ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book is based on the conviction that performers and performance style are studied as seriously as composers and compositional style. It addresses that need, by proposing we investigate individual performer styles much in the way musical analysts such as Heinrich Schenker, Donald Tovey, and countless others study the styles and output of prominent historical composers. The book addresses some basic issues: what the individual performer plays; how the performer plays this repertoire; how the performer's way of playing compares to his peers; and why the performer plays that particular way. It focuses on the violinist Jascha Heifetz and in particular his performances of Bach's sonatas and partitas for solo violin with specific focus on the Partita in E major and its opening Prelude movement. The Coda draws on the discoveries made throughout the book to define the performance style of Jascha Heifetz.
