Reflections of an American Harpsichordist Unpublished Memoirs, Essays, and Lectures of Ralph Kirkpatrick

166 ❧ chapter sixteen
In the chaos of this indiscriminate victory of early music, we can see not
merely a sanctioning but indeed an elevation of emotional and artistic irre-
sponsibility; we can see incompetence held up for admiration in the absence
of overall cultural and artistic values; we can see a kind of shortsighted provin-
cialism which is concerned with only one period and with only a few aspects of
that period; we can see a tendency to self-limitation and to a general atrophy of
the sensibilities. I marvel at the absence up to now of a really healthy reaction
to all this nonsense. In moments of special exasperation I am tempted to sug-
gest measures like the initiation of a counter-crusade for the preservation of
the piano, a society for the suppression of Vivaldi and Telemann, or the levy of
a heavy tax on the builders of harpsichord kits.
But meanwhile, the self-assuredness, insensitivity, and downright absurdity
of much of this is enough to make the gods either weep or laugh uproariously.
But instead, I think I hear only a faint titter from Olympus, a titter of ennui,
and no reaction at all from Parnassus. Apollo and the Muses are paying no
attention whatever.
A considerable crisis must be in the offi ng for the movement of early music.
There is bound to be a reaction, much of it unjust. If the revolution does not
take the direction of common sense, it is likely that a reaction against histori-
cism may bring us back to a worship of undiscriminating ignorance such as
preceded this whole crusade.
A major problem is the functioning of the world of early music within the
mainstream of art and of culture. Are we to have the perpetuation of little
pockets of purity? Or are we to let down the barriers and let all of this historical
research get lost once more, or let the product merge in a fusion with any kind
of contemporary current that may reveal itself in music? Whatever the solu-
tion, there exists a tremendous need to expand the world of early music. It has
made its victory in terms of winning respect and consideration. Now, instead
of being overwhelmed by the general world of music, it risks pulling huge seg-
ments of that general world into its own narrow domain.
To avoid these dangers, it is necessary to incorporate the performer’s study
and understanding of composer and text into the total context of the Western
cultural heritage. One need not sacrifi ce any of one’s acuity in investigating
sources of information, of performance practice, in attempting to rediscover
intentions of composer and text, documentation, and historical ambience. But
to do this in ignorance of the present, or of the intervening nineteenth cen-
tury, or indeed of the entire background of Western culture is, I think, a very
dangerous tendency indeed.
Despite moments of despair and a desire at times to have nothing to do with
the whole world of early music, in my more optimistic moments I think there
is yet hope for a survival of the legacy in terms of knowledge and sensibility, of
taste and common sense.
Kirkpatrick.indd 166Kirkpatrick.indd 166 2/8/2017 9:58:57 AM 2 / 8 / 2017 9 : 58 : 57 AM