Published annually, Historical Performance is a new, peer-reviewed journal that focuses on the practical, performance side of musicological research. Extending from the middle ages to the early-twentieth century, Historical Performance examines the complexities long inherent between the historical evidence of the sources—"theory"—and what is possible to adduce about the more ephemeral realizations of performance—"practice"—then and now. Studies of historical improvisation, basso continuo, genre (such as the French overture), early recorded sound, and Early Music as cultural production, comprise some of the leading topics to be offered in the inaugural issue.