You make a good point here, Stewart, one I feel I'd like to elaborate upon. One reason a performance of early music can never be "authentic" is that all performances will lack an authentic audience. When Bakfark's or Piccinini's music was new and exciting, nothing like it had been heard by players or performers. All that has accumulated on our collective ears in the centuries since has altered our perception of music. I think early music is best enjoyed when not given under an arrogant pretense of "authenticity," but simply enjoyed. I think HIP is an interesting conceptual step in the right direction.
Here's a bit of fluffy, tight-wearin', pseudo-early-music cheese...but hey, I still enjoy it. I once brought my family to a big "renaissance" (i.e. fantasy) faire. Owain Phyfe of New World Renaissance Band fame was playing. For any who have not seen this spectacle, Mr. Phyfe plays on a modern steel-string guitar with six single strings...but crafted to ape the aesthetics of the old Guadalupe vihuela. Afterwards, I engaged Mr. Phyfe in conversation specifically to discuss his instrument, which I thought was very amusing for what it was. Rather than discuss the true nature of the piece, Mr. Phyfe went into a great long pseudo-historic spiel to try to legitimize the thing as authentic by giving it the name "chitarra battente!" This spiel is probably very amusing to ren-faire fans, but I regarded it as a blatant effort at deception. I really enjoyed the performance as folksy and non-HIP. I was a bit soured by the effort to convince me it was all somehow authentic. Sorry for the rant, Eugene At 03:46 PM 8/27/2004, Stewart McCoy wrote: >Some years ago people used the word "authentic" to describe >performances of early music. The word implied that a performance was >exactly how it would have been years ago. Yet no modern performance >can be truly authentic, which is why it is now fashionable to talk >of HIP (historically informed performance). I think it is an >important distinction to make. > >The Beatles performed their music in the 1960s. It was a new, >exciting sound, created by a group of young, long-haired musicians. >John Lennon and George Harrison are now dead, yet even if they were >still alive, and even if the four members of the group wanted to >play together again, they would never be able to recreate those >earlier performances. It could never be the same. > >There is a group called the Bootleg Beatles, who give concerts of >Beatles music, copying as closely as possible what the Beatles once >did. Their attention to detail is impressive, yet they cannot be >truly authentic, because they are not the real Beatles. All they can >hope to offer is a historically informed performance. I have been >told that they are extremely entertaining. To some extent that's >what we do with our lutes, although mercifully, even within the >confines of a historically informed performance, there is much scope >for improvisation and individual input. > >Best wishes, > >Stewart.
