How does history teach the classical musician?
July 11, 2009
Classical music is a highly specialised art form; the cliché of early years spent drilling scales and arpeggios rings true for many a musician.
Why, in a specialised medium which is essentially practical and tactile, and in which most learning is absorbed through a teacher, (supplemented by recordings, performances and colleagues) should we be bothered by learning about the history of this music and of its rendering in the past?
On a simple level, advocates of historically informed performance practice could argue that integral to a convincing performance of a work is an understanding of how this work may have been played in its historical context – and that in the recreation of similar circumstances of performance, the essence of a work is to be most faithfully captured (of course not all early music devotees believe this). This is one level of argument for historical understanding, which I will not further expound on here, as I would like to engage with a slightly different (though related) argument for historical understanding in classical music.
On a simple level, the possibility of adding to our repertoire is one very basic reason for delving into the past and investigating the history of a musician in whom we may be interested, or a musical institution or composer. The chance of recovering neglected compositions is a real one.
By our enquiry, we may also discover that, in the performance of western art music, our given mores and traditions weren’t necessarily always as they are now, and are not as immutable as they seem.
Researching the practices of an interesting performer in the past may also entice us to try something new in our own performance, to mix works differently, to embellish and extemporise at a certain moment, and to adapt, change and develop repertoire in a new (or old!) way.
It would always seem that the most valuable outcome of such an enquiry is in fact a new, better, more convincing way to do something; hopefully though, what might develop in the player concerned is an ability to question the conventions which govern us.
Enquiry teaches us much more than we can suppose it will at the outset.
