Sound Spaces: Playing with Text

Science Talk with Jo Wilhelm Siebert

Camaros Glasbausteinfenster im Musikinstrumenten-Museum – Camaros Glasbausteinfenster im Musikinstrumenten-Museum

Without a musical score as the basis for what is being played, we would not speak of musical interpretation in the strict sense. Nor would we speak of interpretation without a certain degree of artistic and confident disregard for the conventions set out in such a score. There is, therefore, a contentious relationship between the binding nature of the score and the scope for freedom that this very score offers – and which makes it open to interpretation in the first place. The challenge here is to create freedom through constraint: to dance in chains, to balance on slender ropes above the abyss.

Numerous examples from music history illustrate the boundlessness of interpretative freedom, whilst recordings shed light on the unique eye for what is possible that is characteristic of musicians when they perform. It is precisely this perspective that opens up the scope of the works, within which quite different readings of the same text find their legitimate and compelling place.

Dr Jo Wilhelm Siebert works at the State Institute for Music Research and specialises, amongst other things, in the music history, theory and aesthetics of the 20th and 21st centuries.

Next date:

• Date Thursday, 03/September/2026 18:00 bis 19:30
• Venue Musikinstrumentenmuseum - Ben-Gurion-Straße
• Address Ben-Gurion-Straße, 10785 Berlin-Tiergarten