摘要：The performance of baroque music changed enormously over the course of the twentieth century. Its history is well documented on sound recordings, and parallels the development of the so-called early music movement that has more recently been referred to as historically informed performance or HIP. Whether or not this style of performing has actual historical verisimilitude is not a concern here. What matters for the current investigation is the fact that, throughout this time, musicians dedicated to playing baroque music according to their understanding of historical sources have established many stylistic conventions that are now associated with HIP. These may resemble eighteenth-century performance practices because they are based on descriptions found in contemporary music treatises and instrumental tutors, and take advantage of the technical and physical characteristics of period instruments. In any case, the resulting sonic characteristics are recognizably distinctive. Many modern publications tally these stylistic conventions and provide information on the constituents of what is currently believed to potentially emulate historical techniques and means of expression.1 An interesting facet of this literature is how the emphasis of discussion has changed over time. In the earlier twentieth century, publications dedicated most space to ornamentation, collating various historical ornamentation tables and score examples, and debating the nature and execution of grace notes, such as trills and appoggiaturas.2 The performance of dotted rhythms also received considerable attention, especially in the 1960s and ’70s.3 However, since the 1980s or so, publications placed more emphasis on the importance of rhetoric and creating a “speaking” quality, on rhythmic projection and flexibility, articulation, metric stresses and accentual patterns. More recently, the topic of ornamentation has been taken up again in relation to improvisation and melodic embellishment, including that of continuo parts.4
