ABSTRACT
The materials for the study of performance practice therefore reach beyond the music itself. Musical performance has two elements: the musical score, and the performer's interpretation. The balance between these two elements varies greatly in different centuries and even with different composers. New collected editions, such as the Neue Bach Ausgabe and the Hallische HiindelAusgabe, include critical commentaries with information about chronology, performance matters, and a list of variants for each work. The tools for the study of baroque performance practice are numerous, and it is important to consider as many different ones as possible when studying a particular style or notation. In attempting to play or listen to baroque music, one usually begins with a concern for the sound, a feature by no means easily described, but nevertheless a crucial one as a basis upon which to build other matters of style.
