The first edition of this book was published by Schirmer Books in 1997, with the submission date for articles dating back to 1995. So a second edition is certainly called for, if for no other reason than the ensuing fifteen-plus years since its inception. But there are other reasons for wanting to produce a second edition, including
• the decision by Schirmer to print a limited number of this guide; it was in fact their intention to discontinue the three-volume series before the third volume—Ross Duffin's A Performer's Guide to Medieval Music—had even been submitted. According to World Catalogue's First Search, there are just over 230 copies of the first edition of this guide in libraries all over the world, compared to just over 1,000 copies of the Renaissance Guide and 500 copies of the Medieval Guide.
• the addition of three new articles to this edition: Julie Andrijeski's “Historical Approaches to Playing the Violin,” Stewart Carter's “The Trombone,” and Marc Vanscheeuwijck's “Violoncello and Violone.” Of the original sixteen contributors, all but four submitted updates to and revisions of their work, so besides the new articles, this second edition represents a considerable rewrite of the first edition.
• the inclusion of more than a decade of new research on performance-practice issues and new releases of historically informed performances. Perhaps even more important is the ever-expanding universe of cyberspace and the resources that come with being connected.
One of the important parts of the process of obtaining approval for a book from any publisher is submitting a portion of it to be reviewed by “outside readers.” Since the proposal was to produce a second edition, the readers had the advantage of scrutinizing the entire book. I am grateful to them for the insight and suggestions that were shared with me by the publisher, and I am of course pleased that they recommended that the second edition be undertaken.
But it would be remiss of me not to address some of the issues raised by the readers for the second edition. For instance, it was suggested that the articles on performance practice or the actual “music making”—Ornamentation, Basso Continuo, Meter and Tempo, Pitch and Transposition, Tuning and Temperament—be placed before those dealing with performance media—that is, the chapters on singing, on choral music, and the multitude of instruments dealt with herein. The reason for this suggestion is obvious and sound: the person interested in recreating the music of the seventeenth century will first need to know “the manner” in which the music was performed, and after that “the medium” on which it was to be executed. I have chosen to retain the original format for the simple reason that this is not the sort of book that is read cover to cover, from front to back. In other words, one selects specific chapters to read according to one's particular needs at any given time, be it the one on ornamentation or the one on recorder, and so forth. Secondary reasons concern reader expectations: anyone familiar with the first edition (or one of the other guides) will find the exact same format in place here.
On the issue of “more music examples” and “more illustrations,” the readers’ comments are common complaints—and ones with which the current editor is certainly in accord. Authors are seldom (if ever) satisfied with the number of such items granted them by a publisher. So while it is abundantly clear that many more examples and illustrations would enhance the usefulness of this volume, it is also obvious that there is a finite amount of financial resources available to produce a book of this nature. Therefore, I must admit to exhausting my supply of examples and illustrations early on and can only hope that the reader understands the limitations imposed on this project by the publisher.
A further remark concerns the conflict between a reader's desire for more of everything and a publisher's interest in the bottom line. One reader suggested that this should become a much larger book, that it should discuss the music in far greater detail, go into some of the pitfalls of trying to recreate this music, and address the stylistic and aesthetic criteria confronting the performer. And why not be more like Donington's classic text by including ornamentation signs and other small-scale hints to performance? The short answer is that there was a finite amount of space allotted to this book, and that to cover all of the topics as thoroughly as the reader wished, it would have had to become a multivolume text, a concept the publisher would in no way entertain.
The long answer to the conundrum of how to cover all performance-practice concerns of the period is to provide a comprehensive list of resources the reader can consult, and this volume does exactly that in its extensive bibliography. No one book can provide answers to all questions, but given the abundance of resources to turn to, as in this instance, one will very likely find the sought-after answer. Each chapter has its own abbreviated bibliography containing enough information that each source can easily be found in the complete bibliography at the end of the book. The same is true for the endnotes, each of which contains sufficient detail to locate the precise source in the bibliography.
Cross-referencing in any book is certainly beneficial to the reader, as it points out that an item just read in one chapter is discussed further on in the book, and it is no different in this book. The reader will often find a notation to consult another chapter for additional information on a particular topic, be it ornamentation, tuning, pitch references, and so on, but there may be instances where this kind of reference is missing. So let me stress the importance of the index; if you are seeking details regarding a specific item or name, consult the index first. You may be surprised at how many more sightings you will find.
It should also be noted that writers come in many different stripes: one writer might be thought of as a performer who writes well, while another might be considered a scholar who performs well. Each writer was given basically the same charge: provide information on the instrument's playing technique, history, construction, maintenance, and repertory. The results help us to arrive at the same place, providing enough information for the reader to understand the basics of the instrument and to know where to turn for additional information and instruction. This is indeed a “guide” and not the final word.
The purpose of Appendix A—a listing of every person mentioned in the text who lived prior to the nineteenth century—is to circumvent the need to provide the birth- and death dates of famous personages each time their names come up throughout the book. How many times, for instance, do we need to read that Monteverdi lived from 1567–1643, or have the dates of Lully, Schütz, or Praetorius, and others thrown at us constantly? So to avoid cluttering the text, anyone interested in knowing when a composer, an instrument maker, a theorist, philosopher, writer, painter, and so forth lived need only consult Appendix A.
Similarly, those interested in knowing exactly what is covered in the earlier two guides in this series need only consult Appendix B (Medieval Guide) or Appendix C (Renaissance Guide).
And finally it is incumbent on me to recommend the benefits of consulting the internet for advice and at the same time to warn of the pitfalls of depending and relying on the internet too heavily for answers. Many of the chapters refer the reader to websites for further information or for illustrations to enhance a particular discussion. A few writers even provide personal addresses where readers may procure specific items that are otherwise unavailable. But as most savvy readers know, websites are often short-lived and writers have a finite time span during which they are available. So my advice is to explore the internet with cogent keywords for issues of interest, but at the same time to attempt to ascertain the source and the accuracy of the information gleaned.1
September 2010
Tallahassee, Florida
NOTES
1. With the caveats just mentioned in mind, let me recommend a few websites that may be of use. The sites listed here and in the bibliography only scratch the surface of what is and will one day be available. Books and treatises are being scanned on a regular basis and uploaded to the internet by public and private universities, by private entities, and by government agencies, some of which are included in the list below. If you are unable to find a specific treatise or source today, then try tomorrow, or next month, or next year.
Some websites have extremely long addresses (URLs), and copying them into a search window can be time-consuming and arduous. As everyone has surely experienced, one simple mistake will bring up an error message. Since you know that what you are looking for already exists, it may suffice to simply enter a few salient keywords into the search window and then click on the link you found in the text when it comes up.
Treatises and Scores
IMSLP Petrucci Music Library: The free public-domain library; search for scores and treatises (http://petruccimusiclibrary.org/): http://imslp.org/index.php?title=Category:Composers&from=A
Bibliothèque nationale de France: http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k58224g.image.f2.tableDesMatieres
Website containing excerpts from treatises from 1511 to 1837 dealing with the bass viol and viola da gamba iconography; also provides an abundance of links to other important sites: http://www.greatbassviol.com/treatises.html
Facsimiles of English books from the fifteenth to nineteenth centuries (most, but not all, on music): http://shipbrook.com/jeff/bookshelf/index.html?sort=byauthor
Digitized treatises (French and German): http://www.symbol4.de/theory.htm
Online Language Dictionaries
Translate a word from one modern language to another: http://www.wordreference.com/French/English dictionary from 1611: http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/cotgrave/Italian/English dictionary from 1611: http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/florio/Köhler, Handwörterbuch der englischen und deutschen Sprache (1892): http://books.google.com/books?id=ZhUtAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA2–PA285&lpg=RA2PA285&dq=kohler+classic+german/english+dictionary&source=bl&ots=xNsybRTI1B&sig=vXvzU0EBFRSBCUEcW7417re4n-g&hl=en&ei=FbesTLvyEsb_lge51OXcBw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CCAQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q&f=false
Das deutsche Wörterbuch von Jakob und Wilhelm Grimm (1839): http://urts55.uni-trier.de:8080/Projekte/DWB/Encyclopedias
Johann Heinrich Zedler's Grosses vollständiges Universallexicon aller Wissenschaften und Künste (1731–54): http://mdz10.bib-bvb.de/~zedler/zedler2007/index.html
Johann Gottfried Walther's Musicalisches Lexicon (1732): http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0d/Walther_-_Musicalisches_Lexicon_oder_Musicalische_Bibliothec_%281732%29.pdf
Charles Burney's A General History of Music (1789): http://www.archive.org/stream/generalhistoryof005344mbp#page/n11/mode/1up
John Hawkin's General History (1875): http://www.archive.org/stream/ageneralhistory01hawkgoog#page/n7/mode/1up
Der größten deutschsprachigen Volltextbibliotek: http://www.zeno.org/
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