Characteristics of Historically-Informed Performance of the Mozart Sonatas for Violin and Piano

Abstract

The article describes the new tendencies of the interpretations of W. A. Mozart’s music. It describes the development of the genre during XVIII century in general and during Mozart’s life in particular, and explains the appearance of different performing traditions, relations, and compromises between historically-oriented and “academic” ways of performing. The interpretation of classical or romantic works turns often to the decoding the author’s intention, since there are usually no evidences of the “correct” version – no audio recordings, and the most detailed treatise still describes something which is impossible to describe. If the problem of ornamentation is at least presented in written in the literature and tables, the point of tempo or timing stays very subjective. Thus the interpretation of the music of Mozart is a difficult problem for the performer and for the musicologist.
The article consists of examples and descriptions of various ways of performance and comparison between “authentic” and “modern” interpretations. Special attention turns timing and articulation as specific ways of historically-oriented style of playing.