David Runnion responds to Steve Schwartz:

>>Justifications:
>>
>>1.  We don't know what the composer's will is, only what he wrote - quite
>>another thing.
>
>How? What is the composer's will other than what he wrote??? This makes no
>sense at all. ...

   There is more to music than is contained in the notes.
                Gustav Mahler.

>This seems strange in this day of HIPness, when every last detail of
>a composer's intention is respected, as well as the instruments, is
>faithfully recreated.

You think so? You are assuming it is easy to divine the composer's
intention.

If it were, then we shouldn't have HIP versions of Beethoven 9 with very
different tempos for the tenor solo - the scholars don't agree about the
interpretation of Beethoven's metronome marks.

But that's nothing to the problems faced in performing something like
an opera by Gluck or Monteverdi - IIRC Raymond Leppard wrote a book on
performance practice which is very enlightening in this regard.  It's some
years since I read it.

Deryk Barker
[log in to unmask]