Workshop held with the University of Tokyo's Center for Global Advance Studies
A joint workshop co-hosted by the Music Dialogue Association and the University of Tokyo's Center for Global Advance Studies was held on the University of Tokyo's Hongo Campus on Tuesday, July 2025, 7. Coordinating the workshop were Associate Professor Koji Yamamoto of the University of Tokyo's Faculty of Economics and MD Takayuki Komuro, and young musicians and historians collaborated across their fields of expertise, deepening the exchange of ideas and sensibilities across disciplines.
This workshop, themed "Considering the Imperfection of Musical Notation," focused on the commonalities between performers' engagement with sheet music and historians' engagement with historical documents. The discussion focused on two scores published approximately 10 years ago: the pristine version of J.S. Bach's Cello Suites, for which no perfect manuscript remains, and the pristine version of Brahms' Violin Sonata, which attempts to reconstruct 2th-century performance practices that cannot be fully grasped from sheet music alone. These pristine versions were compiled by musicologists with a background in historical studies and an expertise in dealing with music historical documents. How did they approach "incomplete scores" and attempt to connect performance and history? The core of this workshop was to trace and discuss this process from the perspectives of both historians and performers.
The first half will introduce some of the content of the group work, which was conducted from a musician's perspective, and the second half will introduce some of the content from a historical researcher's perspective.
A Musician's Perspective: Bach: Cello Suites
[Assignment] Bach's Cello Suites have long been debated as to which historical sources should be used, due to the absence of any reliable scores by the composer himself. By comparing and contrasting the New Complete Bach Works by Bärenreiter published in 1988/90, the New Bärenreiter Edition published in 2000, and the New Revised Edition of the Complete Bach Works (edited by Andrew Talle) published in 2016, we discussed how Talle's "Evaluation of the Sources" should be interpreted from the standpoints of both performers and historians, and the significance of pursuing the "correct way" of notating slurs, etc., as Bach likely intended.
[Announcement] There are no manuscripts of Bach's Cello Suites, and it is unclear which copies are the most reliable. Therefore, performers must create their performances based not only on the scores, but also on their own aesthetic sense and interpretation.
Performers are required to make practical decisions such as "how they want to play it," while historical researchers approach materials from the standpoint of "wanting to convey history as accurately as possible." Despite their different positions, they share a common approach of considering the whole picture from limited materials. Furthermore, sheet music editors have an idea of "what image of history should be reflected in the score (performance)," and performers read this and add slurs and ornamentation to complete the performance. Some performers have said that they "review the materials and update their interpretation with each performance," and this approach is also common to historical research.
In another group, the Brahms Sonata for Piano and Violin was published in the Urtext edition in 2015 by Bärenreiter.Performing Practice CommentaryUsing the translator's afterword to "Performing Brahms" (Japanese translation 2020), I considered performance hints and interpretations that are not written in the score.
A historian's perspective: Uncovering the "drama" from historical documents
In historical research, not only is it important to know how to read primary sources, but also how to use the researcher's imagination to tell a story based on them. Historians and performers collaborated to deepen their dialogue from their respective specialized perspectives, based on texts such as primary sources and sheet music. Each group gave a presentation on their specialized field of historical research, as shown below.
・Modern British History (Peterloo Incident)
・Modern German Medical History (Sexual Minorities)
・History of the alcohol industry (alcohol and tobacco advertising)
Modern German Parliamentary Politics (Minutes)
・19th Century British Religious History (Conversion and Autobiography)
・Images of composers and their works expressed in words (Japanese composers)
Research into sexual minority doctors in the late 19th century revealed that the perspective of creating expression amidst oppression overlaps with Shostakovich's music. Research into alcohol advertisements also reaffirmed the importance of understanding the context before interpreting materials, and also raised the perspectives of "for whom it was written" and "the meaning changes depending on the writer's position and the historical context."
They shared a common understanding that it is important not to read texts such as "sheet music" or "primary sources" simply as information sources, but to interpret and reconstruct them in a way that takes into account the background and context of who wrote them, when, and why, and how to communicate them to the audience.
Although both parties have their own areas of expertise, the space was like a free and creative "jam session," and by engaging in dialogue across disciplines on an equal footing, many commonalities and new perspectives were discovered.
Participants commented that "perceptions change dramatically depending on perspectives and assumptions," and that "curiosity and imagination are essential for interpreting both sheet music and historical documents." Many commented that they were impressed by the flexibility of thinking that is common in both performance and historical research. The process of "building an interpretation while keeping the audience (listeners and readers) in mind" also fostered deep empathy between the two. Many questions and realizations arose precisely because the fields are so different, with impressive comments from history experts such as "I was inspired by the way the score was approached," and "The dialogue helped me become aware of my own unconscious biases and familiar thought patterns, broadening my perspective."
Many of the participants felt that there wasn't enough time, that they wanted to talk more, and that they hope for a second event, and there is hope that opportunities for cross-disciplinary exchange like this one will continue to be held in the future. The experience of two people - a performer seeking music as an art of re-enactment and a historian attempting to reconstruct history - engaging with sheet music and historical documents in their own ways and exploring new forms of expression made for a meaningful session that revealed the rich possibilities for mutual learning that transcends the boundaries between academia and the arts.
Coordinator introduction
I love you(Associate Professor, Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo)
Born in 1981. After studying political thought at Keio University, he went to the UK in October 2003 as a Rotary Foundation International Scholar. He received his PhD in history from the University of York in 10. He subsequently served as a research fellow in London, Edinburgh, Paris, Cambridge, and other institutions. In 2010, he joined the Graduate School of Economics at the University of Tokyo, where he has held his current position since 2016. He will serve as the founding director of the Center for Global Advanced Studies from April 2018. His specialty is the economic and business history of early modern Britain.
Takayuki Komuro (Composer, music writer)
Born in Ibaraki Prefecture in 1986. After studying composition at the Tokyo College of Music, he majored in musicology at the same university's graduate school. After graduating, he worked as a university assistant and part-time lecturer, and is now a music writer. He writes track descriptions for concerts and CDs, as well as interviews for magazines and online media, focusing on classical music, contemporary music, jazz, and film music. He is the co-author of "Introduction to Wind Bands for Non-Listeners" and "A Journey to the Piano." He is also the Educational Program Director at Music Dialogue.
