edited by Rémy Campos and Arthur Macé, Turhout, Brepols, 2025 (Speculum Musicae, 58)
Over the last few decades, scholarly literature dedicated to historically informed performance has proliferated. The abundance of publications, the creation of specialised collections and dedicated research teams have all contributed to the creation of an ever-expanding scientific library.
This vast repository of knowledge comprises not just written publications, but also countless recordings and performances, as well flourishing. Paradoxically, as new research methods developed, the terra incognita simultaneously seemed to expand.
This volume does not attempt an exhaustive synthesis but instead aims to outline a number of significant trends within the field of historically informed performance studies, as practised in conservatoires and universities.
The fifteen texts gathered in this volume can be read both as contributions to specific areas of performance studies as well as methodological proposals inviting cross-disciplinary reflection.
The first part of the book, which examines, among other topics, music engraving, the theory and hermeneutics of the sign, and performers’ annotations, puts forward new proposals for the analysis of the musical sign.
The second part deals with the growing field of recording analysis and reenactment, looking at leading artists (from Ernest Chausson to Vlado Perlemuter, not forgetting Sarah Bernhardt and Charles Ives).
Rémy Campos is professor of music history at the Conservatoire de Paris and head of research at the Haute école de musique de Genève. His past work has focused on the history of conservatories (Paris and Geneva) and the historiography of music. His current research is devoted to music performance practice during the 19th and the 20th centuries. Last publication : Debussy à la plage(Gallimard, 2018).
Arthur Macé is a research officer at the Conservatoire de Paris, where he coordinates and promotes the institution’s research output across various disciplines. A member of the SACRe-PSL laboratory and the Georg Simmel Center, his work focuses on 19th– and 20th-century musical institutions and associations.
