CONTENTS.

Preface[ v]
Introduction[ 17]
Lesson I.Music of the Chinese, Japanese and Hindoos [24]
Lesson II.Music of the Babylonians, Egyptians and Hebrews [35]
Lesson III.Music of the Greeks: Scales [46]
Lesson IV.Music of the Greeks (Concluded) [54]
Lesson V.Ecclesiastical System [61]
Lesson VI.Notation [70]
Lesson VII.Music Outside the Church [77]
Lesson VIII.The Causes of Polyphonic Development
 and the Importance of the Polyphonic Era [88]
Lesson IX.The Paris School [99]
Lesson X.The Gallo-Belgic School [107]
Lesson XI.The English School [115]
Lesson XII.The School of the Netherlands [123]
Lesson XIII.The Italian School [131]
Lesson XIV.Palestrina and His Influence on the
 Music of the Italian School. The Madrigal [139]
Lesson XV.Musical Instruments [147]
Lesson XVI.The Organ, Organ Playing and Organ Music [156]
Lesson XVII.The Beginning of the Opera [171]
Lesson XVIII.The Oratorio. Development of the Opera [179]
Lesson XIX.Alessandro Scarlatti and the Neapolitan School [187]
Lesson XX.Singing and Singers [195]
Lesson XXI.Opera in France and England [203]
Lesson XXII.The Opera in Germany. Handel and Gluck [211]
Lesson XXIII.Mozart to Rossini [219]
Lesson XXIV.The Oratorio [226]
Lesson XXV.The Evolution of the Pianoforte [236]
Lesson XXVI.The Early Italian Clavier Composers [246]
Lesson XXVII.The Early English and French Clavier Schools [255]
Lesson XXVIII.The German Polyphonic Clavier Schools [263]
Lesson XXIX.The German Sonata Composers to Haydn [274]
Lesson XXX.Franz Joseph Haydn [283]
Lesson XXXI.Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart [291]
Lesson XXXII.Ludwig van Beethoven [299]
Lesson XXXIII.Beethoven and the Sonata [307]
Lesson XXXIV.The Violin and its Makers [315]
Lesson XXXV.Violin Playing and Violin Music [322]
Lesson XXXVI.The Orchestra and Absolute Music [334]
Lesson XXXVII.The Romantic Opera. Weber, Spohr, Marschner [345]
Lesson  XXXVIII.The French School of the 19th Century [353]
Lesson XXXIX.The Italian School of the 19th Century [361]
Lesson XL.Richard Wagner’s Music Dramas. Other Schools [369]
Lesson XLI.Piano Playing and Composition: Clementi to Field [380]
Lesson XLII.Franz Peter Schubert [391]
Lesson XLIII.Weber. Mendelssohn [397]
Lesson XLIV.Robert Schumann [407]
Lesson XLV.Frederic Chopin [417]
Lesson XLVI.Franz Liszt [425]
Lesson XLVII.Pianists and Teachers Since Liszt. I [436]
Lesson XLVIII.Pianists and Teachers Since Liszt. II [446]
Lesson XLIX.The Art Song. Oratorio after Mendelssohn [454]
Lesson L.The Symphonic Poem in Germany [463]
Lesson LI.German Opera Since Wagner [472]
Lesson LII.Old and New Schools in France [481]
Lesson LIII.Musical Regeneration in Italy [491]
Lesson LIV.England and the Netherlands [499]
Lesson LV.National Schools: Bohemia and Scandinavia [507]
Lesson LVI.The Russian School [515]
Lesson LVII.Music in the United States [525]
Lesson LVIII.American Composers:
  Works in Large Instrumental Forms [535]
Lesson LIX.American Composers: Vocal Forms;
 Piano and Organ.—Musical Literature [543]
Lesson LX.Musical Education [552]
Index [561]

INTRODUCTION.

Purpose of the Study of the History of Music.—The purpose of the study of the history of music is to trace the development of the many phases which make up modern music which we cannot but regard as a great social force, an intellectual, an uplifting force. If we consider it from the material side, it is one of magnitude; we need but think of the money invested in buildings, opera houses, schools, concert halls, publishing plants, factories, the sums spent on musical instruments, instruction, concerts, opera, etc., to recognize the commercial side. When we think of the great army of persons whose livelihood is conditioned upon musical work, upon the great audiences that support musical enterprises, we recognize the magnitude of music in a social sense, and that it offers a large field for study. These conditions, interesting as they are, represent only phases of musical work, not Music itself, and serve to show the place which Music occupies in the life of today. Our investigation is, then, a consideration of the origin and development of Music, and the means by which it took shape.

The Place of Intellect in Music.—When we think of Music we have in mind an organization of musical sounds into something definite, something by design, not by chance, the product of the working of the human mind with musical sounds and their effects upon the human sensibilities. So long as man accepted the various phenomena of musical sounds as isolated facts, there could be no art. But when he began to use them to minister to his pleasure and to study them and their effects, he began to form an art of music. The story of music is the record of a series of attempts on the part of man to make artistic use of the material which the ear accepts as capable of affording pleasure and as useful in expressing the innermost feelings. The raw material of music consists of the sounds considered musical, the human voice, various musical instruments and the use of this material in such ways as to affect the human sensibilities; that is, to make an impression upon the hearer which shall coincide with that of the original maker of the music who gives to his feelings expression in music. We find in music, as in other branches, that man tries to reduce phenomena to order and to definite form. The mass of musical material is vague, incoherent, disorganized. Man seeks to devise ways to use it intelligibly, and to promote esthetic pleasure. If musical sounds are to be combined simultaneously or successively, this combination should be in accordance with design, not haphazard, just as the builder of the house or the temple puts together his material according to a regular plan. Those who have been leaders in the Art of Music have labored in two ways: to extend the limits of expression in music, and to find the means to contain that expression. At one period stress is laid on making music expressive, at another on the medium for conveying expression to others, the latter being comprehended in the term Form. In connection with this statement, the student will do well to remember that every period of great intellectual activity, social or political, reacted upon music and the other arts; to illustrate, we need but refer to the formal, even artificial character of the music of the period preceding the French Revolution and the freedom and vigor imparted by the spirit of Romanticism which followed in the wake of that great political movement, a difference strikingly illustrated in the music of Haydn and Beethoven, Clementi and Schumann. There is also a constant action and reaction of the various racial streams of power such as the Aryan on the Semitic, East upon the West, Latin upon the Teuton, Folk-music upon the Scholastic.

The Principles in Music.—The leading principles in music are: Rhythm, Melody, Harmony, Color or Tone Quality, and in the execution of works of music, Dynamic Contrast, an essential factor in Expression. For ages after the birth of Music, Rhythm and Melody were the only real elements, Rhythm being first recognized. The potency of Rhythm, strong and irresistible in the early days of the race and with primitive man, is still acknowledged. Music that lacks a clearly-defined rhythm does not move the masses. Witness martial music, the dance airs and the “popular song.” All primitive languages were characterized by concise, figurative and picturesque qualities; they easily changed from the ordinary into the lofty and the impassioned. Intonation and changing inflection had much to do with meaning, as is the case with the Chinese language of today. Historians ascribe the origin of Melody to this principle of vocal expression. For years prior to the Christian Era, and long after, Rhythm and Melody were the only accepted elements of Music, and the art remained in a low grade of development. It was not until Harmony appeared, clear and unmistakable, that Music was able to claim a position equal to that accorded to the sister-arts, Poetry, Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. These principles, Rhythm, Melody and Harmony, became, when couched in the forms of expression adopted by the great masters, what we call Modern Music, and the story is one of a development from extreme simplicity to the complexity illustrated in modern orchestral scores.