Performers and musical texts – a controversial relationship

Abstract

Abstract The present study departs from the debates caused by the idea of performers’ faithfulness to composers’ intentions in the context of Western-European type academic music. In the musicological research of the past three decades there appeared significant changes in approaching the relationship between performers and musical texts, which I set out to comment from a performer’s perspective. I wish to outline a few answers to questions posed by the desideratum of faithful interpretation in the performing act of composers’ intentions: ▪ are musical texts faithful mirrors of the works conceived by composers? To what extent can performers know composers’ intentions from reading musical texts? ▪ what is the degree of freedom that performers can assume in interpreting musical texts noted by composers? To what extent are the two requirements of the performing act – respecting composers’ intentions and being creative – compatible? ▪ what does performers’ creativity consist of and how is it manifested? Departing from the premise that the analysis of the relation between composition and research in performing a musical work can supply us with some answers to these questions, I set out to prove that: ▪ performers can be creative without encroaching on composers’ copyright; ▪ the analysis of musical texts opens a wide field for performers, in which their creativity can be manifested by knowing and observing the laws governing the makeup of the performed work.