Musicking: Culturally Informed Performance Practices University of Oregon School of Music and Dance, 19–24 April 2022

Abstract

The annual ‘ Musicking ’ conference brought together culturally informed musical performances and masterclasses with academic research in a series of events centred on the study of early music within its broader cultural context. In 2022, its seventh year, the conference celebrated and honoured Musicking ’ s artistic director Marc Vanscheeuwijck on his retirement from the University of Oregon. As a tribute to his scholarly contributions, the event focused primarily (but not exclusively) on genres, composers, instruments and music in and around Bologna and Naples. The conference consisted of five ‘ Intermezzo ’ lecture-concerts, three panels, a special lecture, a keynote address, masterclasses and two concerts. As was the case in 2021, participants had the option of attending in person or virtually, the latter allowing for presenters and attendees to engage with conference events on a national and international scale. The conference opened on Tuesday 19 April with the Intermezzo lecture-concert ‘ Eighteenth-Century Spanish Violin Repertory through its Own Lens ’ by Guillermo Salas Suárez (Case Western Reserve University). Taking Spanish treatises as a starting-point, Salas focused on issues of bowings and articulation, ornamentation and accompaniment techniques. He illustrated the topics of his talk with excerpts from Domenico Scarlatti (1685 – 1757), Francisco Manalt ( c 1710 – 1759), José Herrando ( c 1720 – 1763) and Gaetano Brunetti (1744 – 1798). Issues concerning vocal performance took centre stage on the Wednesday. The term ‘ falsetto ’ , L ’ homme armé masses, the cantatas of Leonardo Vinci (1690 – 1730) and prosulas for mass propers from Benevento occupied the attendees on one of the busiest days of the conference. The panel ‘ Soldiers and Castrati ’ brought together Cameron Steuart (University of Georgia) and John Ahern (Princeton University) in a fascinating session that dealt with terminology and authorship. Steuart analysed the use of the term ‘ falsetto ’ in eighteenth-century opera, debunking some of the negative connotations