The Origin of the Attempt to Distinguish Early from Modern Music

Reading Passage Question

The origin of the attempt to distinguish early from modern music and to establish the canons of performance practice for each lies in the eighteenth century. In the first half of that century, when Telemann and Bach ran the collegium musicum in Leipzig, Germany, they performed their own and other modern music. In the German universities of the early twentieth century, however, the reconstituted collegium musicum devoted itself to performing music from the centuries before the beginning of the “standard repertory,” by which was understood music from before the time of Bach and Handel.

Alongside this modern collegium musicum, German musicologists developed the historical subdiscipline known as “performance practice,” which included the deciphering of obsolete musical notation and its transcription into modern notation, the study of obsolete instruments, and—most importantly because all musical notation is incomplete—the re-establishment of lost oral traditions associated with those forgotten repertories. The cutoff date for this study was understood to be around 1750, the year of Bach’s death. The reason for this demarcation was that the music of Bach, Handel, Telemann, and their contemporaries did call for obsolete instruments and voices and unannotated performing traditions. Furthermore, with a few exceptions, late baroque music had ceased to be performed for nearly a century, with the result that orally transmitted performing traditions associated with it were forgotten. In contrast, the notation in the music of Haydn and Mozart from the second half of the eighteenth century was more complete than in the earlier styles, and the instruments seemed familiar, so no “special” knowledge appeared necessary. Also, the music of Haydn and Mozart, having never ceased to be performed, had maintained some kind of oral tradition of performance practice.

“The origin of the attempt to distinguish early from modern music” - is a GMAT reading comprehension passage with answers. Candidates need a strong knowledge of English GMAT reading comprehension.

This GMAT Reading Comprehension consists of 4 comprehension questions. The GMAT Reading Comprehension questions are designed for the purpose of testing candidates’ abilities in understanding, analyzing, and applying information or concepts. Candidates can actively prepare with the help of GMAT Reading Comprehension Practice Questions.

Solution and Explanation

Question 1
It can be inferred that the “standard repertory” (Highlighted) might have included music

(A) that called for the use of obsolete instruments.
(B) of the early twentieth century.
(C) written by the performance practice composers.
(D) written before the time of Handel.
(E) composed before 1700.

Question 2
According to the passage, performance practice in the early twentieth century involved all of the following EXCEPT

(A) deciphering outdated music notation.
(B) studying instruments no longer in common use.
(C) reestablishing unannotated performing traditions.
(D) determining which musical instrument to use.
(E) transcribing older music into modern notation.

Question 3
According to the passage, German musicologists of the early twentieth century limited performance practice to pre-1750 works because

(A) special knowledge was generally not required to decipher pre-1750 music.
(B) unannotated performing traditions had been maintained for later works.
(C) generally speaking, only music written before 1750 had ceased to be performed.
(D) the annotation for earlier works was generally less complete than for the works of Bach and Handel.
(E) music written prior to 1750 was considered obsolete.

Question 4
The author refers to performance practice as a “subdiscipline” (Highlighted) probably because it

(A) was not sanctioned by the mainstream.
(B) required more discipline than performing the standard repertory.
(C) focused on particular aspects of the music being performed at the German universities.
(D) involved deciphering obsolete musical notation.
(E) involved performing the works that were being transcribed at the universities.

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