Reddit mentions of Early Music: A Very Short Introduction

We have evidence, but a lot of guesswork and experimentation has been performed. Yes, we have the evidence xiaopb lists, but we also have to figure out what to make of it.

Performance practice is a complex thing to discuss... If you want to do some reading, these are good places to start:

• The End of Early Music: A Period Performer's History of Music for the Twenty-First Century. Great book by one of the guys who was part of the authentic performance revolution in the 60s.
  
  
• Early Music: A Very Short Introduction. A short book on the history of the "authentic performance" movement.
  
  
• Authenticities: Philosophical Reflections on Musical Performance. What exactly is "authentic"? Is it achievable? Is authentic performance a fad, just fashionable nonesense? Are we really listening to "what Bach intended"? Very nice book.
  
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• Text and Act: Essays on Music and Performance. Written by a very well read man, who is not afraid to share his opinions, and who has a particular way to write. Consider these two ideas: 1) historical performance is not very historical, it's modernist thinking 2) Performance is about actions and not about texts. What now?