The End of Early Music: A Period Performer's History of Music for the Twenty-First Century

The End of Early Music: A Period Performer's History of Music for the Twenty-First Century
by Bruce Haynes

The End of Early Music: A Period Performer's History of Music for the Twenty-First Century
List Price: $39.99
Our Price: $27.32
You Save: $12.67 (32%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions


(Click here)
Buy this book at online book store in your country
Canada | UK | Germany | France

Book Summary Information

Author: Bruce Haynes
Edition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2007-07-20
ISBN: 0195189876
Number of pages: 304
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Book Reviews of The End of Early Music: A Period Performer's History of Music for the Twenty-First Century

Book Review: The Philosophy Behind HIP
Summary: 4 Stars

Bruce Haynes' THE END OF EARLY MUSIC is a book about the historical performance movement, its aims and philosophy and its place in the modern musical scene. Haynes traces HIP (historically informed performance) in history, contrasting its philosophy with the romantic mindset which preceded it (which included the notions of absolute music, canonism, and the "transparent performer"). But Haynes' book is not simply a polemic against "mainstream" (i.e. non-historically informed) ways of performing older music; he outlines and critiques different trends within HIP itself, coming down squarely on the side of what he calls the Eloquent Style, a "passionate oratorical manner...based on declamation and gestural phrasing".

Part I of the book is brilliant. Haynes outlines what he discerns as the three successive styles of playing early music in the 20th century. The grand romantic manner, with its portamento and emotionalism, was a carry-over from the previous century. In reaction to this, and influenced by the "objectivist" aesthetic of Stravinsky, a new "Modernist" style developed in the 1930's that was extremely precise, literalistic, and emotionally detached (this is the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields variety of baroque performance). This style, stiff, mechanical, lacking in inflection or beat hierarchy, was disastrous - far worse than Romantic Baroque. Haynes finds it to be an analogue to the mechanized standardization of the Industrial Revolution. The 1960's saw the beginnings of the Period Style which is now practiced by HIP musicians all over the world. Haynes further divides Period Style into two trends - Straight Style (or "Modern Lite", as he calls it), and the much lauded Eloquent Style, which Haynes feels represents the true baroque aesthetic.

As a historical performance student and performer, I am in fundamental agreement with Haynes' ideas, even if I have quibbles with certain particulars. Although the book has "early music" in the title, it is pretty much limited to baroque music, Haynes' area of specialization; you will not find anything here about Renaissance music, or Haydn and Mozart. Moreover, it is hardly a "history of music", as the subtitle proclaims, but rather a history of musical interpretation from the romantic era to the present with the baroque era as the point of reference.

At times Haynes could have chosen his words better. As a Catholic, I was dismayed by the language he used in comparing the romantic concert to religious ritual in the chapter "Classical Music's Coarse Caress": "Music of this type thus risks becoming liturgy, UNTHINKING AND UNPROVOCATIVE [my emphasis]...Ritual actions are those that, because they are often repeated, lose the meaning they once possessed, and become automatic". I don't know what Haynes' religious convictions are, but he should have chosen his words more carefully here so as not to offend.

Haynes seems unwilling to give the 19th century any credit whatsoever, and occasionally his claims left me with some questions. For instance, he claims that the 19th-century bred a literalistic approach to the score along with the idea of the performer as mere "executant" of the composer's wishes. But how is this to be squared with the notion of romantic performers using compositions as vehicles for soul-searching personal expression? Elsewhere Haynes rails against the idea of canonism, or playing an exclusive list of compositions by "dead composers". But surely it was precisely romanticism's rejection of the ephemeral music-making of previous eras that allowed the early music revival to take place? On one occasion, Haynes seems blatantly to contradict himself. On p. 220 he criticizes HIP performances of Beethoven and romantic music for not sounding like the recordings of the early years of the 20th century, while earlier on the same page he had suggested that those early recordings don't represent an authentic Beethovenian performing style to begin with.

Other complaints I had were in the niceties of style. Haynes has developed a whole lexicon of names for the concepts he describes (Eloquent Style, Strait Style) and for the most part they work nicely (though the term "musicking" strikes me as silly). But he frequently refers to "Classical music" when it's clear he means "classical music" (the capital "C" indicates the Classical style period, whereas the lower-case "c" indicates "serious" or "art" music). Haynes' tone is informal, to the point of writing "kids" instead of "children" and "paper" instead of "newspaper". In general, the book could have been more carefully edited.

All in all, this is an important and very readable book on the fascinating subject of musical interpretation.

Summary of The End of Early Music: A Period Performer's History of Music for the Twenty-First Century

Part history, part explanation of early music, this book also plays devil's advocate, criticizing current practices and urging experimentation. Haynes, a veteran of the movement, describes a vision of the future that involves improvisation, rhetorical expression, and composition. Written for musicians and non-musicians alike.

History & Criticism Books

Book Subjects
Most talked about in History & Criticism Books
Love Is a Mix Tape: Life and Loss, One Song at a Time ImageLove Is a Mix Tape: Life and Loss, One Song at a Time
by Rob Sheffield
Three Rivers Press; Published: 2007-12-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.05
Price in other shops: $13.00
Elliott Smith's XO (33 1/3 series) ImageElliott Smith's XO (33 1/ 3 series)
by Matthew Lemay
Continuum; Published: 2009-04-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.87
Price in other shops: $10.95
The Sound of Broadway Music: A Book of Orchestrators and Orchestrations ImageThe Sound of Broadway Music: A Book of Orchestrators and Orchestrations
by Steven Suskin
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2009-04-08; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $43.90
Price in other shops: $55.00
Revolution in the Air: The Songs of Bob Dylan, 1957-1973 (Cappella Books) ImageRevolution in the Air: The Songs of Bob Dylan, 1957-1973 (Cappella Books)
by Clinton Heylin
Chicago Review Press; Published: 2009-04-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $18.23
Price in other shops: $29.95
Grunge Is Dead: The Oral History of Seattle Rock Music ImageGrunge Is Dead: The Oral History of Seattle Rock Music
by Greg Prato
Ecw Press; Published: 2009-04-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.20
Price in other shops: $19.95
1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die (1,000 Before You Die) Image1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die (1,000 Before You Die)
by Tom Moon
Workman Publishing Company; Published: 2008-08-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.94
Price in other shops: $19.95
The Way I Am ImageThe Way I Am
by Eminem
Dutton Adult; Published: 2008-10-21; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $22.95
Price in other shops: $40.00
Will You Take Me As I Am: Joni Mitchell's Blue Period ImageWill You Take Me As I Am: Joni Mitchell's Blue Period
by Michelle Mercer
Free Press; Published: 2009-04-07; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $14.70
Price in other shops: $24.99
The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century ImageThe Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century
by Alex Ross
Picador; Published: 2008-10-14; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.94
Price in other shops: $18.00
Motley Crue: The Dirt - Confessions of the World's Most Notorious Rock Band ImageMotley Crue: The Dirt - Confessions of the World's Most Notorious Rock Band
by Tommy Lee, Vince Neil, Mick Mars, Nikki Sixx, Neil Strauss
HarperEntertainment; Published: 2002-07-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.61
Price in other shops: $16.95
Similar Books and other products
Ornamentation in Baroque and Post-Baroque Music, with Special Emphasis on J.S. Bach ImageOrnamentation in Baroque and Post-Baroque Music, with Special Emphasis on J.S. Bach
by Frederick Neumann
Princeton University Press; Published: 1983-12-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $63.45
Price in other shops: $94.00
Text and Act: Essays on Music and Performance ImageText and Act: Essays on Music and Performance
by Richard Taruskin
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 1995-09-07; Paperback; Book
Best price: $29.80
Price in other shops: $30.00
Dance and the Music of J. S. Bach: Expanded Edition ImageDance and the Music of J. S. Bach: Expanded Edition
by Meredith Little, Natalie Jenne
Indiana University Press; Published: 2001-12-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $22.86
Price in other shops: $27.95
Baroque Music, Style and Performance: A Handbook ImageBaroque Music, Style and Performance: A Handbook
by Robert Donington
W. W. Norton & Company; Published: 1982-09; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.70
Price in other shops: $18.95
The Historical Performance of Music: An Introduction (Cambridge Handbooks to the Historical Performance of Music) ImageThe Historical Performance of Music: An Introduction (Cambridge Handbooks to the Historical Performance of Music)
by Colin Lawson, Robin Stowell
Cambridge University Press; Published: 1999-11-13; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.20
Price in other shops: $28.99
Playing with History: The Historical Approach to Musical Performance (Musical Performance and Reception) ImagePlaying with History: The Historical Approach to Musical Performance (Musical Performance and Reception)
by John Butt
Cambridge University Press; Published: 2002-06-17; Paperback; Book
Best price: $25.91
Price in other shops: $29.99
History of Performing Pitch: The Story of "A" ImageHistory of Performing Pitch: The Story of "A"
by Bruce Haynes
The Scarecrow Press, Inc.; Published: 2002-10-28; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $58.72
Price in other shops: $87.00
Meter in Music, 1600--1800: Performance, Perception, and Notation (Music: Scholarship and Performance) ImageMeter in Music, 1600--1800: Performance, Perception, and Notation (Music: Scholarship and Performance)
by George Houle
Indiana University Press; Published: 2000-06-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $15.25
Price in other shops: $16.95
Tuning and Temperament: A Historical Survey ImageTuning and Temperament: A Historical Survey
by J. Murray Barbour
Dover Publications; Published: 2004-05-20; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.53
Price in other shops: $13.95
How Equal Temperament Ruined Harmony: (and Why You Should Care) ImageHow Equal Temperament Ruined Harmony: (and Why You Should Care)
by Ross W. Duffin
W.W. Norton & Co.; Published: 2008-10-17; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.60
Price in other shops: $14.95
Book store. Illustrated catalog of books on different categories