Part I. The birth of modern interpretation. From renaissance to baroque ; The baroque ; Rococo and enlightenment

Classicism: the script becomes binding. Phrasing and dynamics ; Tempo and metronome ; Victory of form

Part III. Romanticism. Classical romanticism ; Power and virtuosity ; Corrections ; Opera ; Between two epochs

Part IV. The objective present. Historical correctness ; The objective revolt ; New gateways of interpretation ; The American scene.

Foreword / by Eugene Ormandy --

Introductory note and acknowledgements --

Prologue. Interpretation: Applied musicology ; Interpretation: objective or subjective? ; Notation cannot express intangibles, interpretation lives through style --

Part I: The birth of modern interpretation. From Renaissance to Baroque. Ecclesiastical spirit. Universality of expression ; Maestro di cappella Palestrina --

A cappella style. Free declamation, setup of chorus --

Le nuove musiche. Ancient ideals, old Italian methods of singing, subordination of song --

Madrigals. Italian and English styles, Stilo rappresentativo, after-supper singing --

Keyboard performance. Royal virginalists, Frescobaldi's organ playing --

The Baroque. The story of the score. Four stages of evolution, medieval manuscripts, first printed scores, architecture creates performing style, sonata piano e forte --

The orchestra makes its debut. Monteverdi's instrumental palette, reformer Lully, alteration of rhythm, unity of bowing --

Bach and Handel. Tradition and its dangers, Bach: from Weimar to Leipzig, Handel: baroque proportions --

Rococo and enlightenment. Ornamentation. Functional and ornamental graces, Philipp Emanuel Bach on "Manieren", graces: German, French, Italian --

Dance types. The function of the dance, the preclassical suite, dances from the galliard era, dances from the minuet era, the waltz --

Affektenlehre. Emotions: the aim of performance, major and minor, time signatures, the interpreter's emotions indispensable --

The Mannheim school. Conservative and progressive dynamics, crescendo in Italy and Germany, Jommelli and Stamitz --

Part II. Classicism: the script becomes binding. Phrasing and dynamics. Improvisation disappears. Manuscripts of Haydn and Beethoven, end of figured bass --

Background of phrasing. Articulation and part organization, breathing and bowing --

Dynamics. The echo, three classes of dissonances, acoustic conditions --

Performance and proportion. Double direction, Haydn: Esterház and London, Haydn's humor --

Tempo and metronome. Initial tempo. Was old music played more slowly than modern? Mozart's presto, tempo modification --

Mozart and tempo rubato. Where to play rubato, the Mozart correspondence, the vocal background, license and limits, melodic charm --

The story of the metronome. Metrical measurement before 1800, Maelzel, Beethoven's metronomizations --

Victory of form. Beethoven's piano playing. Legato, pedaling, and dynamics, restrained liberty, controlled rubato --

The poetic idea. Tragic and serene vantage grounds of interpretation, form triumphant, obligato accompaniment --

Part III. Romanticism. Classical romanticism. Romanticism: an eternal feature of interpretation. The classicists romanticized, Work fidelity --

Lied performance. Poetry sounds and music speaks, melodies interwoven --

Back to the manuscript. Script versus print, fantasy behind bars --

Return to the past. Bach Renaissance, fluent tempi, the Parisian piano school, purism of interpretation --

Romance and balance. The well-defined phrase, Chopin's rubato --

Power and virtuosity. Berlioz. Dream orchestra, lifelong campaign against arbitrariness, singers, orchestra players, conductor, the interpretative duality --

Virtuosity. G string alone, the riddle of perfection, génie oblige, freedom of meter, the letter kills the spirit --

Corrections. Masterworks revised. Corrections from above, corrections from below, the questions of repeats, piano transcriptions, orchestrations, defense of the pure spirit --

Opera. Toward the music drama. Scores tailor-made for singers, Gluck's reforms, Gesamtkunstwerk before Wagner, theater orchestra --

Wagner's method. Naïve and sentimental tempo, against musical temperance, not soulless pen music --

Verdi and Italian opera --

Between two epochs. The absolute ideal. Chamber music, dusting off old works --

Fin de siècle. Ars Gallica, simplicity --

Debussy. Human tenderness, language of fine shades, charming ridicule --

End and beginning. Romantic objectivity --

Part IV. The objective present. Historical correctness. Objective publication. Baroque organ reawakened, transcriptions, rescoring, objectivity of spirit --

Objective pitch --

New subjectivity. Symphony revised, opera revised --

The objective revolt. Stravinsky. Sculptured in marble, the new rhythm, primeval forces, schooling the young interpreter --

Schönberg. New notation, song speech, light scale --

New gateways of interpretation. A new performer. Timbre and transmission, timing, controversial attitudes, electrogenic scores, interpretation standardized, invisibility of audience, television, moving pictures --

The American scene. Crucible of music. Folklore, south of the Rio Grande, Tango: style transformation --

Jazz: a return to improvisation --

Cosmopolitan trends --

Americanism: humanity --

Epilogue.