RESEARCH OUTPUTS

The Interactive Muse: Piano Improvisation in the 19th Century

Coordinator: Susanna Pasticci 

In this section, you can explore materials related to a workshop held in Rome from 16 to 18 October 2024. The aim of the workshop was to investigate new approaches to performing nineteenth-century repertoire, grounded in the recovery of improvisation and historical performance practices.

Distinguished scholars Costantino Mastroprimiano, John Mortensen, and Giorgio Sanguinetti delivered lectures on historical sources, early nineteenth-century partimento, and Romantic improvisation techniques. These lectures provided participating pianists with valuable insights into improvising preludes and interludes when performing works from the nineteenth-century repertoire.

The alternation of performance-based and theoretical sessions—coordinated by Susanna Pasticci—included discussions among experts such as musicologists, performers, philosophers, and psychologists. These exchanges focused on exploring the spaces of improvisational action suggested by nineteenth-century scores—spaces that musicians of the time could easily recognise and interpret, but which are no longer fully accessible to contemporary performers.

The final concert, preceded by a panel discussion with music critics and organisers, featured improvisations by eight workshop participants on pieces from the Romantic repertoire. The videos in this section present highlights from the lectures delivered by the three scholars, as well as excerpts from the final concert. The contributions of the musicologists and other scholars will be published in a forthcoming volume, which will be made available on this portal.