Explain the Benefits and Inherent Problems of the Legacy of the Early Music Revival

Explain the benefits and inherent problems of the legacy of the Early Music Revival.

Prior to the early years of the eighteenth century, it was generally unheard of to perform music that was not contemporary. Indeed, audiences, both secular and sacred, expected to hear new works, thus prolific composers such as Bach were customary. The roots of the Early Music Revival (in the spirit of Butt, henceforth EMR) can be placed during this time, and was led primarily by the church fuelled by surrounding social and cultural changes. According to Peter Hoar, the EMR in the late 18th century was further promoted by the beginning of the Romantic era when musical genius was to be revered, with its ‘veneration of the artist’ and ‘great man’ theory.

However, although there were the odd periods of interest in early music for its own sake, such as Mendelssohn's revival of Bach's St. Matthew Passion in 1829 or the re-orchestrations of Handel’s Messiah by Mozart, it was in the 1960’s and 70’s that the EMR came into it’s own. In May 1965, David Munrow played Susato’s Danserye at Birmingham University to great acclaim, and so the field was opened for ‘authentic’ or ‘historically informed’ performances. As Kenyon points out, the eager reception of this new way of performing old music was more due to Munrows’ (and subsequent) performer’s enthusiasm and conviction, rather than to the