This is the first individual study of Beethoven's Violin Concerto. It explores the work's background and the influences that combined in its creation, and describes its indifferent initial reception. It considers the numerous textual problems that confront the performer, including discussion of Beethoven's adaptation for piano and orchestra. Following a detailed synopsis of the work itself, a final section reviews the wide variety of cadenzas that have been written to complement the concerto throughout its performance history.

This handbook for flautists addresses all who wish to consider the issues raised when performing music of the past, and experiment with them on old or new instruments. Its aim is to provide an authoritative and practical guide with evidence drawn from a variety of primary sources directly and indirectly associated with the flute. The author provides sound advice on instruments and their care, historical techniques, stylistic issues and historically informed interpretation, with examples drawn from a wide range of case studies, including Bach, Handel, Mozart and Brahms.

This is a compact, composite and authoritative survey of the history and development of the cello from its origins to the present day. Its carefully structured series of thirteen essays deals with the history and construction of the cello and bow, discusses the careers of the most distinguished cellists through history, surveys the repertory of the instrument in unprecedented detail and reviews teaching methods, technical developments and issues of performance practice. It is the most comprehensive book ever to be published about the instrument.

This volume is one of the first to examine in detail the numerous violin treatises of the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries. It provides a scholarly historical and technical guide to violin pedagogical method, technique and performance practice during the most critical period in the history of the instrument. Extracts in translation from the most significant and authoritative sources are presented with introductions, commentary, illustrations, extensive musical examples and a glossary of specific ornaments. It will be of interest and use to students, performers, and historians.

The ten essays in this volume explore different aspects of the performance of instrumental works by Beethoven. Each essay discusses performance issues from Beethoven's time to the present, whether the objective be to realise a performance in an historically appropriate manner, to elucidate the interpretation of Beethoven's music by conductors and performers, to clarify transcriptions by editors or to reconstruct the experience of the listener in various different periods. Four contributions focus on the piano music while another group concentrates on Beethoven's music for strings. These...

This survey of the string quartet by ten chamber music specialists focuses on four main areas: social and musical background to the genre's development; celebrated ensembles and their significance; and string quartet playing. It reviews aspects of contemporary and historical practice, including "mixed ensembles." Informative appendixes and a full chronology of the mainstream repertory complete this compact guide.

This guide, written by one of the foremost interpreters of early clarinet music, is intended for all clarinetists with a desire to investigate music of earlier periods. It contains practical help on both the acquisition and playing of historical clarinets, while performers on modern instruments will find much advice on style, approach and techniques, which combine to make up a well-grounded, period interpretation. Most importantly, case studies that include the music of Handel, Mozart and Brahms help recreate performances as close as possible to the composer's original intention.

This introduction to the early horn provides a historical account of the instrument's development during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries as well as a practical guide to playing techniques and principles of interpretation. The book aims to help performers to play in a historically appropriate style and provides a series of case studies including major works from the horn repertoire by Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann and Brahms. It includes chapters on the historical background of the instrument, its design and development, and choice of instrument today.

This handbook provides a historical account of the development of the violin, viola and their close relatives as well as a practical guide to playing techniques and principles of interpretation. It aims to help performers to play in a historically appropriate style and to guide listeners toward a clearer understanding of the issues that affected string performance during this series' core period (c.1700-c.1900). Its six detailed case studies, which include Bach and Beethoven, will assist readers in forging well-grounded, period interpretations of major works from the repertory.

Early Keyboard Instruments discusses a variety of issues involved in the performance of keyboard music from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries. It brings together a range of topics that have come to the fore in recent decades and forms a useful introduction to historical performance issues for the student performer or amateur, whether playing on period instruments or on the modern piano.