The Role of Instrument Properties in Music Performance: Variations in Sound and Movements Induced by Baroque-Violin Playing

Since the end of the 1960's both musicologists and musicians have made a significant contribution towards the revival of ancient instruments and repertoire, as well as towards the reconstruction of interpretative style. The interesting point here is that one single repertoire is played in different ways, on different instruments. This peculiarity in the history of interpretation provides an unique opportunity to study the effects of various constraints on musical performance. According to K. Newell's (1986) definition of action as emerging from the interaction between organism, environment and task, music performance may be viewed as resulting from the interplay between performer, interpretative tradition, instrument and musical work. This unique situation is also a way to assess the lag between musical plans (projects) and their performance (achievement).