The study of compositional developments and performance practices of the mid-Baroque has often been unjustly neglected compared to the music of the late Baroque and earlier periods. Yet the second half of the seventeenth century bore witness to remarkable developments that provide a wealth of areas for investigation. Recent research has challenged some of the assumptions about fixed identities and so-called national styles in the mid-baroque period, and this was one of the most prominent themes to emerge from papers given at the inaugural mid-baroque international symposium, hosted by the Birmingham Conservatoire.

Organized by Carrie Churnside (Birmingham Conservatoire), the event covered a strikingly wide range of musical genres and traditions, which was reflected in the diversity of the papers given by the three invited speakers, Michael Talbot (University of Liverpool), Peter Holman (University of Leeds) and Colin Timms (University of Birmingham). Opening the symposium, Talbot focused upon a recently identified early Vivaldi trio sonata (rv820) formerly preserved anonymously in the Sächsische Landesbibliothek – Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek in Dresden. His paper highlighted the important evidence provided by this sonata of Vivaldi's formative compositional years, including possible links with Torelli. Equal attention was given to the wider implications of the work's stylistic traits, which Talbot saw as reflective of a shift in cultural style around 1700.

In the performance field, Hetti Price (University of Birmingham) discussed the contentious da spalla cello hold, building a picture of the widespread use of this position through study of surviving instruments and iconographic evidence. Considering the implications of this research for current performance practice, it was perhaps disappointing that there was no practical demonstration of the method. Adrian Powney (Birmingham Conservatoire) contributed a thorough overview of Charpentier's use of time signatures and their significance for performance. The paper by Rebekah Ahrendt (Yale University) on performance networks at the turn of the eighteenth century was one of the most revealing of the symposium, identifying a previously unstudied archive of letters that challenges current assumptions about the role of itinerant performers in the emergence of an international style during the early eighteenth century. Holman focused on the significance of the style change around 1700 for today's performers, highlighting a general lack of awareness in the areas of instrumentation and performance directions. This implied a need for substantial change in current concepts, though Holman cautioned that new discoveries do not always lead to greater historical sensitivity.

Among those who discussed regional stylistic developments, Rodolfo Zitellini (RISM Switzerland) provided remarkable insight into the development of musical style in Bologna through an analysis of Maurizio Cazzati's sacred works (1660–1670). Robert Rawson (Canterbury Christ Church University) spoke more broadly on stylistic developments and musical influences from abroad in the Austro-Bohemian Baroque. Also notable were the contributions of Andrew Woolley (Universidade Nova de Lisboa) on the French dance repertoire of late seventeenth-century England, and of Sandra Tuppen (British Library) on the inspiration Lully's stage works provided for composers of theatre music in restoration London. The influence of Lully was also explored by Michael Robertson (University of Leeds), who delivered a thorough overview of the late seventeenth-century German consort suite, exploring the influence of Lully's fashionable music and the demise of the German town-music tradition. In a later session, Alan Howard (University of Cambridge) challenged the traditional ‘transitional’ label given to Purcell's instrumental music. Using two analytical case-studies, he explored the retention of Purcell's early fugal techniques in his later Italian-influenced works.

The session on the trio sonata in England had much to offer, particularly a paper given by Stephen Rose (Royal Holloway, University of London) on the analysis of Corelli's trio sonatas in the commonplace book of an English amateur musician, James Sherard. Quite apart from providing a background to Corelli's influence on Sherard's own published trio sonatas, the analysis gives a vivid picture of how surprising and unfamiliar the new Italian style was for musicians in early eighteenth-century England. Rose's lecture was punctuated by lively demonstrations at the harpsichord, bringing Sherard's theoretical work into sharp, practical focus.

The conference concluded with an investigation of developments in the fields of opera and cantata in the mid-Baroque period. Colin Timms made an extensive exploration of changes to the Italian opera aria in the period c1670–1720. Graham Sadler (Birmingham Conservatoire/University of Oxford) returned to the theme of national exchange in looking at Lully's influence upon the opera composer Agostino Steffani. The session concluded with Rosalind Halton (University of Newcastle, Australia) examining seven settings of A voi che l’accendeste, a cantata text by the Roman poet Francesco Maria Paglia. To end the symposium, Halton was joined by the Australian soprano Miriam Allen in a performance of Alessandro Scarlatti's setting, which proved a welcome practical conclusion to two days of musicological investigation.

The diverse range of subjects covered during this conference is a testimony to the health of current research into music of the mid-Baroque period. It was also encouraging to witness the thorough interrogation of certain concepts, particularly those concerning national identity in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century music that have too often pervaded musicological research in the past. However, the small amount of discussion drawing direct links between historical musicology and current performing practice was disappointing, particularly in view of Peter Holman's excellent overview of the disparity between musicological and practical approaches. Nevertheless, it was an excellent and well-organized symposium that provided plenty of stimulus for further research and investigation into this rich period of music history.