PREFACE.
HAVE here endeavored to provide a readable account of the entire history of the art of music, within the compass of a single small volume, and to treat the luxuriant and many-sided later development with the particularity proportionate to its importance, and the greater interest appertaining to it from its proximity to the times of the reader.
The range of the work can be most easily estimated from the [Table of Contents] ([pages 5-10]). It will be seen that I have attempted to cover the same extent of history, in treating of which the standard musical histories of Naumann, Ambros, Fétis and others have employed from three times to ten times as much space. In the nature of the case there will be differences of opinion among competent judges concerning my success in this difficult undertaking. Upon this point I can only plead absolute sincerity of purpose, and a certain familiarity with the ground to be covered, due to having treated it in my lectures in the Chicago Musical College for five years, to the extent of about thirty-five lectures yearly. I have made free use of all the standard histories—those of Fétis, Ambros, Naumann, Brendel, Gevaert, Hawkins, Burney, the writings of Dr. Hugo Riemann, Dr. Ritter, Prof. Fillmore, and the dictionaries of Grove and Mendel, as well as many monographs in all the leading modern languages.
I have divided the entire history into books, placing at the beginning of each book a general chapter defining the central idea and salient features of the step in development therein recounted. The student who will attentively peruse these chapters in succession will have in them a fairly complete account of the entire progress.
W. S. B. MATHEWS.
Chicago, May 5, 1891.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
Transcriber's Note: The listed illustration of Sterndale-Bennett is not in the original book, and the illustration of Gade is actually on page 518. There are additional illustrations, not listed above, of [Glinka], [Tchaikovsky], [Smetana], [Dvorak], and [Grieg]. Some illustrations have been moved slightly from their original locations to avoid breaking the flow of text. The page numbers above are the originals; the links point to the actual locations of the illustrations in this e-text.
CONTENTS.
Music defined — general idea of musical progress — conditions of fine art — qualities of satisfactory art-forms — periods in musical history — difference between ancient and modern music.
[BOOK FIRST — MUSIC OF THE ANCIENT WORLD.]
| [CHAPTER I] — MUSIC AMONG THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS | [27]-39 |
Sources of information — antiquity of their development — instruments — uses of music — their ideas about music and education — "Song of the Harper" — kindergarten.
| [CHAPTER II] — MUSIC AMONG THE HEBREWS AND ASSYRIANS | [40]-47 |
Music among the Hebrews — Jubal — kinnor — ugabh — musicians in the temple service — psaltery — flute — larger harp — Miriam — liturgy of the temple — musical ideal in Hebrew mind — music among the Assyrians — types of instruments.
| [CHAPTER III] — MUSIC AMONG THE ANCIENT GREEKS | [48]-69 |
Importance of this development — extent of the time — date of Homeric poems — epoch of Æschylus — extracts from Homer — Hesiod — patriotic applications of music — choral song — festivals — lyric drama — début of Æschylus, Sophocles and Euripides — nature of the classic drama — orchestic — Socrates — Aristoxenus — problems of Aristotle — Greek theory of music — Pythagoras and ratios of simple consonances — devotional use of music — Greek scales — Claudius Ptolemy — Didymus — the lyre and cithara — magadis — flute — æsthetic importance — Plato on the noble harmonies — loyalty to the true — Greek musical alphabet — notation — Ode from Pindar.
| [CHAPTER IV] — MUSIC IN INDIA, CHINA AND JAPAN | [70]-77 |
Early beginning — use of the bow — national instruments — the vina — theory — ravanastron — music exclusively melodic — saying of the Emperor Tschun — the ke — Japanese ko-ko.
[BOOK SECOND — APPRENTICE PERIOD OF MODERN MUSIC]
| [CHAPTER V] — THE TRANSFORMATION AND ITS CAUSES | [81]-86 |
General view of the transformation to modern music — causes co-operating — difference between ancient and modern music — harmony and tonality — consonance and dissonance — three steps in the development of harmonic perceptions — when were these steps taken? — tonality defined — growth of tonal perception — unconscious perception of implied or associated tones.
| [CHAPTER VI] — THE MINSTRELS OF THE NORTH | [87]-108 |
Importance of Celtic development of minstrelsy — origin of the Celts — the minstrel — old Breton song — the druids — classification of bards — degrees — Fétis on the Welsh minstrel — "Triads of the Isle of Britain" — old harp music — "The Two Lovers" — Gerald Barry on the Welsh — old Welsh song — the Irish — Sir Brian Boirohen's harp — English and Saxon music — King Arthur as minstrel — organ at Winchester — Scandinavian scalds — Eddas — "Sumer is Icumen in" — Anglo-Saxon harp — source of the harp in Britain — the crwth — melody in pentatonic scale.
| [CHAPTER VII] — THE ARABS, OR SARACENS | [109]-114 |
The Arab apparition in history — their taste for poetry — competitive contests of poetry and song — encouragement of literature — rebec — eoud — santir.
| [CHAPTER VIII] — ORIGIN OF THE GREAT FRENCH EPICS | [115]-120 |
Period of the Chansons de Geste — social conditions of France as given by M. Léon Gautier — "Cantilena of St. Eulalie" — subjects of the Chansons de Geste.
| [CHAPTER IX] — TROUBADOURS, TROUVÈRES AND MINNESINGERS | [121]-127 |
The troubadours — Count Wilhelm — varieties of their songs — melody from Thibaut — Adam de la Halle — "Story of Antioch" — "Song of Roland" — minnesinger Reinmar — Heinrich Frauenlob — minstrel harps — Hans Sachs — influence of these minstrel guilds.
| [CHAPTER X] — INFLUENCE OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH | [128]-133 |
Church not influential in the development of music as such — nature of the early Christian hymns — St. Ambrose — the Ambrosian scales — corruptions elsewhere — St. Gregory and his reforms — the Gregorian tones — many later reforms — limitations of these reforms — incidental influence of the Church through her great cathedrals.
| [CHAPTER XI] — MUSICAL DIDACTIC FROM THE FIFTH TO FOURTEENTH CENTURY | [134]-147 |
Macrobus — Martinus Capella — Boethius — Cassiodorus — Bishop Isidore — Venerable Bede — Aurelian — Rémi of Auxerre — Hucbald — examples — instruments of music during the seventh and eighth centuries — Odon of Cluny — Guido of Arezzo — staff — Franco of Cologne — Franco of Paris.
| [CHAPTER XII] — THE RISE OF POLYPHONY; OLD FRENCH AND GALLO-BELGIC SCHOOLS | [148]-159 |
Origin and meaning of polyphony — monodic and homophonic — canonic imitation — chords as incidents — variety and unity — early French school — Coussemaker's researches — Léonin — descant — Pérotin — names of pieces — Robert of Sabillon — Pierre de la Croix — Jean of Garland — Franco of Paris — Jean de Muris — fleurettes — John Cotton — Machaut — Gallo-Belgic school — Dufay — Hans de Zeelandia — Antoine de Busnois.
| [CHAPTER XIII] — SCHOOLS OF THE NETHERLANDS | [160]-167 |
Wealth of the Low Countries — freedom of the communes — strength of the burgher class — period of these schools — table of periods and masters — Okeghem — Tinctor — Josquin — his popularity — Arkadelt — Gombert — Willaert — Goudimel — Cypriano de Rore — Orlando de Lassus — his Munich school — his genius.
| [CHAPTER XIV] — POLYPHONIC SCHOOLS OF ITALY — PALESTRINA | [168]-178 |
Prosperity of Italy in fifteenth century — great cathedrals and public works — conservatories founded at Naples — Willaert at St. Mark's, Venice — Zarlino — his reforms in theory — Cypriano de Rore — Goudimel — Palestrina — the council of Trent — Palestrina's music — Martin Luther.
| [CHAPTER XV] — CHANGES IN MUSICAL NOTATION | [179]-188 |
General direction of musical progress toward classification and the establishment of unities of various kinds — early letter notation of the Greeks and Romans — Roman notation as used by Guido of Arezzo — neumæ — with lines — additional lines — "Lament for Charlemagne" — notation employed by the French Trouvères — clefs — new staff proposed by an American reformer.
| [CHAPTER XVI] — MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS — THE VIOLIN AND ORGAN | [189]-207 |
Progress in tonal perceptions — influence of harp and lute — description of the latter — system of stringing — locating the frets — the violin — bow discovered in India — early forms of bowed instruments — rebec — barytone — viol da Gamba — Amati — Stradivari — peculiarities of his instruments — Maggini — Stainer — antiquity of the organ — early forms — organ sent Charlemagne — organs at Munich — Malmesbury Abbey — measure of organ pipes — portable organ — clumsiness of the old keyboards — the organ in 1500 A.D.
[BOOK THIRD — THE DAWN OF MODERN MUSIC.]
| [CHAPTER XVII] — CONDITION OF MUSIC AT BEGINNING OF EIGHTEENTH CENTURY | [211]-220 |
Justification of the name "apprentice period" — office of domestic musicians in England in the reign of Elizabeth — great fondness for music everywhere — casual influence of counterpoint in educating harmonic sense — madrigal — multiplicity of collections of this kind — absurd use of madrigals for dramatic monody — the work of the seventeenth century, free melodic expression — the new problem of the musical drama — the representative principle in music — music last of the arts — Florence and Venice the centers — statistics of books published from 1470 to 1500.
| [CHAPTER XVIII] — FIRST CENTURY OF ITALIAN OPERA AND DRAMATIC SONG | [221]-234 |
Circle of the Literati in Florence — Galilei and his monody — Peri's "Dafne" — Schütz's setting of the same — Peri's "Eurydice" — rare editions — Il stilo rappresentativo — Cavaliere's oratorio "The Soul and the Body" — second period of opera — Monteverde's "Arianna" — orchestra of the same — new orchestral effects — scene from "Eurydice" — director of St. Mark's — Legrenzi — Cesti — public theaters — Alessandro Scarlatti — recitativo stromentato — Corelli — sonatas for the violin — influence of the violin upon the art of singing — origin of Italian school of singing — artificial sopranos — Porpora — Selections from Monteverde, Cavalli and Scarlatti.
| [CHAPTER XIX] — BEGINNINGS OF OPERA IN FRANCE AND GERMANY | [235]-243 |
Slow progress of opera to other parts of Europe — origin of French opera — ballets of Boesset — Perrin — Cambert — their first opera — their patent from the king — Lulli — his success and productivity — attention to verbal delivery and the vernacular of the audience — foundations of the French Académie de Musique — opera in Germany — Schütz — Hamburg and Keiser — selection from Lulli — "Roland" — Mattheson.
| [CHAPTER XX] — THE PROGRESS OF ORATORIO | [244]-248 |
Oratorio invented simultaneously with opera — Cavaliere — mystery plays — Carissimi — two types of oratorio — cantata — Händel's appropriation from Carissimi — sacred oratorio — Schütz's Passions — "Last Seven Words."
| [CHAPTER XXI] — BEGINNINGS OF INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC | [249]-260 |
Beginnings of instrumental music in seventeenth century — tentative character of instrumental music of sixteenth century — Gabrieli and organ pieces — imitations of vocal works — melodies not fully carried out — Swelinck — Scheidt — Schein — Frescobaldi — Reinken — Pachelbel — Muffat — Corelli — orchestra of the period — its defects.
[BOOK FOURTH — FLOWERING TIME OF MODERN MUSIC.]
| [CHAPTER XXII] — MUSIC IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY | [261]-264 |
The flowering time of modern music — complexity of developments now taking place — principal actors — two main channels of improvement — fugue — sonata — Bach and Händel as writers of fugue — people's song makes its way into cultivated instrumental music — reference to Mozart's sonatas — thematic and lyric as elements of contrast.
| [CHAPTER XXIII] — JOHN SEBASTIAN BACH | [265]-272 |
Bach as a composer — sketch — his clavier — attainments as virtuoso upon the clavier and the organ — choral works — Passion oratorios — his pre-eminence as writer of fugues — general sketch of the form of a fugue — prelude — mutually complementary — Bach's concertos — his rhythm.
| [CHAPTER XXIV] — GEO. FRIEDRICH HÄNDEL | [273]-281 |
The companion figure of Bach — early life — violinist at Hamburg — conductor, composer — first opera — Italy — successes there — England — Italian operas — oratorio "Messiah" — other oratorios — list of his works — Bach and Händel compared — Händel's place in art — personalities.
| [CHAPTER XXV] — EMANUEL BACH, HAYDN — THE SONATA | [282]-291 |
The sons of Bach — Emanuel Bach as composer — difficulty of founding a new form — Haydn — early years — conductor for Prince Esterhazy — compositions — the visit to London — the money he made — "The Creation" — second visit to London — Haydn and the sonata form — "The Last Seven Words" — his rank as tone-poet.
| [CHAPTER XXVI] — MOZART AND HIS GENIUS | [292]-304 |
Charming personality — childhood — early talent — concerts — Mozart at Bologna and the test of his powers — Haydn's opinion — early operas — "Marriage of Figaro" — success — accompaniments added to Händel's "Messiah" and other works — call to Berlin — mysterious order for the "Requiem" — death — general quality of Mozart's music.
| [CHAPTER XXVII] — BEETHOVEN AND HIS WORKS | [305]-315 |
A worthy successor to Haydn and Mozart — early years — orchestral leader — piano playing — his friends — Count Waldstein — his first visit to Vienna — settled in Vienna — compositions — life — appearance — place in art.
| [CHAPTER XXVIII] — HAYDN, MOZART AND BEETHOVEN COMPARED | [316]-326 |
Their relation to symphony — refinement of Mozart — early age of Mozart — Beethoven's independence — relation to sonata — Beethoven more free — climax of classical art — Beethoven adagios — summing up — tendency of progress.
| [CHAPTER XXIX] — OPERA IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY | [327]-351 |
Three great names — Graun — Gluck — his reforms — his ideal — early works — "Orpheus" — "Iphigenie" — Mozart's place in opera — Rameau — theoretical writings — Rousseau — Phillidor — Monsigny — Grétry — Gossec — Méhul — Lesueur — Boieldieu — French opera in general — Italian opera — Pergolesi — Jomelli — Sacchini — Paisiello — Piccini — Zingarelli — opera in England — Purcell — Dr. Arne.
| [CHAPTER XXX] — PIANO PLAYING VIRTUOSI — VIOLINISTS — TARTINI AND SPOHR | [352]-369 |
Pianoforte established as domestic instrument — Scarlatti — Mattheson — Dr. Blow — John Bull — Clementi — Dussek — Cramer — Berger — Hummel — Moscheles — Tartini — Spohr.
[BOOK FIFTH — EPOCH OF THE ROMANTIC.]
| [CHAPTER XXXI] — THE NINETEENTH CENTURY — THE ROMANTIC — MUSIC OF THE FUTURE | [373]-380 |
Classic and romantic defined — art in general — applied to music — illustrated by Schubert — Schumann — development of virtuosity Berlioz — "music of the future" — how originating — the outlook.
| [CHAPTER XXXII] — SCHUBERT AND THE ROMANTIC | [381]-391 |
Early life of Schubert — compositions — first songs — "Erl King" — rapidity of composition — unfinished symphony — industry — spontaneity — personal characteristics.
| [CHAPTER XXXIII] — STORY OF THE PIANOFORTE | [392]-403 |
Origin of pianoforte — spinet — clavicembalo — Mozart's grand piano — Cristofori's design of action — Érard action — iron frame — Chickering — Steinway improvements.
| [CHAPTER XXXIV] — GERMAN OPERA — WEBER, MEYERBEER, WAGNER | [404]-427 |
Tendency of German opera — Weber — "Der Freischütz" — romanticism — innovations in piano playing — Meyerbeer — early life — master works — place in art — Wagner — early life — early operas — "Lohengrin" — Zurich — Schröder-Devrient — "Nibelung's Ring" — peculiarities.
| [CHAPTER XXXV] — VIRTUOSITY IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY — PAGANINI, BERLIOZ, CHOPIN, THALBERG, LISZT | [428]-454 |
Continuity of these appearances with those already recounted — Paganini — his playing — inspiring effect — Berlioz — works — place in art — progress of piano playing — virtuosi co-operating — Thalberg and his style — Parish-Alvars — Pollini — Chopin — place in art — Liszt — early appearances — rivalry with Thalberg — style — Weimar — Bonn Beethoven monument — as teacher — as composer.
| [CHAPTER XXXVI] — MENDELSSOHN AND SCHUMANN | [455]-477 |
Mendelssohn — personality — talent — early works — maturity — as player Leipsic Conservatory — Hauptmann — "Elijah" — "St. Paul" — Schumann — early education and habits — works — strength of the romantic tendency — his "New Journal of Music" — music in Leipsic — Clara Wieck — larger works for piano — technical traits — songs — general characteristics.
| [CHAPTER XXXVII] — ITALIAN OPERA IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY | [478]-487 |
Spontini — Rossini — Donizetti — Bellini — Verdi — Boito — Ponchielli.
| [CHAPTER XXXVIII] — FRENCH OPERA AND COMPOSERS IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY | [488]-496 |
Auber — Hérold — Adam — Gounod — Massé — Massenet — Saint-Saëns — Délibes — Bizet — Ambroise Thomas.
| [CHAPTER XXXIX] — LATER COMPOSERS AND PERFORMERS | [497]-508 |
Gade — Brahms — Tschaikowsky — Svensden — Grieg — Bruch — Bennett — Macfarren — Mackenzie — Nicodé — Moszkowsky — Dvorak — Henselt — Litolff — Wilmers — Heller — Hiller — Rubinstein — Bülow — Reinecke.
CHRONOLOGY OF THE GREATEST COMPOSERS.
(Copyright.)
Explanation.—The heavy vertical lines are century lines. Light vertical,
twenty-year lines. Horizontal lines, the life of the composer.
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CHRONOLOGY OF PRINCIPAL ITALIAN COMPOSERS.
(Copyright.)
From Palestrina to Present Time. (See explanation, [page 11].)
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CHRONOLOGICAL CHART OF THE MORE IMPORTANT
GERMAN COMPOSERS.
(Copyright.)
From Orlando Lassus to the Present Time. (See [page 11].)
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CHRONOLOGICAL SUCCESSION OF PIANISTS AND COMPOSERS
FOR THE PIANOFORTE.
(Copyright.)
From 1660 to the Present Time (1891).
![[Enlarge]](#6577505572528060384_chrono4a.png.id-7759787322304316560.wrap-0.html.html){kind=link}
INTRODUCTION.
I.
HE name "music" contains two ideas, both of them important in our modern use of the term: The general meaning is that of "a pleasing modulation of sounds." In this sense the term is used constantly by poets, novelists and even in conversation—as when we speak of the "music of the forest," the "music of the brook" or the "music of nature." There is also a reminiscence of the etymological derivation of the term, as something derived from the "Muses," the fabled retinue of the Greek god Apollo, who presided over all the higher operations of the mind and imagination. Thus the name "music," when applied to an art, contains a suggestion of an inspiration, a something derived from a special inner light, or from a higher source outside the composer, as all true imagination seems to be to those who exercise it.
2. Music has to do with tones, sounds selected on account of their musical quality and relations. These tones, again, before becoming music in the artistic sense, must be so joined together, set in order, controlled by the human imagination, that they express sentiment. Every manifestation of musical art has in it these two elements: The fit selection of tones; and, second, the use of them for expressing sentiment and feeling. Hence the practical art of music, like every other fine art, has in it two elements, an outer, or technical, where trained intelligence rules, and teaching and study are the principal means of progress; and an inner, the imagination and musical feeling, which can indeed be strengthened by judicious experience in hearing, but which when wanting cannot be supplied by the teacher, or the laws of their action reduced to satisfactory statement.
3. There is no fine art which reflects the activity of spirit more perfectly than that of music. There is something in the nature of this form of art which renders it particularly acceptable to quick and sensitive minds. If evidence of this statement were needed beyond the intuitive assent which every musical reader will immediately give, it could easily be furnished in the correspondence between the activity of mind in general and in the art of music in particular, every great period of mental strength having been accompanied by a corresponding term of activity in music. Furthermore, the development of the art of music has kept pace with the deepening of mental activity in general, so that in these later times when the general movement of mind is so much greater than in ancient times, and the operations of intellect so much more diffused throughout all classes, the art of music has come to a period of unprecedented richness and strength.
II.
4. The earlier forms of music were very simple; the range of tones employed was narrow, and the habits of mind in the people employing them apparently calm and almost inactive. As time passed on more and more tones were added to the musical scales, and more and more complicated relations recognized between them, and the music thereby became more diversified in its tonal effects, and therein better adapted for the expression of a more energetic or more sensitive action of mind and feeling. This has been the general course of the progress, from the earliest times in which there was an art of music until now.
The two-fold progress of an education in tone perception, and an increasing ability to employ elaborate combinations for the expression of feelings too high-strung for the older forms of expression, is observable in almost all stages of musical history, and in our own days has received a striking illustration in the progress made in appreciating the works of the latest of the great musical geniuses, Richard Wagner, whose music twenty-five years ago was regarded by the public generally as unmusical and atrocious; whereas now it is heard with pleasure, and takes hold of the more advanced musical minds with a firmness beyond that of any other musical production. The explanation is to be found in the development of finer tone perceptions—the ability to co-ordinate tonal combinations so distantly related that to the musical ears of a generation ago their relation was not recognized, therefore to those ears they were not music. Wagner felt these strange combinations as music. The deeper relations between tones and chords apparently remote, he felt, and employed them for the expression of his imagination. Other ears now feel them as he did. An education has taken place.
5. It is altogether likely that the education will still go on until many new combinations which to our ears would be meaningless will become a part of the ordinary vernacular of the art. Indeed, a writer quite recently (Julius Klauser, in "The Septonnate") points out a vast amount of musical material already contained within our tonal systems which as yet is entirely unused. The new chords and relations thus suggested are quite in line with the additions made by Wagner to the vocabulary of his day.
III.
6. There are certain conditions which must be met before a fine art will be developed. These it is worth while to consider briefly:
The state of art, in any community or nation, at any period of its history, depends upon a fortunate correspondence between two elements which we might call the internal and the external. By the former is meant the inner movement of mind or spirit, which must be of such depth and force as to leave a surplusage after the material needs of existence have been met. In every community where there is a certain degree of wealth, leisure and a vigorous movement of mind, this surplus force, remaining over after the necessary wheels of common life have been set in motion, will expend itself in some form of art or literature. The nature of the form selected as the expression of this surplus force will depend upon the fashion, the prevalent activity of the life of the day, or, in other words, the environment. Illustrating this principle, reference might be made to the condition of Greek art in the flowering time of its history, when the wealth of Athens was so great as to leave resources unemployed in the material uses of life, and when the intellectual movement was so splendid as to leave it until now a brilliant tradition of history. Only one form of art was pre-eminently successful here; it was sculpture, which at that time reached its fullest development—to such a degree that modern sculpture is only a weak repetition of ancient works in this line. So also the brilliant period of Italian painting, when the mental movement represented by Leonardo da Vinci, Michael Angelo, Lorenzo de Medici, and the pleasure-loving existence, the brilliant fêtes, in which noble men and beautifully appareled women performed all sorts of allegorical representations, and the colors, groupings, etc., afforded the painter an endless variety of material and suggestion. When Rubens flourished in the Netherlands, a century later, similar conditions accompanied his appearance and the prolific manifestations of his genius. In the same way, music depends upon peculiar conditions of its own. They are three: The vigor of the mental movement in general, its strength upon the imaginative and sentimental side, and the suggestion from the environment in the way of musical instruments of adequate tonal powers. Such instruments never existed in the history of the art until about the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The organ, the violin and the predecessor of the pianoforte, the spinet, came to practical form at nearly the same time. At the same time the instruments of plucked strings—the guitars, lutes and other instruments which until then had occupied the exclusive attention of musicians—began to go out. Moreover, musical science had been worked out, and the arts of counterpoint, canonic imitation, fugue, harmony, etc., had all reached a high degree of perfection when Bach and Händel appeared.
7. The entire history of music is merely an illustration of these principles. Wherever there has been vigorous movement of mind and material prosperity (and they have always been associated) there has been an art of music, the richness of which, however, has always been limited by the state of the musical ears of the people or generation, and the perfection of their musical instruments. The instruments are an indispensable ingredient in musical progress, since it is only by means of instruments that tonal combinations can be exactly repeated, the voice mastering the more difficult relations of tones only when the ear has become quick to perceive tonal relations, and tenacious to retain them—in other words, educated. Hence in the pages following, the instruments peculiar to each epoch will receive the attention their importance deserves, which is considerably more than that usually allotted them in concise accounts of the history of this art.
8. The conditions of a satisfactory Art Form are three: Unity, the expression of a single ruling idea; variety, the relief of the monotony due to the over-ascendency of unity (or contrast, an exact and definite form of variety); and symmetry, or the due proportion of the different parts of the work as a whole. These principles, universally recognized as governing in the other fine arts, are equally valid in music. As will be seen later, all musical progress has been toward their more complete attainment and their due co-ordination into a single satisfactory whole. Every musical form that has ever been created is an effort to solve this problem; and analysis shows which one of the leading principles has been most considered, and the manner in which it has been carried out. Ancient music was very weak in all respects, and never fully attained the first of these qualities. Modern music has mastered all three to a very respectable degree.
9. The art of music appears to have been earliest of all the fine arts in the order of time; but it has been longer than any of the others in reaching its maturity, most of the master works now current having been created within the last two centuries, and the greater proportion of them within the last century. Sculpture came to its perfection in Greece about 500 B.C.; architecture about 1200 to 1300 A.D., when the great European cathedrals were built; painting about 1500 to 1600 A.D. Poetry, like music, representing the continual life of soul, has never been completed, new works of highest quality remaining possible as long as hearts can feel and minds can conceive; but the productions of Shakespeare, about 1650, are believed to represent a point of perfection not likely to be surpassed. Music, on the other hand, has been continually progressive, at least until the appearance of Beethoven, about the beginning of the present century, and the romantic composers between 1830 and the present time.
IV.
10. The history of music may be divided into two great periods—Ancient and Modern—the Christian era forming a dividing line between them. Each of these periods, again, may be subdivided into two other periods, one long, the other quite short—an Apprentice Period, when types of instruments were being found out, melodic or harmonic forms mastered; in other words, the tonal sense undergoing its primary education. The other, a Master Period, when an art of music suddenly blossoms out, complete and satisfactory according to the principles recognized by the musicians of the time. In the natural course of things such an art, having once found its heart, ought to go on to perfection; but this has not generally been the case. After a period of vigorous growth and the production of master works suitable to the time, a decline has ensued, and at length musical productivity has entirely ceased. Occasionally a cessation in art progress of this kind may have been dependent upon the failure of one or other of the primary conditions of successful art mentioned above, especially the failure of material prosperity. This had something to do with the cessation of progress in ancient Egypt, very likely; but more often the stoppage of progress has been due to the exhaustion of the suggestive powers of the musical instruments in use. The composers of the music of ancient Greece had for instruments only lyres of six or eight strings, with little vibrative power. After ten centuries of use every suggestion in the compass of these instruments to furnish, had been carried out. If other and richer instruments could have been introduced, no doubt Greek music would have taken a new lease of life, i.e., supposing that the material prosperity had remained constant.
The apprentice periods of ancient history extend back to the earliest traces of music which we have, beginning perhaps with the early Aryans in central Asia, whom Max Müller represents as circling around the family altar at sunrise and sunset, and with clasped hands repeating in musical tones a hymn, perhaps one of the earliest of those in the Vedas, or a still older one. From this early association of music with religious worship we derive something of our heredity of reverence for the art, a sentiment which in all ages has associated music with religious ritual and worship, and out of which has come much of the tender regard we have for it as the expression of home and love in the higher aspects.
All the leading types of instruments were discovered in the early periods of human history, but the full powers of the best have been reached only in recent times.
11. The art of music was highly esteemed in antiquity, and every great nation had a form of its own. But it was only in three or four countries that an art was developed of such beauty and depth of principle as to have interest for us. The countries where this was done were Egypt, Greece and India.
12. Modern music differs from ancient in two radical points: Tonality, or the dependence of all tones in the series upon a single leading tone called the Key; and Harmony, or the satisfactory use of combined sounds. This part of music was not possible to the ancients, for want of correctly tuned scales, and the selection of the proper tone as key. The only form of combined sounds which they used was the octave, and rarely the fifth or fourth. The idea of using other combined sounds than the octave seems to have been suggested by Aristotle, about 300 B.C. The period from the Christian era until about 1400 A.D. was devoted to apprentice work in this department of art, the central concept wanted being a principle of unity. After the beginning of the schools of the Netherlands, about 1400, progress was very rapid. The blossoming time of the modern art of music, however, cannot be considered to have begun before about 1600, when opera was commenced; or 1700, when instrumental music began to receive its full development. Upon the whole, the former of these dates is regarded as the more just, and it will be so used in the present work.
KING DAVID, PLAYING ON THE THREE-STRINGED CRWTH.
[From a manuscript of the eleventh century now in the National Library, Paris.]
