View source for Historically informed performance

{{Short description|Approach to the performance of classical music}}
[[File:La Ritirata.jpg|thumb|280px|Performance on [[#Early instruments|period instrument]]s is a key aspect of HIP, such as this [[baroque orchestra]] (Photo: [[Josetxu Obregón]] and the Spanish ensemble La Ritirata, 2013).]]
'''Historically informed performance''' (also referred to as '''period performance''', '''authentic performance''', or '''HIP''') is an approach to the performance of [[Western classical music|classical music]] which aims to be faithful to the approach, manner and style of the [[musical era]] in which a work was originally conceived.

It is based on two key aspects: the application of the stylistic and technical aspects of performance, known as '''performance practice'''; and the use of [[#Early instruments|period instrument]]s which may be reproductions of historical instruments that were in use at the time of the original composition, and which usually have different [[timbre]] and [[temperament (music)|temperament]]{{sfn|Lawson|Stowell|1999|p=17-18}} from their modern equivalents. A further area of study, that of changing listener expectations, is increasingly under investigation.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Bonds|first=Mark Evan|title=Music as Thought|publisher=Princeton University Press|year=2006|isbn=978-0-691-12659-3|location=Princeton}}</ref>

Given no [[Sound recording and reproduction|sound recording]]s exist of music before the late 19th century, historically informed performance is largely derived from [[Musicology|musicological analysis of texts]]. Historical [[treatise]]s, pedagogic tutor books, and concert critiques, as well as additional historical evidence, are all used to gain insight into the performance practice of a historic era. Extant recordings (cylinders, discs, and reproducing piano rolls) from the 1890s onwards have enabled scholars of 19th-century Romanticism to gain a uniquely detailed understanding of this style, although not without significant remaining questions. In all eras, HIP performers will normally use original sources (manuscript or facsimile), or scholarly or [[urtext edition]]s of a musical score as a basic template, while additionally applying a range of contemporaneous stylistic practices, including rhythmic alterations and ornamentation of many kinds.{{sfn|Lawson|Stowell|1999|p=17-18}}

Historically informed performance was principally developed in a number of Western countries in the mid to late 20th century, ironically a modernist response to the modernist break with earlier performance traditions.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Taruskin|first=Richard|title=Text & Act: Essays on Music and Performance|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1995|location=Oxford}}</ref> Initially concerned with the performance of [[Medieval music|Medieval]], [[Renaissance music|Renaissance]], and [[Baroque music]], HIP now encompasses music from the [[Classical music era|Classical]] and [[Romantic music|Romantic]] eras. HIP has been a crucial part of the [[early music revival]] movement of the 20th and 21st centuries, and has begun to affect the theatrical stage, for instance in the production of [[Baroque opera]], where historically informed approaches to acting and scenery are also used.<ref name="hunter">{{cite book|last1=Hunter|first1=Mary|editor1-last=Greenwald|editor1-first=Helen M.|title=The Oxford Handbook of Opera|date=2014|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-971484-1|pages=606–8|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LOFvBAAAQBAJ&q=Historically%20informed%20performance%20opera%20theatre&pg=PA608|access-date=3 March 2018|language=en|chapter=27. Historically informed performance|archive-date=20 August 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230820090034/https://books.google.com/books?id=LOFvBAAAQBAJ&q=Historically%20informed%20performance%20opera%20theatre&pg=PA608|url-status=live}}</ref>{{sfn|Lawson|Stowell|1999|p=17-18}}

Some critics contest the methodology of the HIP movement, contending that its selection of practices and aesthetics are a product of the 20th century and that it is ultimately impossible to know what performances of an earlier time sounded like. Obviously, the older the style and repertoire, the greater the cultural distance and the increased possibility of misunderstanding the evidence. For this reason, the term "historically informed" is now preferred to "authentic", as it acknowledges the limitations of academic understanding, rather than implying absolute accuracy in recreating historical performance style, or worse, a moralising tone.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Fabian|first1=Dorottya|title=The Meaning of Authenticity and The Early Music Movement: A Historical Review|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/284522166|access-date=3 March 2018|date=1 December 2001}}</ref><ref name="hunter" />

==Early instruments==
{{See also|List of period instruments}}
[[File:Edinburgh St Cecilia's Hall.jpg|thumb|Historical collections of preserved instruments help researchers ([[St Cecilia's Hall]], [[Edinburgh]])]]
The choice of musical instruments is an important part of the principle of historically informed performance. Musical instruments have evolved over time, and instruments that were in use in earlier periods of history are often quite different from their modern equivalents. Many other instruments have fallen out of use, having been replaced by newer tools for creating music. For example, prior to the emergence of the modern [[violin]], other bowed stringed instruments such as the [[rebec]] or the [[viol]] were in common use.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Silvela|first1=Zdenko|title=A New History of Violin Playing: The Vibrato and Lambert Massart's Revolutionary Discovery|date=2001|publisher=Universal-Publishers|isbn=978-1-58112-667-9|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gXqBVbWm6tkC&q=violin%20evolved%20from%20rebec&pg=PA22|access-date=5 March 2018|language=en}}</ref> The existence of ancient instruments in museum collections has helped musicologists to understand how the different design, tuning and tone of instruments may have affected earlier performance practice.{{sfn|Lawson|Stowell|1999|p=18-19}}

As well as a research tool, historic instruments have an active role in the practice of historically informed performance. Modern instrumentalists who aim to recreate a historic sound often use modern reproductions of period instruments (and occasionally original instruments) on the basis that this will deliver a musical performance that is thought to be historically faithful to the original work, as the original composer would have heard it. For example, a modern music ensemble staging a performance of music by [[Johann Sebastian Bach]] may play reproduction [[Baroque violin]]s instead of modern instruments in an attempt to create the sound of a 17th-century [[Baroque orchestra]].{{sfn|Lawson|Stowell|1999|p=18-19}}<ref>{{cite book|last1=Schippers|first1=Huib|title=Facing the Music: Shaping Music Education from a Global Perspective|date=2009|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-970193-3|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-yYzW0ujEsIC&q=period%20instruments%20authentic%20performance&pg=PA48|access-date=5 March 2018|language=en|archive-date=20 August 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230820090031/https://books.google.com/books?id=-yYzW0ujEsIC&q=period%20instruments%20authentic%20performance&pg=PA48|url-status=live}}</ref>

This has led to the revival of musical instruments that had entirely fallen out of use, and to a reconsideration of the role and structure of instruments also used in current practice.{{Original research inline|date=March 2018}}

Orchestras and ensembles who are noted for their use of period instruments in performances include the [[Taverner Consort and Players]] (directed by [[Andrew Parrott]]), the [[Academy of Ancient Music]] ([[Christopher Hogwood]]), the [[Concentus Musicus Wien]] ([[Nikolaus Harnoncourt]]), [[The English Concert]] ([[Trevor Pinnock]]), the [[Hanover Band]] ([[Roy Goodman]]), the [[Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century]] ([[Frans Brüggen]]), the [[English Baroque Soloists]] (Sir [[John Eliot Gardiner]]), [[Musica Antiqua Köln]] ([[Reinhard Goebel]]), [[Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir]] ([[Ton Koopman]]), [[Les Arts Florissants (ensemble)|Les Arts Florissants]] ([[William Christie (musician)|William Christie]]), [[Le Concert des Nations]] ([[Jordi Savall]]), [[La Petite Bande]] ([[Sigiswald Kuijken]]), [[La Chapelle Royale]] ([[Philippe Herreweghe]]),<ref name="wilson">{{cite book|last1=Wilson|first1=Nick|title=The Art of Re-enchantment: Making Early Music in the Modern Age|date=2013|publisher=OUP USA|isbn=978-0-19-993993-0|page=76|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fWgBAQAAQBAJ&q=The%20Taverner%20Choir%2C%20Consort%20%26%20Players&pg=PA76|access-date=2 March 2018|language=en|archive-date=20 August 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230820090031/https://books.google.com/books?id=fWgBAQAAQBAJ&q=The%20Taverner%20Choir%2C%20Consort%20%26%20Players&pg=PA76|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="billboard-gardiner">{{cite magazine|last1=Waleson|first1=Heidi|title=Super-conductor: John Eliot Gardiner|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vgcEAAAAMBAJ&q=English%20Baroque%20Soloists%20period%20instruments&pg=PA46|access-date=6 March 2018|magazine=Billboard|publisher=Nielsen Business Media, Inc.|date=7 September 1996|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Knights|first1=F.|title=A farewell to Musica Antiqua Koln|journal=Early Music|date=1 February 2013|volume=41|issue=1|pages=173–174|doi=10.1093/em/cas166|language=en|issn=0306-1078}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Philippe Herreweghe|url=https://www.concertgebouworkest.nl/en/philippe-herreweghe|website=www.concertgebouworkest.nl|publisher=Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra|access-date=6 March 2018|language=en-EN|archive-date=15 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210515175531/https://www.concertgebouworkest.nl/en/philippe-herreweghe|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Concert de la Loge Olympique]] ([[Julien Chauvin]], the [[Australian Brandenburg Orchestra]] ([[Paul Dyer (conductor)|Paul Dyer]]), and the [[Freiburger Barockorchester]] ([[Gottfried von der Goltz]]).<ref>{{cite news |last=Zwartz |first=Barney |date=2020-03-12 |title=Freiburg delivers rare chance to hear Beethoven's genius mature |url=https://www.smh.com.au/culture/music/freiburg-delivers-rare-chance-to-hear-beethoven-s-genius-mature-20200312-p549cq.html |work=The Sydney Morning Herald |access-date=2020-04-30 |archive-date=2021-05-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210524214021/https://www.smh.com.au/culture/music/freiburg-delivers-rare-chance-to-hear-beethoven-s-genius-mature-20200312-p549cq.html |url-status=live }}</ref> As the scope of historically informed performance has expanded to encompass the works of the [[Romantic music|Romantic era]], the specific sound of 19th-century instruments has increasingly been recognised in the HIP movement, and period instruments orchestras such as Gardiner's [[Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique]] have emerged.<ref name="npr-gardiner">{{cite web|title=John Eliot Gardiner's Historical Beethoven At Carnegie Hall|url=https://www.npr.org/2011/11/15/142340577/john-eliot-gardiners-historical-beethoven|website=NPR|date=15 November 2011|publisher=National Public Radio|access-date=6 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180306121647/https://www.npr.org/2011/11/15/142340577/john-eliot-gardiners-historical-beethoven|archive-date=6 March 2018|language=en|url-status=live|last1=Wise|first1=Brian}}</ref>

===Harpsichord===
[[File:Cembalo-Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg-2000.532+2.tif|thumb|Harpsichord by [[Pascal Taskin]], [[Paris]] (1780)  ([[Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg]])]]
A variety of once obsolete keyboard instruments such as the [[clavichord]] and the [[harpsichord]] have been revived, as they have particular importance in the performance of Early music. Before the evolution of the symphony orchestra led by a [[Conductor (music)|conductor]], Renaissance and Baroque orchestras were commonly directed from the harpsichord; the director would lead by playing [[Basso continuo|continuo]], which would provide a steady, harmonic structure upon which the other instrumentalists would embellish their parts.<ref>{{cite web|title=Harpsichord – Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment|url=http://www.oae.co.uk/instruments/harpsichord/|website=Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment|access-date=6 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180306230901/http://www.oae.co.uk/instruments/harpsichord/|archive-date=6 March 2018|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Kottick|first1=Edward L.|title=A History of the Harpsichord|date=2003|publisher=Indiana University Press|isbn=978-0-253-34166-2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uexrDtt7JKEC&q=harpsichord%20baroque%20orchestra&pg=PA469|access-date=6 March 2018|language=en|archive-date=20 August 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230820090032/https://books.google.com/books?id=uexrDtt7JKEC&q=harpsichord%20baroque%20orchestra&pg=PA469|url-status=live}}</ref> Many religious works of the era made similar use of the [[pipe organ]], often in combination with a harpsichord.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Moses|first1=Don V.|last2=Demaree|first2=Robert W. Jr.|last3=Ohmes|first3=Allen F.|title=Face to Face with Orchestra and Chorus, Second, Expanded Edition: A Handbook for Choral Conductors|date=2004|publisher=Indiana University Press|isbn=978-0-253-11036-7|page=49|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m58XmBcjRlIC&q=harpsichord%20baroque%20orchestra%20sacred%20works%20organ&pg=PA49|access-date=6 March 2018|language=en|archive-date=20 August 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230820090559/https://books.google.com/books?id=m58XmBcjRlIC&q=harpsichord%20baroque%20orchestra%20sacred%20works%20organ&pg=PA49|url-status=live}}</ref> Historically informed performances frequently make use of keyboard-led ensemble playing.

Composers such as [[François Couperin]], [[Domenico Scarlatti]], [[Girolamo Frescobaldi]], and [[Johann Sebastian Bach]] wrote for the harpsichord, clavichord, and organ.

Among the foremost modern players of the harpsichord are [[Ralph Kirkpatrick]], [[Scott Ross (harpsichordist)|Scott Ross]], [[Alan Curtis (harpsichordist)|Alan Curtis]], [[William Christie (musician)|William Christie]], [[Christopher Hogwood]], [[Robert Hill (musician)|Robert Hill]], [[Igor Kipnis]], [[Ton Koopman]], [[Bob van Asperen]], [[Wanda Landowska]], [[Davitt Moroney]], [[Kenneth Gilbert]], [[Gustav Leonhardt]], [[Trevor Pinnock]], [[Skip Sempé]], [[Andreas Staier]], [[Colin Tilney]], and [[Christophe Rousset]].

===Fortepiano===
During the second half of the 18th century, the harpsichord was gradually replaced by the earliest pianos.  As the harpsichord went out of fashion, many were destroyed; indeed, the Paris Conservatory is notorious for having used harpsichords for firewood during the [[French Revolution]] and Napoleonic times.<ref>Alex Boekelheide, "[http://www.usc.edu/uscnews/stories/10982.html Making Way for Beautiful Music] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303171209/http://www.usc.edu/uscnews/stories/10982.html |date=2016-03-03 }}", ''USC News'' (2 October 2005, accessed 20 January 2014).</ref> Although names were originally interchangeable, the term '[[fortepiano|fortepiano']] now indicates the earlier, smaller style of piano, with the more familiar 'pianoforte' used to describe the larger instruments approaching modern designs from around 1830. In the 20th and 21st centuries, the fortepiano has enjoyed a revival as a result of the trend for historically informed performance, with the works of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert now often played on fortepiano.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Haskell|first1=Harry|title=The Early Music Revival: A History|date=1988|publisher=Courier Corporation|isbn=978-0-486-29162-8|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bGG22O24ObAC&q=Historically%20informed%20performance%20fortepiano&pg=PA190|access-date=6 March 2018|language=en|archive-date=7 April 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220407160745/https://books.google.com/books?id=bGG22O24ObAC&q=Historically%20informed%20performance%20fortepiano&pg=PA190|url-status=live}}</ref> Increasingly, the early to mid 19th century pianos of [[Ignaz Pleyel|Pleyel]], [[Sébastien Érard|Érard]], [[Johann Baptist Streicher|Streicher]] and others are being used to recreate the soundscape of Romantic composers such as Chopin, Liszt and Brahms.

Many keyboard players who specialise in the harpsichord also specialise in the fortepiano and other period instruments. Although some keyboardist renowned for their fortepiano playing are [[Ronald Brautigam]], [[Steven Lubin]], [[Ingrid Haebler]], [[Robert Levin (musicologist)|Robert Levin]], [[Malcolm Bilson]] and [[Tobias Koch (pianist)|Tobias Koch]].

===Viol===
[[File:Viola da gamba (AM 1998.60.11.1-1).jpg|thumb|A [[Viola da gamba]] by Thomas Cole ({{circa|1680}})]]
{{Listen
| type         = music
| filename    = Bach - Cello Suite no. 1 in G major, BWV 1007 - IV. Sarabande.ogg
| title       = The sound of a Modern-era cello
| description = Sarabande from Bach's Cello Suite no. 1 in G major, [[BWV 1007]], played on a modern cello
| pos         = right
| filename2    = Carl Friedrich Abel (1723- 1787) – Sonata in G-Major, WKO155 for Unaccompanied Viola da Gamba for Unaccompanied Viola da Gamba.ogg
| title2       = The sound of a Baroque-era viola da gamba
| description2 = [[Carl Friedrich Abel]]'s Sonata in G-Major played on a Viola da Gamba
}}
A vast quantity of music for [[viol]]s, for both ensemble and solo performance, was written by composers of the [[Renaissance music|Renaissance]] and [[Baroque music|Baroque]] eras, including [[Diego Ortiz]], [[Claudio Monteverdi]], [[William Byrd]], [[William Lawes]], [[Henry Purcell]], [[Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe]], [[J.S. Bach]], [[Georg Philipp Telemann]], [[Marin Marais]], [[Antoine Forqueray]], and [[Carl Frederick Abel]].

From largest to smallest, the viol family consists of:
*[[violone]] (two sizes, a contrabass an octave below the bass, and a smaller one a fourth or fifth above, a great bass)
*bass viol (about the size of a [[cello]])
*tenor viol (about the size of a [[guitar]])
*alto viol (slightly smaller than the tenor)
*treble or descant viol (about the size of a [[viola]])
*pardessus de viole (about the size of a [[violin]])

Among the foremost modern players of the viols are [[Paolo Pandolfo]], [[Sigiswald Kuijken|Sigiswald]] and [[Wieland Kuijken]], [[Nikolaus Harnoncourt]], [[Jordi Savall]], [[John Hsu (musician)|John Hsu]], and [[Vittorio Ghielmi]]. There are many modern [[viol consort]]s.

===Recorder===
{{Main|List of recorder players}}
Although largely supplanted by the [[Western concert flute|flute]] in the 19th century, the recorder has experienced a revival with the HIP movement. [[Arnold Dolmetsch]] did much to revive the recorder as a serious concert instrument, reconstructing a "consort of recorders (descant, treble, tenor and bass) all at low pitch and based on historical originals".<ref>Brian Blood, "[http://www.dolmetsch.com/Dolworks.htm The Dolmetsch Story] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220306091529/http://www.dolmetsch.com/Dolworks.htm |date=2022-03-06 }}", ''Dolmetsch Online'' (26 September 2013, accessed 20 January 2014).</ref> Handel and Telemann, both noted recorder players, wrote several solo pieces for the instrument. Often, recorder players start off as flautists, then transition into focusing on the recorder. Some famous recorder players include [[Frans Brüggen]], [[Barthold Kuijken]], [[Michala Petri]], [[Ashley Solomon]] and [[Giovanni Antonini]].

==Singing==
[[File:Christina Pluhar, Philippe Jaroussky - Misteria Paschalia 2011 (1).JPG|thumb|[[Countertenor]] [[Philippe Jaroussky]], accompanied by [[Christina Pluhar]] in 2011 ([[theorbo]])]]
As with instrumental technique, the approach to historically informed performance practice for singers has been shaped by musicological research and academic debate.  In particular, there was debate around the use of the technique of [[vibrato]] at the height of the Early music revival, and many advocates of HIP aimed to eliminate vibrato in favour of the "pure" sound of straight-tone singing. The difference in style may be demonstrated by the sound of a [[boy treble]] in contrast to the sound of an [[opera]] singer such as [[Maria Callas]].<ref name="malafronte">{{cite web|last1=Malafronte|first1=Judith|title=Vibrato Wars|url=https://www.earlymusicamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/VibratoWars-1.pdf|website=www.earlymusicamerica.org|publisher=Early Music America|access-date=6 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180306103109/https://www.earlymusicamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/VibratoWars-1.pdf|archive-date=6 March 2018|date=2015}}</ref>

Certain historic vocal techniques have gained in popularity, such as ''[[Trill (music)#Trillo|trillo]]'', a [[tremolo]]-like repetition of a single note that was used for ornamental effect in the early Baroque era. Academic understanding of these expressive devices is often subjective however, as many vocal techniques discussed by treatise writers in the 17th and 18th centuries have different meanings, depending on the author. Despite the fashion for straight tone, many prominent Early music singers make use of a subtle, gentle form of vibrato to add expression to their performance.<ref name="malafronte" /><ref name="start">{{cite book|last1=Stark|first1=James|title=Bel Canto: A History of Vocal Pedagogy|date=2003|publisher=University of Toronto Press|isbn=978-0-8020-8614-3|page=150|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rVFQdViY7jAC&q=Historically%20informed%20performance%20singing%20technique&pg=PA150|access-date=6 March 2018|language=en|chapter=Vocal Tremulousness|archive-date=20 August 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230820090535/https://books.google.com/books?id=rVFQdViY7jAC&q=Historically%20informed%20performance%20singing%20technique&pg=PA150|url-status=live}}</ref>

A few of the singers who have contributed to the historically informed performance movement are [[Emma Kirkby]], [[Max van Egmond]], [[Julianne Baird]], [[Nigel Rogers]], and [[David Thomas (singer)|David Thomas]].

The resurgence of interest in Early music, particularly in sacred renaissance polyphony and Baroque opera, has driven a revival of the [[countertenor]] voice. High-voice male singers are often cast in preference to female [[contralto]]s in HIP opera productions, partly as a substitute for [[castrato]] singers. [[Alfred Deller]] is considered to have been a pioneer of the modern revival of countertenor singing.<ref>{{cite web|title=Countertenor|url=http://www.oae.co.uk/instruments/countertenor/|website=Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment|access-date=6 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180306145032/http://www.oae.co.uk/instruments/countertenor/|archive-date=6 March 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> Leading contemporary performers include [[James Bowman (countertenor)|James Bowman]], [[Russell Oberlin]], [[Paul Esswood]], [[Derek Lee Ragin]], [[Andreas Scholl]], [[Michael Chance]], [[René Jacobs]], [[David Daniels (countertenor)|David Daniels]], [[Daniel Taylor (countertenor)|Daniel Taylor]], [[Brian Asawa]], [[Yoshikazu Mera]], [[Jakub Józef Orliński]], and [[Philippe Jaroussky]].

==Layout==
Standard practice concerning the layout of a group of performers, for example in a choir or an orchestra, has changed over time. Determining a historically appropriate layout of singers and instruments on a performance stage may be informed by historical research. In addition to documentary evidence, musicologists may also turn to [[Iconography|iconographic evidence]] — contemporary paintings and drawings of performing musicians — as a [[primary source]] for historic information. Pictorial sources may reveal various practices such as the size of an ensemble; the position of various types of instruments; their position in relation to a choir or keyboard instrument; the position or absence of a conductor; whether the performers are seated or standing; and the performance space (such as a concert hall, palace chamber, domestic house, church, or outdoors etc.).{{sfn|Lawson|Stowell|1999|p=17-18}} The German theorist [[Johann Mattheson]], in a 1739 treatise, states that the singers should stand in front of the instrumentalists.<ref>Mattheson 1739, {{Page needed|date=December 2010}}.</ref>

Three main layouts are documented:{{citation needed|date=March 2018}}
* Circle (Renaissance)
* Choir in the front of the instruments (17th–19th century)
* Singers and instruments next to each other on the choir loft.

===Gallery===
<gallery class="center">
Image:Orlando de Lassus2.jpg|Renaissance composer Orlando de Lassus directing a chamber ensemble
Image:Concert spirituel Wien 1837.jpg|An 1837 sketch of the layout of a choir and orchestra
Image:Reinicke 1890.jpg|A drawing of an 1890 concert in Munich, Germany
Image:Diakonie-kantorei.jpg|A choir with instrumentalists, in historic layout
</gallery>

==Recovering early performance practices==
[[File:L’Orfeo. Favola in musica. Reprint of the First Edition of the Score, Venice 1609 - Toccata.jpg|thumb|Reprint of the 1st Edition of Monteverdi's ''[[L'Orfeo]]'' (1609); musicologists refer to [[Music manuscript|autograph scores]] or early editions to interpret performance practice]]
[[File:Cantigas de Santa María, Codex of the musicians, B-I-2 162R lute rebab.jpg|thumb|Historical images, such as this Galician 13th-century illustration of lutanists, can inform modern performance practice, but must be interpreted with caution]]

===Interpreting musical notation===
Some familiar difficult items are as follows:

*Early composers often wrote using the same symbols as today, yet in a different meaning, often context-dependent. For example, what is written as an [[appoggiatura]] is often meant to be longer or shorter than the notated length,<ref>C. P. E. Bach, ''Versuch über die wahre Art das Clavier zu spielen'', Berlin 1753: Teil 1, Section 2 Par. 5.</ref> and even in scores as late as the 19th century there is disagreement over the meaning (dynamic and/or agogic) of hairpins.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Poli|first=Roberto|title=The Secret Life of Musical Notation|publisher=Amadeus Press|year=2010|location=Milwaukee, WI}}</ref>
*The notation may be partial. E.g., the note durations may be omitted altogether, such as in [[unmeasured prelude]]s, pieces written without [[Beats per minute|rhythm]] or [[Measure (music)|metre]] indications. Even when the notation is comprehensive, non-notated changes are usually required, such as rhythmic shaping of passagework, pauses between sections, or additional arpeggiation of chords. Cuts and repetitions were common.
*The music may be written using alternative, non-modern notations, such as [[tablature]]. Some tablature notations are only partially decoded, such as the notation<ref>Peter Greenhill, ''The Robert ap Huw Manuscript: An Exploration of its Possible Solutions'', 5 vols. (all), Bangor: University of Wales, CAWMS dissertation, 1995–2000.</ref> in the harp manuscript<ref>Thurston Dart, "Robert ap Huw's Manuscript of Welsh Harp Music", ''The Galpin Society Journal'', Vol 21 (1963). {{JSTOR|841428}}.</ref> by [[Robert ap Huw]].
*The reference [[Pitch (music)|pitch]] of earlier music cannot generally be interpreted as designating the same pitch used today.
*Various tuning systems ([[Musical temperament|temperament]]s), are used. Composers always assume the player will choose the temperament, and never indicate it in the score.<ref>"Stimmung und Temperatur", in F. Zaminer, ed., ''Geschichte der Musiktheorie'', Vol. 6: "Hören, Messen und Rechnen in der Frühen Neuzeit", Darmstadt, Germany: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft (1987) {{ISBN|978-3-534-01206-0}}.</ref>
*In most ensemble music up to the early Baroque, the actual musical instruments to be used are not indicated in the score, and must be partially or totally chosen by the performers. A well-discussed example can be found in Monteverdi's ''[[L'Orfeo]]'', where the indications on which instruments to use are partial and limited to critical sections only.<ref>Jane Glover, "Solving the Musical Problem" in John Whenham (ed.) ''Claudio Monteverdi: Orfeo'', 138–155. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1986. {{ISBN|0-521-24148-0}}</ref>
*Issues of pronunciation, that impact on musical accents, carry over to church [[Latin]], the language in which a large amount of early vocal music was written. The reason is that Latin was customarily pronounced using the speech sounds and patterns of the [[Latin regional pronunciation|local]] vernacular language.

===Mechanical music===
Some information about how music sounded in the past can be obtained from contemporary mechanical instruments. For instance, the Dutch [[Museum Speelklok]] owns an 18th-century mechanical organ of which the music programme was composed and supervised by [[Joseph Haydn]].<ref>Rob van der Hilst, "[http://www.derecensent.nl/recensies/haydnh.htm Fluitekruid van Joseph Haydn] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120426051718/http://www.derecensent.nl/recensies/haydnh.htm |date=2012-04-26 }}", review of Jan Jaap Haspels, Marije Hulleman, and Bob van Wely, ''Haydn herboren: 12 originele opnamen uit 1793'' (Utrecht: Nationaal Museum van Speelklok tot Pierement, 2004), {{ISBN|90-801699-3-5}}. ''De Recensent.nl'' (2004, accessed January 2014).</ref>

===Tuning and pitch===
Until modern era, different tuning references have been used in different venues. The baroque oboist Bruce Haynes has extensively investigated surviving wind instruments and even documented a case of violinists having to retune by a minor third to play at neighboring churches.<ref>Bruce Haynes, "Pitch Standards in the Baroque and Classical Periods" (diss., U. of Montreal, 1995).</ref>{{Page needed|date=November 2009}}

===Iconographic evidence===
The research of musicologists often overlaps with the work of [[art historian]]s; by examining paintings and drawings of performing musicians contemporary to a particular musical era, academics can infer details about performance practice of the day. In addition to showing the layout of an orchestra or ensemble, a work of art may reveal detail about contemporary playing techniques, for example the manner of [[Violin technique#Bowing techniques|holding a bow]] or a wind player's [[embouchure]]. However, just as an art historian must evaluate a work of art, a scholar of musicology must also assess the musical evidence of a painting or illustration in its historical context, taking into consideration the potential cultural and political motivations of the artist and allow for [[artistic license]]. An historic image of musicians may present an idealised or even fictional account of musical instruments, and there is as much a risk that it may give rise to a historically misinformed performance.{{sfn|Lawson|Stowell|1999|p=17-18}}

==Issues==
[[File:John Eliot Gardiner at rehearsal in Wroclaw.jpg|thumb|Many scholars and performers such as [[John Eliot Gardiner]] have questioned the terminology of "authentic performance"]]
Opinions on how artistic and academic motivations should translate into musical performance vary.<ref>Colin Lawson and Robin Stowell (eds.), ''The Cambridge History of Musical Performance'' (Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 2012):{{Page needed|date=January 2014}}<!--If a parenthetical "all", now removed, was meant to say this entire book verifies the claim that informed opinion vary, this is an opinion about the book by someone else--i.e, Original Research, unless a specific source is named for the opinion.-->.</ref>

Though championing the need to attempt to understand a composer's intentions in their historical context, [[Ralph Kirkpatrick]] highlights the risk of using historical exoterism to hide technical incompetence: "too often historical authenticity can be used as a means of escape from any potentially disquieting observance of esthetic values, and from the assumption of any genuine artistic responsibility. The abdication of esthetic values and artistic responsibilities can confer a certain illusion of simplicity on what the passage of history has presented to us, bleached as white as bones on the [[Sands of time (idiom)|sands of time]]".<ref>{{cite book|first=Ralph|last=Kirkpatrick|title=Interpreting Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier|location=New Haven|publisher=Yale University Press|year=1984|isbn=0300030584}}</ref>{{Page needed|date=January 2010}}

Early music scholar Beverly Jerold has questioned the string technique of historically informed musicians, citing accounts of Baroque-era concert-goers describing nearly the opposite practice.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Did early string players use continuous vibrato?|url=https://www.thestrad.com/did-early-string-players-use-continuous-vibrato/1863.article|last=|date=2015-02-20|website=The Strad|language=en|access-date=2020-05-27|archive-date=2021-05-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210524215201/https://www.thestrad.com/did-early-string-players-use-continuous-vibrato/1863.article|url-status=live}}</ref> Similar criticism has been leveled at the practices of historically informed vocalists.

Some proponents of the Early music revival have distanced themselves from the terminology of "authentic performance". Conductor John Eliot Gardiner has expressed the view that the term can be "misleading", and has stated, "My enthusiasm for period instruments is not antiquarian or in pursuit of a spurious and unattainable authenticity, but just simply as a refreshing alternative to the standard, monochrome qualities of the symphony orchestra."<ref name="billboard-gardiner2">{{cite magazine|last1=Waleson|first1=Heidi|date=7 September 1996|title=Super-conductor: John Eliot Gardiner|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vgcEAAAAMBAJ&q=English%20Baroque%20Soloists%20period%20instruments&pg=PA46|magazine=Billboard|language=en|publisher=Nielsen Business Media, Inc.|access-date=6 March 2018}}</ref><ref name="youtube-gardniner2">{{cite web|title=John Eliot Gardiner: Why the Word "Authentic" Bothers Him|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ym9oxgr3EnU|date=24 March 2015|website=YouTube|publisher=Carnegie Hall|access-date=6 March 2018}}{{cbignore}}{{Dead Youtube links|date=February 2022}}</ref>

Daniel Leech-Wilkinson concedes that much of the HIP practice is based on invention: "Historical research may provide us with instruments, and sometimes even quite detailed information on how to use them; but the gap between such evidence and a sounding performance is still so great that it can be bridged only by a large amount of musicianship and invention. Exactly how much is required can easily be forgotten, precisely because the exercise of musical invention is so automatic to the performer."<ref>Daniel Leech-Wilkinson, "'What we are doing with early music is genuinely authentic to such a small degree that the word loses most of its intended meaning'" ''Early Music,'' vol. 12, no. 1 (February 1984), p. 13.</ref>  Leech-Wilkinson concludes that performance styles in early music "have as much to do with current taste as with accurate reproduction."<ref>Daniel Leech-Wilkinson, "'What we are doing with early music is genuinely authentic to such a small degree that the word loses most of its intended meaning'" ''Early Music,'' vol.&nbsp;12, no.&nbsp;1 (February 1984), p. 14.</ref> More recently, Andrew Snedden has suggested that HIP reconstructions are on firmer ground when approached in context with a cultural exegesis of the era, examining not merely how they played but why they played as they did, and what cultural meaning is embedded in the music.

In the conclusion of his study of early twentieth-century orchestral recordings, Robert Philip states that the concept of "what sounds tasteful now probably sounded tasteful in earlier periods" is a fundamental but flawed assumption behind much of the historical performance movement. Having spent the entire book examining rhythm, vibrato, and portamento, Philip states that the fallacy of the assumption of tastefulness causes adherents of historical performance to randomly select what they find acceptable and to ignore evidence of performance practice which goes against modern taste.<ref>Robert Philip, ''Early Recordings and Musical Style: Changing tastes in instrumental Performance, 1900-1950'' (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1992), p. 239.</ref>

==Reception==
{{Unbalanced|date=March 2025}}
In his book, ''The Aesthetics of Music'', the British philosopher [[Roger Scruton]] wrote that "the effect [of HIP] has frequently been to cocoon the past in a wad of phoney scholarship, to elevate musicology over music, and to confine Bach and his contemporaries to an acoustic time-warp. The tired feeling which so many 'authentic' performances induce can be compared to the atmosphere of a modern museum.... [The works of early composers] are arranged behind the glass of authenticity, staring bleakly from the other side of an impassable screen".<ref>''The Aesthetics of Music'' (1997), p. 448</ref>

A number of scholars see the HIP movement essentially as a 20th-century invention. Writing about the periodical ''Early Music'' (one of the leading periodicals about historically informed performance), Peter Hill noted "All the articles in ''Early Music'' noted in varying ways the (perhaps fatal) flaw in the 'authenticity' position. This is that the attempt to understand the past in terms of the past is—paradoxically—an absolutely contemporary phenomenon."<ref>Peter Hill, "'Authenticity in Contemporary Music," ''Tempo'' New Series no. 159 (December 1986), p. 2.</ref>

One of the more skeptical voices of the historically informed performance movement has been [[Richard Taruskin]]. His thesis is that the practice of unearthing supposedly historically informed practices is actually a 20th-century practice influenced by modernism and, ultimately, we can never know what music sounded like or how it was played in previous centuries. "What we had been accustomed to regard as historically authentic performances, I began to see, represented neither any determinable historical prototype nor any coherent revival of practices coeval with the repertories they addressed. Rather, they embodied a whole wish list of modern(ist) values, validated in the academy and the marketplace alike by an eclectic, opportunistic reading of historical evidence."<ref>Richard Taruskin, "Last Thoughts First," ''Text and Act'' (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995), p. 5.</ref> "'Historical' performers who aim 'to get to the truth'...by using period instruments and reviving lost playing techniques actually pick and choose from history's wares. And they do so in a manner that says more about the values of the late twentieth century than about those of any earlier era."

In her book ''The Imaginary Museum of Musical Works: An Essay in the Philosophy of Music'', [[Lydia Goehr]] discusses the aims and fallacies of both proponents and critics of the HIP movement.<ref name="Lydia Goehr pp. 279">Lydia Goehr, ''The Imaginary Museum of Musical Works: An Essay in the Philosophy of Music'' (New York: Oxford University Press), pp.&nbsp;279–84.</ref> She claims that the HIP movement itself came about during the latter half of the 19th century as a reaction to the way modern techniques were being imposed upon music of earlier times. Thus performers were concerned with achieving an "authentic" manner of performing music—an ideal that carries implications for all those involved with music. She distills the late 20th century arguments into two points of view, achieving either fidelity to the conditions of performance, or fidelity to the musical work.<ref name="Lydia Goehr pp. 279" />

She succinctly summarizes the critics' arguments (for example, anachronistic, selectively imputing current performance ideas on early music), but then concludes that what the HIP movement has to offer is a different manner of looking at and listening to music: "It keeps our eyes open to the possibility of producing music in new ways under the regulation of new ideals. It keeps our eyes open to the inherently critical and revisable nature of our regulative concepts. Most importantly, it helps us overcome that deep‐rooted desire to hold the most dangerous of beliefs, that we have at any time got our practices absolutely right."<ref>Lydia Goehr, ''The Imaginary Museum of Musical Works: An Essay in the Philosophy of Music'' (New York: Oxford University Press), p.&nbsp;284. Goehr acknowledges the following writings informed her arguments: Theodor Adorno, "Bach Defended Against his Devotees," ''Prisms'' (London: N. Spearman, 1967), p. 135–146; Lawrence Dreyfus, "Early Music Defended Against Its Devotees: A Theory of Historical Performance in the Twentieth Century", ''Musical Quarterly'' 69 (1983), 297–322; Harry Haskell, ''The Early Music Revival'' (New York: Thames and Hudson, 1988) {{ISBN|978-0-500-01449-3}}; Nicholas Kenyon (ed.), ''Authenticity and Early Music: A Symposium'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988, {{ISBN|978-0-19-816152-3}}); Joseph Kerman, ''Contemplating Music: Challenges to Musicology'' (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1985 {{ISBN|978-0-674-16677-6}}), chapter 6; Michael Morrow, "Musical Performance", ''Early Music'' 6 (1978), 233–46; Charles Rosen, "Should Music Be Played "Wrong"?", ''High Fidelity'' 21 (1971), 54–58; and Richard Taruskin, et al., "The Limits of Authenticity: A Discussion", ''Early Music'' 12 (1984), 3–25, 523–25.</ref>

==See also==
*[[Authenticity in art]]
*[[Concert pitch]]
*[[Early music revival]]
*[[List of early music ensembles]]
*[[OVPP|One voice per part]]
*[[String section]]
*[[Shakespeare in Original Pronunciation]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

===Sources===
*{{cite book|last1=Lawson|first1=Colin|last2=Stowell|first2=Robin|title=The Historical Performance of Music: An Introduction|date=1999|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-62738-2|pages=[https://archive.org/details/historicalperfor00laws_0/page/17 17–18]|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VKadRqLPJaYC&q=Historically%20informed%20performance&pg=PA17|access-date=3 March 2018|language=en|chapter=The application of primary sources|url=https://archive.org/details/historicalperfor00laws_0/page/17}}

==Bibliography==
*[[Paul Badura-Skoda|Badura-Skoda, Paul]]. 1993. ''Interpreting Bach at the Keyboard'', translated by Alfred Clayton. Oxford: Clarendon Press; New York: Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|0-19-816155-7}} (cloth); {{ISBN|0-19-816576-5}} (1995 pbk reprint). (Translation of ''Bach-Interpretation: die Klavierwerke Johann Sebastian Bachs''. Laaber: Laaber-Verlag, 1990. {{ISBN|3-89007-141-4}}.)
*[[Thurston Dart|Dart, Thurston]]. 1954. ''The Interpretation of Music''. London: Hutchinson and Co.
*[[Arnold Dolmetsch|Dolmetsch, Arnold]]. 1915. ''The Interpretation of the Music of the 17th and 18th Centuries Revealed by Contemporary Evidence''. London: Novello.
*[[Robert Donington|Donington, Robert]]. 1963. ''The Interpretation of Early Music''. London: Faber and Faber.
*Hubbard, Frank. 1965. ''Three Centuries of Harpsichord Making''. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press {{ISBN|0-674-88845-6}}.
*Kenyon, Nicholas (editor). 1988. ''Authenticity and Early Music''. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|0-19-816152-2}}.
* Kivy, Peter. 1995. ''Authenticities: Philosophical Reflections on Musical Performance''. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. {{ISBN|0-8014-3046-1}}.
*[[Daniel Leech-Wilkinson|Leech-Wilkinson, Daniel]]. 1992. "The Good, the Bad and the Boring". In ''Companion to Medieval & Renaissance Music'', edited by Tess Knighton and David Fallows, {{Page needed|date=December 2010}}<!--inclusive page numbers of Leech-Wilkinson's article.-->. London: J. M. Dent.; New York: Schirmer Books. {{ISBN|0-460-04627-6}} (Dent); {{ISBN|0-02-871221-8}} (Schirmer). Paperback reprint, Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1997. {{ISBN|0-19-816540-4}}. Paperback reprint, Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press, 1997. {{ISBN|0-520-21081-6}}.
*[[Johann Mattheson|Mattheson, Johann]]. 1739. ''Der vollkommene Kapellmeister, das ist, Gründliche Anzeige aller derjenigen Sachen, die einer wissen, können, und vollkommen inne haben muss, der eine Kapelle mit Ehren und Nutzen vorstehen will''. Breslau: [s.n.]; Hamburg: Herold. Facsimile reprint, edited by Margarete Reimann. Documenta Musicologica Reihe 1: ruckschriften-Faksimiles 5. Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1954. Study edition with newly typeset text and music examples, edited by Friederike Ramm. Bärenreiter-Studienausgabe. Kassel, Basel, London, New York, Prague: Bärenreiter. {{ISBN|3-7618-1413-5}}.
*Milsom, David. 2003. ''Theory and Practice in Late Nineteenth-Century Violin Performance: An Examination of Style in Performance, 1850–1900''. Aldershot: Ashgate. {{ISBN|0-7546-0756-9}}.
*Milsom, David. 2011. ''Classical and Romantic Music. The library of essays on music performance practice''. Aldershot: Ashgate. {{ISBN|0-7546-2859-0}}.
*[[Andrew Parrott|Parrott, Andrew]]. 2000. ''The Essential Bach Choir''. [N.p.]: The Boydell Press. {{ISBN|0-85115-786-6}}.
*[[Neal Peres Da Costa|Peres da Costa, Neal]]. 2013. ''Off the Record: Performing Practices in Romantic Piano Playing''. New York: OUP. {{ISBN|0-19-538691-4}}.
*Robert Philip, 1992 ''Early Recordings and Musical Style: Changing tastes in instrumental Performance, 1900-1950.'' Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-521-23528-0}}
*[[Charles Rosen|Rosen, Charles]]. 1997. ''The Classical Style'', second edition. New York: W. W. Norton. {{ISBN|0-393-31712-9}}.
*Rosen, Charles. 2000. ''Critical Entertainments''. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. {{ISBN|0-674-00684-4}}.

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
*[http://www.medieval.org/emfaq/performers/countertenors.html The Unofficial Countertenor Home Page]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20080325001220/http://www.music.iastate.edu/antiqua/instrumt.html A Guide to Medieval and Renaissance Instruments]
*[http://musicmoz.org/Styles/Classical/Occidental/Periods/Early_Music/Bands_and_Artists/ Period instrument performers and groups listed on The Open Music Project]
*[http://www.cycleback.com/historicalauthenticity.html Dilemmas in Trying to Present Old Works of Art 'Authentically']
*[http://www.bsherman.net/insideearlymusic.htm Inside Early Music: Conversations with Performers (book by Bernard Sherman; Oxford University Press, 1997)]
*[http://www.slate.com/id/2245891 Why you've never really heard the "Moonlight" Sonata (Slate Magazine covering differences between authentic and modern piano performances]

{{Historically informed performance}}
{{Musical technique}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Historically Informed Performance}}
[[Category:Historically informed performance| ]]
[[Category:Historical reenactment by type]]