'USED SCORES'. LINEE TEORICHE E OPERATIVE PER L¿INDAGINE DEL RAPPORTO TRA ESECUTORI E MATERIALI PERFORMATIVI

This study provides a theoretical and analytical framework to investigate the relationship between performers and their materials (scores, parts, etc.) in the Western art music context. Whilst the literature has focused on annotation practice – and thus on the informational content of scores – the approach here is extended to the practices of reading and the material alteration of the performative support. Textual artifacts are thus considered both for their role in the performative process, and for the cultural affordance of the content they convey. Combining recent anthropological perspectives on creative processes with textual criticism methods, this study delves into each of the three practices with a constant reference to numerous sources, belonging to relevant mid-XX century performers who had a unique relationship with their materials. In order to derive some analytical tools – potentially suitable for future case studies – the dissertation focuses on an example: the materials of Berg's Lyrische Suite employed by the LaSalle Quartet and its founder, Walter Levin. On one hand, this investigation reaffirms the relevance of such sources for different scholarly perspectives, including reception history and performance practice. On the other, this study claims for a reconsideration of text-performance dichotomy by relocating it in performers’ perspectives. Lastly, it suggests a multi-disciplinary approach to textual artifacts which aims to fill the gap between opposite approaches like musical philology and performance studies, towards an 'anthropology of the musical text'.