Historically informed performance debate

1. Why is historically informed performance important?
2. What is a historically informed music performance?
3. When did historically informed performance begin?
4. What is Baroque performance practice?

Why is historically informed performance important?

The HIP approach seeks to place a piece of music in its original context, enabling audiences to experience it more as the composer conceived it. In short, HIP aims to help audiences explore foreign lands in a magical time gone by without the use of a time machine or tesseract.

What is a historically informed music performance?

Historically informed performance (also referred to as period performance, authentic performance, or HIP) is an approach to the performance of classical music, which aims to be faithful to the approach, manner and style of the musical era in which a work was originally conceived.

When did historically informed performance begin?

In order to talk about the so-called Historically Informed Performance Practice movement that began roughly in the second half of the 20th century, we need to go back to the mid 19th century and before. Music, like fashion or film, has been in constant demand, with style and tastes changing quite rapidly.

What is Baroque performance practice?

In the Baroque period, composers expected musicians to add ornamentation, including trills, mordents, turns, appoggiaturas, grace notes, passing tones, etc. Use of vibrato was also considered an ornament. In addition to adding ornamentations, performers were expected to improvise, especially on cadences.