Liebesleid 1911 / 2019. Reenactment of Fritz Kreisler's 1911 "Love's Sorrow" Recording

This video clip presents some intermediary results from re-enacting and digitally simulating a Fritz Kreisler (vl) and Haddon Squire (p) 1911 “Love’s Sorrow“ recording, which aimed to investigate the validity of so-called “acoustic“ recordings as sources for musical performance practice research. To do so, authentic impulse responses of some early acoustical sound recording and reproduction devices (built 1901–1933) were created and applied to modern recordings, such as the “Love’s Sorrow“ reenactment.[1] In the video, both the 1911 Kreisler / Squire original and the 2019 reenactment are shown consecutively, allowing for trace the sound modifications due to each step of the historical recording and reproduction processes. We found that most musical parameters deployed by the musicians – especially (changes in) articulation and timbre, but also dynamics, vibrato, and portamento – are affected significantly by the devices when played back. Therefore, it not only seems objectionable to use acoustical recordings as sources for researching historical performance practices in general, but also suggests that early recording musicians may have adjusted their studio performances remarkably in order to cope with the early technology. 

First published Nov. 20^th, 2020 on YouTube (channel of the Stuttgart University of Music and Performing Arts).[2] For the sheet music edition of the 1911 Kreisler / Squire “Love’s Sorrow“ performance, on which the 2019 reenactment was based, see Vollmer (2021).[3]

[1] For an extensive documentation see Vollmer, F. & Bolles, B.-A., “In Search for the ‘Phonograph Effect‘: Performed violin gestures and their sound modification by early acoustic recording and reproduction devices (1901–1933)“, forthcoming in 2022. 

[2] See Vollmer, F. (2020). Liebesleid 1911 / 2019 – Reenactment of Fritz Kreisler’s 1911 “Love’s Sorrow” Recording, Stuttgart: University of Music and Performing Arts. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRJVDpzSfLU (retrieved 21/12/23)

[3] Vollmer, F. (2021). "Love's Sorrow". Sheet music edition based on the 1911 London recording of Fritz Kreisler (1875–1962) and Haddon Squire, Stuttgart: Vollmer. 10.5281/zenodo.5801912