This is probably one of the most important parts of a HIP approach, finding the facts about stringing etc is only one part, how to present and even think about music from a period that had radically different ideas is fascinating and inspiring. What I am particularly realizing is that the late 18th and 19th centuries are a huge barrier to understanding what happened before in any part of life. A sort of brick wall that has a few windows that allow you too peep through, but basically you have to bash down the whole wall to any any chance of a good view. There are still so many "classicisms" that we accept as being universally true, but they are in fact things that would have been foreign to a renaissance audience and musician and the strange but quite reassuring thing is that these "olde ways" often make the music far more approachable for a modern audience.
As far as your suggestions goes 1. Only by understanding modern mediums such as film and television is it possible to understand the full impact of theater in the 16th and 17th century. The 19th centuries edited view of elizabethan theater is cutting out so much of the juicy and X rated bits. 2. The idea that 16th century life was generally slower and more relaxed is maybe a bit of a cliche. Do you think that people felt safer in their lives back then, short life span, the streets certainly were not safer than now and well terrorists - don't forget 1577, it was the 9/11 of the renaissance. Check out the play "The Massacre at Paris". 3. That is a bit too dangerous for me, I try to keep as far away from religion as possible, people just start getting killed...see 1577 and 9/11. 4. Dance music good idea....I hope to get to see the new Lady Gaga show, could be a good way to experience something in the spirit of a masque....with the added experience of the same old puritans protesting. All the best Mark On Mar 28, 2010, at 1:36 PM, Ron Andrico wrote: > What seems to be lacking in many performances of old music is a sense > of context. To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
