers such as Stradivari, the cello became smaller and easier to play. Many controversies remain concerning the Baroque cello's form, including aspects of the bass bar, neck, fingerboard, and bridge. Although an uneasy consensus on technical matters has emerged for Baroque cellists today, one still encounters significant questions on important issues. Doubts compound when period performers enter the Classic and Romantic eras. By chronicling the searches of top cellists in England, Europe, and North America, the author reveals the great variety of forms that exist among what cellists call the 'Baroque cello.' This is the first study in which the revival of a single period instrument has been considered in such qualified detail. This book also offers many details concerning the history of the period performance movement in reference to famous ensembles and musicians. This volume will be welcomed by musicologists, luthiers, and anyone interested in string history.

Spanning a millennium of musical history, this monumental volume brings together nearly forty leading authorities to survey the music of Western Europe in the Middle Ages. All of the major aspects of medieval music are considered, making use of the latest research and thinking to discuss everything from the earliest genres of chant, through the music of the liturgy, to the riches of the vernacular song of the trouvères and troubadours. Alongside this account of the core repertory of monophony, The Cambridge History of Medieval Music tells the story of the birth of polyphonic music, and studies the genres of organum, conductus, motet and polyphonic song. Key composers of the period are introduced, such as Leoninus, Perotinus, Adam de la Halle, Philippe de Vitry and Guillaume de Machaut, and other chapters examine topics ranging from musical theory and performance to institutions, culture and collections.