A Popular History of the Art of Music From the Earliest Times Until the Present

Before summing up the remaining names of musical history, a brief retrospect over the present century may be in place. The first quarter of the nineteenth century was distinguis...

of chronology, many of those recorded in the present chapter were contemporaneous with some of those in the former. Nevertheless, the artists with whom we are now concerned repr...

Upon the musical side, and in one instance upon the dramatic side as well, there were three great forces in opera during this century. The first of these in order of time was Ka...

German opera reached an extraordinary development during the nineteenth century, the distinguishing characteristics being an extremely full and dramatically conceived treatment...

Upon several accounts the development of the art of music among the ancient Greeks is both important and interesting. Our word "music" is theirs; it carries within its etymology...

One of the most fortunate personalities among modern composers was Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809-1847), who was born in Berlin, the grandson of Moses Mendelssohn, the famous...

It was during the eighteenth century that the pianoforte definitely established itself in the estimation of musicians, artists and the common people, as the handiest and most us...

Upon many accounts the development of minstrelsy by the Celtic singers and harpers was one of the most important of all the forces operative in the transformation of the art fro...

During the entire period covered by the division of the story with which we have been now for some time dealing, the influences operating upon the tonal sense in the direction o...

We here enter upon one of the most interesting and important chapters in the history of music. The art of polyphony had its origin at the same period as the pointed arch and the...

There is very little in the Roman writers upon music that is of interest. Macrobus, an expert grammarian and encyclopedist living at Rome at the end of the fourth or beginning o...

One of the most engaging personalities, and at the same time one of the most highly gifted, versatile and richly endowed geniuses who ever adorned the art of music, was that of...

The first two great figures of the nineteenth century were those of Carl Maria von Weber, whose work will be considered later, and the great song writer, Franz Peter Schubert (1...

The three masters, Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven, in relation to the symphony stand upon a plane of substantial equality, whether we estimate their merits according to the absolut...

In justification of the name "apprentice period" for that part of the history of music ending with Palestrina as the representative of the finished art of the Netherlands (helpe...

The labors of Haydn and Mozart in the rich field of instrumental music were followed immediately by those of Ludwig van Beethoven, who was born at the little town of Bonn, on th...

None of the sons of Bach inherited the commanding genius of their father, although four of them showed talent above the average of musicians of their day, and one of them distin...

The 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 te...

Italy in the fifteenth century was in a highly prosperous condition. The great commercial cities had a profitable commerce with all parts of the then known world, and great publ...

During the last decade of the sixteenth century a company of Florentine gentlemen were in the habit of meeting at the house of Count Bardi for the study of ancient literature. T...

The strongest personality of the Italian composers (though by no means the loveliest), at the beginning of the nineteenth century, was that of Gasparo Spontini (1774-1851). He w...

The companion figure to Bach, in this epoch, was that of George Frederick Händel, who was born at the little town of Halle in the same year as Bach, 1685, and died in London in...

The entire movement of musical thought since three or four tones began to be put together into scales, melodies and unities of various kinds, has been in the direction of classi...

By a curious fortune we are able to form an approximately accurate idea of the musical instruments in use in Egypt as long ago as about 4000 B.C. The earliest advanced civilizat...

The popular instrument of the nineteenth century has been the pianoforte, the result of an evolution having its beginning more than six centuries back. It is impossible in the p...

In ordinary speech a distinction is made between the musical productions of the eighteenth century and those of the next following; the former being called _Classic_, the latter...

In the earlier part of the nineteenth century the operatic stage of Paris shared with those of Berlin and Dresden the honor of producing brilliant novelties by the best composer...

All things considered, the most remarkable figure of this period was that of the great John Sebastian Bach, who was born at Eisenach, in Prussia, in 1685, and died at Leipsic in...

The wealth and commercial activity of the Low Countries, known as Flanders, Brabant and Hainault, had now become greater than that of any other part of Europe, Italy perhaps exc...

The beginning of instrumental music, apart from vocal, is to be found in the latter part of the sixteenth century, but the main advances toward freedom of style and spontaneous...

From Florence the art of dramatic song spread to all other parts of the world, yet not so rapidly as would have been supposed. For it was not until nearly half of the century ha...

Very important developments of the art of music took place in India from a remote period, but dates are entirely uncertain. When the hymns of the Rig-Veda were collected into th...

One of the earliest developments of popular music on the continent was that of the _Chansons de Geste_ ("Songs of Action"), which were, in effect, great national epics. The peri...

Second in point of antiquity, but first in modern association, comes the music of the Hebrews, and of the other allied nations of Assyria and Babylon, from whom they learned a p...

According to the division of the subject in the beginning of this work, the period from the Christian era to that of Palestrina, A.D. 1600, is one of apprentice work, in which t...

It is not easy to define the influence of the Christian Church in this transformation, for the reason that upon the technical side it was slight, although upon the æsthetic side...

Upon many accounts the influence of the Arab civilization was important in this quarter of the musical world, and it may here well enough engage our attention, since its most im...

To the full account of the origin of the _Chansons de Geste_ in the foregoing chapter, it remains now to add a few notes concerning the _personnel_ of the different classes of m...

It is not easy to characterize simply and clearly the nature of the musical development which took place during the eighteenth century. The blossoming of music was so manifold,...

As already noticed in the previous chapter, the oratorio had its origin at the same time as opera, both being phases of the _stilo rappresentativo_, or the effort to afford musi...

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 counte...

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...

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--"T...

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--festival...

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 o...

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...

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 a...

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 h...

General view of the transformation to modern music--causes co-operating--difference between ancient and modern music--harmony and tonality--consonance and dissonance--three step...

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...

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 re...

Origin and meaning of polyphony--monodic and homophonic--canonic imitation--chords as incidents--variety and unity--early French school--Coussemaker's researches--Léonin--descan...

Charming personality--childhood--early talent--concerts--Mozart at Bologna and the test of his powers--Haydn's opinion--early operas--"Marriage of Figaro"--success--accompanimen...

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 s...

Mendelssohn--personality--talent--early works--maturity--as player Leipsic Conservatory--Hauptmann--"Elijah"--"St. Paul"--Schumann; early education and habits--works--strength o...