It seems to me that historical research is useful to modern performance practice on early instruments, but does not exercise a tyranny over it unless one is concerned with reproducing a particular performance exactly. It seems fairly obvious to me that the lutenists/composers of the 17th century were not trying to reproduce the performance practice of the 16th century given the amount of innovation that went on. And, yet, they did make use of certain performance practices of the 16th century lutenists that suited their purposes. Similarly, 16th century lutenists were not slavishly trying to recreate 15th century performance practice or we would all still be playing 5 course lutes with plectrums.
Hence, innovation is HIP. The criterion for performance practice is what best satisfies the demands of the music, and this is a matter for the judgement of the performer. Whether he or she succeeds is a matter for the judgement of the audience and one's colleagues. Gary -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
