Authenticities: Philosophical Reflections on Musical Performance

How are we to assess the current popularity of period instruments and early-music performance? For musicians and audiences alike, the "historical authenticity" movement has increasingly influenced the performance of classical music. It has given us, claims Peter Kivy, "new and rewarding ways of listening to our musical reportory (as well as silly, vulgar, and unrewarding ones)." He believes that theory now overrules the ear in arguing for and justifying particular aesthetic decisions. In his customary engaging style, Kivy here mounts a philosophical inquiry into the desirability of using or re-creating historical performance. "Authenticity has become so widely accepted," he writes, "that why it should be accepted has become an unasked, indeed a forgotten question among the converted." In "How to Be Authentic," the first section of his book, he examines four different kinds of authenticity; in the second part, "Why to Be Authentic," he suggests how to evaluate them. Discussing issues that he cares about passionately, Kivy provides ammunition for both camps—those who follow authentic performance practice and those who do not. It is his hope that this book provides the groundwork for dialogue between mucisians and philosophers. "I look forward to that," he says, "and to being, when it comes, in the thick of things."

About the Author :
Peter Kivy is Professor of Philosophy at Rutgers University. His previous books include Music Alone: Philosophical Reflections on the Purely Musical Experience, also from Cornell.

Review :
Authenticities is an important book, and anyone interested in philosophy of music should read it. Anyone can profit from it as a model of careful and informed conceptual analysis. - James O. Young, University of Victoria (The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism) The consistent theme running through Kivy's book is the need for interpretation as the personal authenticity and authority of the performer against the ideology both of the composer as genius and of the puritanical devotion to the authority of the text of the early music devotees.... This is a most valuable book, one which constantly surprises and delights through its philosophical insights and informed musical understanding. (British Journal of Aesthetics) In his latest book on the aesthetics of music, Peter Kivy presents an argument not for authenticity but for authenticities of performance, including authenticities of intention, sound, practice, and the authenticity of personal interpretation in performance.... As usual, Kivy's work is beautifully written, well argued, and provocative. (Notes) Kivy has provided a sorely needed framework for all future discussion of the authenticity matter. This is his best book, a major contribution to performance studies and to musical aesthetics; likely it will be studied and cited for generations. (Choice) Kivy's book is written in its author's characteristic engaging manner and is full of valuable insights into the hermeneutics and aesthetics of performing music of the past. (Philosophical Review) Written in lively prose, with a keen sense of reality, this volume ought to be of interest not only to philosophers and musicologists, but to all serious lovers of music. - Roger Scruton (Times Literary Supplement)