Speaking of the I-Word

Abstract

The paper aims to demonstrate the influence of word choice in historical discourse, especially across languages. The critical word here is the ill-defined “improvise.” The modern discourses discussed here concern European musical practices of the Middle Ages and the eighteenth century. “Improvisation” occurs in modern discourses about medieval texts only as a result of misreading of medieval sources. Its presence in modern discourses about eighteenth-century texts and practices is owing to the unauthorized translation of Fantasie and fantasieren in German sources. The consequence of this thematization of the “improvise” group for the characterization of medieval and eighteenth-century practices is at the expense of attention to the ex tempore mechanisms of the former and to the preoccupation with fantasy, creativity, affect, and autonomy in the latter.