Authenticity
Work authenticity in the performance of a work of Western classical music is faithfulness to the work performed. This essay distinguishes two kinds of such work authenticity: score-compliance authenticity (accurately rendering the work’s score into sound); and interpretive authenticity (delivering a performance that evinces a deep or profound understanding of the work). Both forms of authenticity are performance values (that is, good-making features of performances), and both, we also claim, are constitutive norms governing work performance: norms that arise out of the practice’s teleology. And yet there are occasions on which these two work authenticities conflict with each other: situations when performers feel that bringing out some of the work’s deep musical content pushes them towards compromising score compliance. We believe that such conflict is genuine, and we float the idea that, when it occurs, performers can be justified in deliberately deviating from the score. In our view, a performance of a work is sometimes better overall for departing from scored instructions in this manner.