ABSTRACT
During the late 1980s and 1990s, several books exploring the history of the twentieth-century early music revival appeared. The movement dedicated to the music and performance practices of previous historical periods was now itself under the microscope of historiographical research. Surveys such as The Early Music Revival—A History by the American critic and writer Harry Haskell dealt in quite some detail with the story of the revival, from its first stirrings in the early nineteenth century, through to the latest developments of the 1980s. Remembering that Haskell's book was just one widely circulated example of what was then being written, and that there have since been many others, it remains a useful point of departure for this study, which was begun just after that book first appeared. Although the issues remain largely the same, the scene Haskell described has since changed beyond recognition. Great music and musicians, no matter where or when they came from are always worth the effort.
