Early Music America Summer 2014 - (Page 25)

By James Richman "The downfall of opera causes the downfall of the very essence of music." -Johann Mattheson Baroque Opera and Historical Performance: A Reconsideration T of historically informed performance (HIP) has a lot more prestige, nicer paychecks, a raft of university positions, and overall more acceptance than ever before. In The End of Early Music (Oxford, 2007), Bruce Haynes confirmed that, although the field is mature and needs some redefining, things are mostly just fine. But is this really so? Considering the state of the HIP field in the 1980s and what one might have reasonably projected for the future at that point, I find the situation today to be disappointing. The overall level and quality of HIP has improved, but what technical improvements have occurred are overshadowed by the loss of philosophical inspiration and the onset of cultural amnesia. What has been lost, in both practical and philosophical terms, is the grand vision of revivifying the glorious music of the 17th and 18th centuries, and the most obvious symptom of this decline is in the field of opera, which was always understood as the pinnacle of musical culture in any period. I would point out these major failings: ODAY THE FIELD Inspiration for the movement. The "why" behind HIP has become almost irrelevant. The idea of realizing the expressive meaning of the music from this extremely literate and intellectual period in Western history was exhilarating. The excitement surrounding the fact that we might actually be able to re-create the sound and meaning of Baroque and Classic music was only the surface of something much bigger. At the outset of this quest, we were trying to get to the real point behind some of the greatest music in human history while they were just trying to make careers. This distinction is largely lost. Historical awareness within the field. Internet history, which is the only kind of history for many people today, is in effect written by various publicity departments and doesn't begin to give a realistic idea of what was actually going on during the development of HIP decades ago. Aesthetic issues that were then considered of crucial importance are hardly mentioned today, whereas before there was enough audience, enough criticism and writing, and enough funding to create a meaningful conversation. Today's audiences know much less, criticism is ever more bizarre, funding has dried up, recording is moribund, and many young people in the field are unaware that the universities used to sponsor extensive classical concert series, or that public radio was once predominantly classical music. The decline in Baroque opera. By comparison with today, the 1980s were truly a Golden Age of opera on period instruments, HIP performances led by pioneering figures in the field were put on regularly by major festivals, while a plethora of smaller but significant offerings were happening all over. But by the 2002-03 season, Paris/Versailles had but two evenings of staged Baroque work all season, and one, the Lully ballet Le triomphe de l'Amour, had but a single solo dance before intermission. The 2014 Rameau year celebration in France lists a few versions de concert, but no staged work besides marionette theater and parodies. The Paris Opera recently removed a prominent early music conductor from one of its productions when the orchestra insisted to management that it was all too likely that she would be unable to achieve performances without major accidents. > Early Music America Summer 2014 25

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Early Music America Summer 2014

Editor's Note
Reader Forum
Sound Bytes
Musings: The Force of Opinion
Recording Reviews
Baroque Opera and Historical Performance: A Reconsideration
Underestimating Turk
Our Disappearing LP Legacy
Living and Breathing Early Music, the Ukrainian Way
Ars Longa and the Festival Esteban Salas
Book Reviews
Ad Index
In Conclusion: The Flauto Dolce Heralds a Welcome Entrance into Heaven

Early Music America Summer 2014