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 --
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 --
