歷史考證演奏源起自20世紀中、晚期的西歐,起先專於中世紀、文藝復興與巴洛克時期的作品詮釋,同樣,也包含古典、早期浪漫時期,工業革命結束前,以手工製作樂器的時期。在上世紀迄今的當代音樂復興(英語:Early music revival)思潮中,復古式的演奏是關鍵的一環。除了音樂領域外,復古風格演奏也開始受到劇場的注意。在巴洛克歌劇的製作與演出上,如今已有許多相關的應例[2][1]。
自文藝復興時期始,便有許多作曲家為古提琴獨奏、齊奏創作作品,包括了Diego Ortiz[譯名請求]、蒙特威爾第、伯德、William Lawes[譯名請求]、亨利·珀塞爾、Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe[譯名請求]、巴赫、泰勒曼、馬蘭·馬雷、Antoine Forqueray[譯名請求]、Carl Frederick Abel[譯名請求]等人。
Lydia Goehr[譯名請求]在其著作The Imaginary Museum of Musical Works: An Essay in the Philosophy of Music[譯名請求]中,對「復古風格」的正反觀點做了檢討與整理[37]:279。她主張復古風格的興起源自19世紀下旬,隨著演奏技術的進展,對早期音樂的詮釋探討也應運而生。Goehr並且將復古風格的論辯總結為兩點:忠於詮釋,或者忠於作品[37]:279。Goehr認為,古樂復興運動旨在提供新的可能性:「使我們在既有的規範下找到音樂詮釋的新可能。」[37]:284
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Leech-Wilkinson, Daniel. Early Music, vol. 12, no. 1. What we are doing with early music is genuinely authentic to such a small degree that the word loses most of its intended meaning. 1984.2. Historical research may provide us with instruments, and sometimes even quite detailed information on how to use them; but the gap between such evidence and a sounding performance is still so great that it can be bridged only by a large amount of musicianship and invention. Exactly how much is required can easily be forgotten, precisely because the exercise of musical invention is so automatic to the performer.請檢查|date=中的日期值 (幫助)
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