Notation and Performance Practice in Beethoven: Absolute or Conditional?

Abstract

“Do we really want to talk about ‘authenticity’ any more?” asks Richard Taruskin in his essay, “The Pastness of the Present and the Presence of the Past.”^[1] Needless to say, the subject of historically informed performance has been the focus of endless critical and scholarly discourse.  In the modern sense of the term, “authentic” has been used in the Western musical world to refer to performances that use period instruments with the intention to replicate period conventions and performance practice; this approach, however, has been the source of much controversy since the 1960s.  Two highly controversial notions have become increasingly prominent in the authenticity debate — “there is one ideal performance for each musical composition,” and furthermore, that “the goal of the responsible performer is to renounce the delights of imagination andrealize this ideal sounding as close as possible.”^[2] This begs the question: is there an ideal way to approach and interpret Beethoven’spiano sonatas.