Perspectives on Sources

Every scholar in music handles sources of one kind or another. Students learn early on about the difference between primary and secondary sources and, hopefully, that such status is not necessarily inherent to the source in question, but can depend upon the nature of the research. A newspaper review may be a secondary source for those studying a particular composer or performer, but a primary source for a specialist in music criticism. A facsimile copy of a composer’s handwritten score or sketch, either as hardcopy or a pdf file, may be a primary source for someone looking at the musical materials of a work, where only the original, physical manuscript itself would count for a scholar trying to date it through the study of paper and ink types. Similarly, the CD transfer of Yvonne Loriod’s 1946 recording of ‘Regard de l’Esprit de joie’ would count as a primary source for anyone analysing the performance on the recording, ¹ where the captured sound is what matters, but for someone carrying out detailed discographical work, this is a secondary source and they would wish not just to hear, but to see (if possible) the original release, including the cover, the label on the disc itself and even the information etched onto the shellac. ²