Royal Institute of Philosophy Seminar

Title: “Performing Musical Works Authentically”

Abstract: This paper argues that - within the Western, ‘classical’ tradition - there exists a non-instrumental performance value of authenticity in performance, but that this value is distinct from the two kinds of authenticity recognised in the literature: i.e. historical authenticity and personal authenticity. This performance value I call interpretive authenticity. This notion of interpretive authenticity is elaborated; it is used to correct (I hope) mistakes made about the nature of interpretation and the purpose of performing works in the said tradition; and I tentatively suggest that, within this tradition, interpretive authenticity is the only non-instrumental performance-value there is.