Tradition, Individuality, and Innovation in Western Classical Music Performance: A Quantitative Analysis of Bach’s Fourth Cello Suite Prelude

Author

Clare Monfredo, CUNY Graduate CenterFollow

Date of Degree

9-2025

Document Type

Doctoral Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Musical Arts

Program

Music

Advisor

Anne Stone

Committee Members

Joseph Straus

Scott Burnham

Daniel Leech-Wilkinson

Subject Categories

Musicology | Music Pedagogy | Music Performance | Music Practice

Keywords

music performance, recording studies, statistical analysis, Bach, cello, performance creativity

Abstract

Why do we seek out new performances of a commonly performed piece of music? An essential tradition of Western classical music (WCM) is the performance of canonical works by composers, an activity that requires the interpretation and execution of written scores by individual performers. In this practice, performers are not only expected to determine the composer’s “intentions,” but also somehow (paradoxically) share these in a “unique” performance interpretation. In musical education, performers are trained by teachers to create these “unique” interpretations by learning how to intuit composers’ intentions in a system that passes down interpretative traditions through master-apprentice one-on-one lessons. Critically, this system prioritizes dogmatic interpretation of scores and, in conjunction, actively discourages study of existing performances in relation to learning how to perform a given piece of music. This leads professional musicians to assume or advocate one or few “correct” interpretation(s) – a potentially major and systematic impediment to musical creativity. Towards clarifying and addressing this apparent dogma and creative problem, my goal in this study is to provide a deliberately alternative approach to understanding WCM performances.

To do so, I use a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods to investigate 23 recent recordings (by 20 living artists) of a canonical piece of WCM: Bach’s Cello Suite IV, Prelude. In particular, I combine close listening with audio signal processing and statistical analyses, mainly focusing on three different dimensions of performance in this piece: tempo, dynamics, and bow usage. For each of these dimensions, I find a variety of striking cases of innovation and conformity on the part of individual performers. Each case provides a concrete demonstration either of individual variability or general uniformity – both of which are generally glossed in performance pedagogy. Additionally, this approach extends prior methods of recording analysis and, further, develops new techniques to visualize and understand stylistic distinctions in performance. I suggest that these findings and approaches are needed to advance our understanding and awareness of the interrelationship of tradition, individuality, and innovation in contemporary WCM performance.

Recommended Citation

Monfredo, Clare, "Tradition, Individuality, and Innovation in Western Classical Music Performance: A Quantitative Analysis of Bach’s Fourth Cello Suite Prelude" (2025). CUNY Academic Works.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/6503