Early Music in the 21st Century

Seventeen essays by performers, scholars, and pedagogues introduce new ways to conduct research, discuss various performative issues, offer numerous pedagogical possibilities and new technological tools, and--perhaps most importantly--suggest ways we can engage with the present as well as with the past. Sir Nicholas Kenyon, one of the movement's most thoughtful observers, reminds us of the history of the early music revival in his preface. A sharp and humorous work by the organologist Jeremy Montagu (1927-2020), which he wrote just months before his death, serves as a clarion call to do things differently. A number of other essays present material translated into English for the first time.

This post-revival period for the early music movement is crucial for its enduring success. How can a revival movement that looks to the past for inspiration engage with today's social and technological concerns? Early Music in the 21st Century asks important questions for everyone interested in early music--performers, teachers, academics, instrument makers, historians, and music lovers. By encouraging a return to the revolutionary spirit of the pioneering generations, this book offers a plethora of positive possibilities for the future of early music.