Abstract
Instructive editions from the late 19th and early 20th century include various annotations regarding musical and interpretative aspects, such as articulation, bowings, fingerings, dynamics, note values, or vibrato As a popular medium at the time, instructive editions were often in the centre of contemporary discussions and attracted the attention of musicians and music teachers, bequeathing us a wide corpus of valuable sources. Joseph Joachim was arguably the most prominent violinist and a sought-after pedagogue in the German-speaking world at the time. Hitherto unknown letters as well as revisited statements by Joachim lead to new insights regarding his attitude towards instructive editions: he viewed them - despite his (few) publications in this genre - very critically, as he was convinced that detailed instructions would limit the freedom of the performer. He instead preferred editions without annotations, but interpreted the music freely andd variably in what he considered the spirit of the composer. Joachim's attitude thus poses general questions as to the role and freedom of performance and interpretation in the second half of the nineteenth century.
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