The origin of the attempt to distinguish early from modern music and t

Question

The origin of the attempt to distinguish early from modern music and to establish the canons of performance practice for each lies in the eighteenth century. In the first half of that century, when Telemann and Bach ran the collegium musicum in Leipzig, Germany, they performed their own and other modern music. In the German universities of the early twentieth century, however, the reconstituted collegium musicum devoted itself to performing music from the centuries before the beginning of the “ standard repertory, ” by which was understood music from before the time of Bach and Handel.

Alongside this modern collegium musicum, German musicologists developed the historical  subdiscipline  known as “performance practice,” which included the deciphering of obsolete musical notation and its transcription into modern notation, the study of obsolete instruments, and—most importantly because all musical notation is incomplete—the re-establishment of lost oral traditions associated with those forgotten repertories. The cutoff date for this study was understood to be around 1750, the year of Bach’s death. The reason for this demarcation was that the music of Bach, Handel, Telemann, and their contemporaries did call for obsolete instruments and voices and unannotated performing traditions. Furthermore, with a few exceptions, late baroque music had ceased to be performed for nearly a century, with the result that orally transmitted performing traditions associated with it were forgotten. In contrast, the notation in the music of Haydn and Mozart from the second half of the eighteenth century was more complete than in the earlier styles, and the instruments seemed familiar, so no “special” knowledge appeared necessary. Also, the music of Haydn and Mozart, having never ceased to be performed, had maintained some kind of oral tradition of performance practice.    1 
 1. It can be inferred that the “standard repertory” ( Highlighted ) might have included music

(A) that called for the use of obsolete instruments.
(B) of the early twentieth century.
(C) written by the performance practice composers.
(D) written before the time of Handel.
(E) composed before 1700.

2 
 2. According to the passage, performance practice in the early twentieth century involved all of the following EXCEPT

(A) deciphering outdated music notation.
(B) studying instruments no longer in common use.
(C) reestablishing unannotated performing traditions.
(D) determining which musical instrument to use.
(E) transcribing older music into modern notation.

3 
 3. According to the passage, German musicologists of the early twentieth century limited performance practice to pre-1750 works because

(A) special knowledge was generally not required to decipher pre-1750 music.
(B) unannotated performing traditions had been maintained for later works.
(C) generally speaking, only music written before 1750 had ceased to be performed.
(D) the annotation for earlier works was generally less complete than for the works of Bach and Handel.
(E) music written prior to 1750 was considered obsolete.

4 
 4. The author refers to performance practice as a “subdiscipline” ( Highlighted ) probably because it

(A) was not sanctioned by the mainstream.
(B) required more discipline than performing the standard repertory.
(C) focused on particular aspects of the music being performed at the German universities.
(D) involved deciphering obsolete musical notation.
(E) involved performing the works that were being transcribed at the universities.

Source:  Master GMAT

Sajjad1994 · Accepted Answer

Official Explanation

1. It can be inferred that the “standard repertory” (Highlighted) might have included music

Difficulty Level:   750

Explanation

It is reasonably inferable from the  first paragraph  as a whole that the  “standard repertory”  mentioned in  line 8-9  refers to the music of Bach and Telemann as well as to other ( “modern” ) music from their time (first half of the eighteenth century).

In the  second paragraph , the author mentions that the music of Bach, Telemann, and their contemporaries called for obsolete instruments  (lines 19–22) . Thus, the standard repertory might have included music that called for the use of obsolete instruments, as  choice (A)  indicates.

The correct answer is (A).

2. According to the passage, performance practice in the early twentieth century involved all of the following EXCEPT

Difficulty Level:   600

Explanation

Although the passage does indicate that early music often called for the use of obsolete instruments, the passage does not state explicitly that performance practice involved determining which musical instrument to use.

The correct answer is (D).

3. According to the passage, German musicologists of the early twentieth century limited performance practice to pre-1750 works because

Difficulty Level:   700

According to the passage, the German musicologists did not study the music of Mozart and Haydn (post-1750 music) because, among other reasons, their music,  “having never ceased to be performed, had maintained some kind of oral tradition of performance practice”   (Last 3 lines . Unannotated music is music that is not written, but strictly oral.  Choice (B)  restates the author’s point in these lines.

The correct answer is (B).

4. The author refers to performance practice as a “subdiscipline” (Highlighted) probably because it

Difficulty Level:   750

Explanation

According to the passage, performance practice was developed alongside the modern (early twentieth-century) collegium musicum, which was part of the German university. While the modern collegium musicum performed music from before the time of Bach and Handel, scholars in the field of performance practice studied certain aspects (e.g., choice of instruments, deciphering notation) of music from the same time period.

The correct answer is (C).

Hope it helps

BlueBook · Answer

1) From the 1st paragraph, ‘standard repertory’ music is music before the time of Bach and Handel. Bach and Handel composed music in the first half of the 18th century therefore music before their time must have been before 1700 which makes the answer E).

2) Performance practice included:
• Deciphering obsolete musical notation.
• Transcription of obsolete music notation into modern notation.
• The study of outdated instruments.
• Re-establishment of lost oral tradition with forgotten repertoires.
• Unannotated performing traditions. The music and Bach and Handel was classified as Performance practice because it called for this.
All the choices are mentioned in the first half of the 2nd paragraph except choice D).

3) POE can be used to arrive at the answer. The analysis and answer can be found in the 2nd paragraph.
A) Special was knowledge was actually required to decipher pre-1750 music because it was considered obsolete in contrast to music from the latter half of the 18th century. This is explained from the 2nd paragraph in the line beginning with:  “In contrast,….”   Incorrect. 
B) There is no evidence of this. All we are told is that music with unannotated performing traditions was considered obsolete and we are given the example of Bach, Handel and Telemann.  Incorrect. 
C) The answer is wrong because of the word ‘only’. There is no evidence directly given that only music performed before 1750 had ceased to be performed.  Incorrect. 
D) This answer is contrary to the info given in the passage. We are told that Bach and Handel’s music did actually contain unannotated performing traditions.  Incorrect. 
E) This answer directly ties in with the definition of performance practice as defined in analysis of question 2 above.  Correct.

4) A) There is no mention of what is mainstream or not.  Incorrect. 
B) There is no mention of how ‘disciplined’ one has to be to perform performance practice compared to standard repertory.  Incorrect. 
C) There is no mention of performance practice being performed at German universities.  Incorrect. 
D) This is probably why it is a historical sub discipline because it requires special attention due to its obsolete nature in its musical notation, use of instruments and annotation.  Correct. 
E) We are not told anything about performing the works.  Incorrect

harsh154 · Answer

For the given RC,

In Q1, why can't the answer be D, as it is mentioned in last line of para1 that Standard repartory include music from time of Handel and bach

Regards,
Harsh.

CrackverbalGMAT · Answer

Hi Harsh

Paragraph 2 of the passage states: "...the music of Bach, Handel, Telemann, and their contemporaries..."

From this, we gather that Bach, Handel and Telemann were contemporaries ie; belonged to roughly the same time period. Therefore, the "standard repertory" should refer to music belonging to this period.

Option (D) states: Written before the time of Handel.

This would refer to music written  before  the time of Bach etc. and hence, to a time period  before  the "standard repertory". Hence this cannot be the correct answer.

Hope this helps.

Hoozan · Answer

SajjadAhmad   CrackVerbalGMAT  please could you help me understand the following sentence structure and thus the meaning conveyed.

In the German universities of the early twentieth century, however, the reconstituted collegium musicum devoted itself to performing music from the centuries before the beginning of the “standard repertory,”  by which was understood  music from before the time of Bach and Handel.

Does the  by which  refer to the performing music that the collegium musicum devoted itself to? So basically we can infer that

Standard repertory --> Music of Bach,Handel, etc.
Music prior to Standard repertory --> Music before Bach, Handel etc.

Initially when I read this structure I felt  by which  modifies  Standard repertory  and thus I felt (D) was the correct answer choice of Q1.

CrackverbalGMAT · Answer

Hi Hoozan

Yes you are correct. "By which" here refers to music that "the reconstituted collegium musicum devoted itself to performing" ie; "music from the centuries before the beginning of the “standard repertory”. The explanation provided is that this is "music from before the time of Bach and Handel".

This leads to the classification as you have mentioned ie; "standard repertory" referring to music of Bach, Handel etc. and the music prior to this being that of the musicum.

Hope this clarifies.

RiyaJ0032 · Answer

Q1) Can somebody explain why is the standard repertory being referred to the music of Bach

when the RC clearly states that this a phenomenon by which music was understood "before the time" of Bach

please if some expert can enlighten

Thank you so much!

MartyMurray 
 DmitryFarber  
 KarishmaB 
 ChrisLele 
 GMATNinjaTwo

DmitryFarberMPrep · Answer

RiyaJ0032

The modifier "by which . . . Bach and Handel" applies to the adjoining noun (repertory), not the music prior to its beginning. They're introducing a term and then explaining what it means. It helps to understand that the word "repertory" refers to a body of work that is regularly performed among a certain set or era of musicians. In this case, the standard repertory began in Bach's era, but some scholars study prior repertories, also known as "early music."

The origin of the attempt to distinguish early from modern music and t

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards

GMAT Reading Comprehension (RC) Questions

The origin of the attempt to distinguish early from modern music and t

Prep Toolkit

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards