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When is a repeat not a repeat? This article examines two areas in which repeats, notated by Classical period composers, are commonly held to be optional, and consequently in practice ignored. In particular, Beethoven’s five-part scherzos often appear in modern editions as scherzo–trio–scherzo with a da capo indicated that may appear optional. In this article all the sources, both manuscript and printed, of all Beethoven’s five-part scherzos, are examined, and the conclusion reached that Beethoven would have assumed that the movement would be written out in full showing clearly and unambiguously its five-part form.The wider picture of minuets and scherzos is then examined, and a similar conclusion shows that the custom nowadays of omitting repeats on the da capo, after the Trio, has no foundation in Classical period performance practice. On the contrary, in all music up to about 1830 it was invariably assumed, and accepted, that after the trio the minuet was played exactly as before, with both its repeats. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this article we bring together historical research and the experience of performance to untangle problems regarding text underlay in the period around 1500. Although much has been written on the subject of underlay, the principal criterion we use for making decisions has not been discussed. We rely on internal musical evidence, principally motivic repetition. Our case study is Pierre de la Rue’s Salve Regina II, performed by Peter Schubert’s choir VivaVoce on their 2007 Naxos recording. We discuss how particular decisions about text underlay were taken, and their consequences. The new imitative style that developed in the late 15th century is characterized by an emphasis on obvious, literal repetition of musical material. Many pieces with relatively little text for extended sections of music feature extensive repetition of musical motifs after the opening of the point of imitation. In later sources we would expect to find these motifs texted. Based on comparison of sources and a study of developments in musical style, we propose that around 1500 singers were already repeating words and phrases of text in order to bring out the repetition of musical motifs--that, seeing musical repetition, they improvised an appropriate underlay ‘on the fly’. Our approach to text underlay reveals the connection between imitative style c.1500 and the expanded points of imitation with multiple entries of the soggetto typical of mid- and late 16th-century music. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses the sense of lyric in medieval music based on stanzaic structure of the 14th Century ballade 'Nes qu'on porroit' written by Guillaume de Machaut. Relationship between the medieval lyric and practical criticism; Narrative of the piece; Occurrence of verbal cross-references across different genres.