Editing

Question 1

Philology

Answer 1

the historical and critical study of texts (or music) to establish their original form and meaning.

Question 2

Filiation

Answer 2

the genealogical relationship among sources, showing how one document derives from another.

Question 3

Basic steps

Answer 3

Gathering
Evaluation
Revisions
Notation
Performance practices
Audience

Question 4

Gathering sources

Answer 4

manuscripts (mss) and prints- most authoritative source is an autograph
How to locate?
1st place to go is a composer’s thematic catalog
RISM
library catalogs- e.g., WorldCat
Why all sources?
music is not found elsewhere
different versions can be significant
copies can demonstrate various stages

Question 5

Evaluating

Answer 5

It’s better to base an edition on one authoritative source than to mix multiple ones.
Use evidence like watermarks, rastra, and handwriting to judge authenticity and closeness to the composer.
Chopin published his works in france, england, german simultaneously due to economic and artistic control

Question 6

Revision

Answer 6

Which version is most authoritative?
Fassung letzer Hand? (the composer’s final intentions)

Question 7

Notation

Answer 7

Editor should allow user to see various versions and make decisions

Older notation (mensural, Renaissance, Baroque) lacks barlines and uses different note values.
Editors modernize by halving note values, adding barlines/meters, and updating clefs, while keeping editorial transparency using symbols:
[ ] additions, ( ) uncertain readings, italics for reconstructions.

Question 8

Performance Practices

Answer 8

Early composers left their score incomplete. Performers could add ornamentation, accidentals.

Study of how music was performed in its original context — includes tempo, rhythm, tuning, ornamentation, articulation, dynamics, instrumentation, and improvisation.
Aims to recreate historically informed performance (HIP) using treatises, original instruments, and contemporary accounts.

Figured bass
Musica ficta
text underlay
ornamentation
instrumentation/scoring

Question 9

Who is the audience for your edition?

Answer 9

scholars/performers/ both?

facsimile editions.
heavily edited edition
urtext editions
scholarly editions

Question 10

two important figures

Answer 10

H. Brown, James Grier

Question 11

Urtext

Answer 11

An edition that aims to reproduce the composer’s original text as accurately as possible, without editorial changes or additions.