PUBLICATIONS OF THE
EARLY MUSIC INSTITUTE
Paul Elliott, editor
The Notation Is Not the Music
Reflections on Early Music Practice and Performance
Barthold Kuijken
This book is a publication of
INDIANA UNIVERSITY PRESS
Herman B Wells Library 350
1320 East 10th Street
Bloomington, Indiana 47405 USA
iupress.indiana.edu
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© 2013 by Barthold Kuijken
All rights reserved
| With the generous support of the Brussels Conservatory |
No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. The Association of American University Presses’ Resolution on Permissions constitutes the only exception to this prohibition.
Manufactured in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Kuijken, Barthold, author.
The notation is not the music : reflections on early music practice and performance / Barthold Kuijken.
pages cm — (Publications of the Early Music Institute)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-253-01060-5 (cloth : alkaline paper) — ISBN 978-0-253-01068-1 (ebook)
1. Performance practice (Music) I. Title. II. Series: Publications of the Early Music Institute.
ML457.K75 2013
781.4’3—dc23
2013018439
1 2 3 4 5 18 17 16 15 14 13
I dedicate this book to the memory of my parents:
I still see how they sat in our concerts, listening, participating, enjoying . . .
to my wife Michèle:
for having allowed me the time and space to follow my artistic path
for having such a loving, attentive and critical ear
for having taught me to look in the mirror.
With thanks to:
Prof. Dr. Hans De Wolf (VUB), former director of the Brussels Platform of the Arts, and the staff of the Brussels Royal Conservatory, for encouragement and practical assistance;
Barbara Kallaur, for the patient and dedicated editing of my English text.
Do not try to find the footprints of the ancestors, search for what they were searching for.
—MATSUO BASHO (1644–1694)
PREFACE
This essay is not meant to be a musicological study nor a practical how-to-play Early Music guide with detailed references to all the historical sources; enough examples of both kinds already exist. I very deliberately chose to include an index of only the most relevant composers and concepts. I also refrained from using an extensive bibliographic footnote apparatus; instead, I cite my main sources in Sources of Inspiration and the bibliography, or refer to specific publications at the beginning of some sections. Indeed, scholarly footnotes (mostly quoting well-known facts, historical treatises, or more recent musicological studies) generally lift the information out of its context and refer to isolated facts rather than pointing to the general principles and underlying aesthetic attitude. Further, I do not want to use the weight of their authority in order to prove anything—in art nothing can or needs to be proven. Instead I wish to reflect upon the ideas behind the facts, behind the theory and practice of Early Music as I have participated in them, and as I should like to pass them on to future generations of musicians.
My theoretical research and my practical research have always influenced and inspired each other. The former enables me to learn about the performance conventions and sound ideals of a given place and time, while the latter consists of finding and learning to play the “right” instrument, or to translate these ideals into actual sound. I did not follow a premeditated path, but let myself be driven by necessity, as questions popped up during playing, conducting, teaching, or studying treatises and musicological studies.
I have always considered my research to be “artistic research” even before this expression was coined. This kind of research is essentially both subjective and creative. Indeed, the artist as researcher does not stand beside or outside his topic, but is himself part of the researched topic—it is research in, not about, art. The results of this research are not aimed at being scientific; they can be art just as well. Per definition, artistic research is never definitive nor complete. It cannot be exactly repeated and does not strive to prove something. It is never a goal in itself but leads to deeper understanding and thus, hopefully, to better performance or creation. The results needed to be practiced, technically and artistically mastered, applied and integrated in my own thinking, feeling, playing, conducting, and teaching, until they became part of my “mother tongue.”
This essay thus inevitably expresses my own current brand of “common knowledge,” practice and theory, and will be shaped and limited by the extent of my own research and performance experience. I hope that it can give occasion to extrapolation, that it might contribute to further thinking and searching by those who love Early Music, are intrigued by it, and desire to share this art form with their audiences.
I hope that female readers will accept my apologies for consistently using the masculine pronouns throughout the book. This was done, not as a discriminatory move, but for the sake of brevity and simplicity.
1
THE UNDERLYING PHILOSOPHY
When reading most twentieth- or twenty-first-century scores, trained musicians can hear them quite precisely in their “mind’s ear.” The exact instrumentation is given; the characteristics of the instruments are familiar; standard modern pitch and equal temperament are presupposed; tempo is prescribed by metronome markings; rhythm, phrasing, articulation and dynamics are clearly indicated; the realization of the few ornament signs is obvious; even the playing techniques and sound colors are accurately notated. Except in pieces that include aleatoric