Publications and Research
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2005
Abstract
Rubato is widely regarded as a purely intuitive art. While it may be true that most performers rely solely on intuition for their rubato, a conscious approach may also be helpful. For the teacher of “analysis for performers,” a conscious approach is essential if rubato is to be discussed at all.
Rubato is a difficult subject to theorize. The late David Epstein made an admirable attempt in his book Shaping Time, using recordings by performers he admired to construct quantitative models. My approach here will be qualitative rather than quantitative, and introspective rather than empirical. Unlike Epstein, I will make no attempt to construct a general theory. Musicians in different times and places—even composers of the same generation, such as Chopin and Liszt—had distinctly different conceptions of rubato. One is probably justified, therefore, in approaching the idea of a general theory with caution.
Comments
This item appeared in Music Theory Online in Volume 11, Issue 1 on March 2005. It was authored by William Rothstein, wrothstein@gc.cuny.edu, with whose written permission it is reprinted here.