The art of music. Vol. 01 (of 14) — Reading Notes

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Authors: Mason, Daniel Gregory, 1873-1953 [Editor], Hall, Leland, 1883-1957 [Editor], Hill, Edward Burlingame, 1872-1960 [Editor], Saerchinger, César, 1889-1971 [Editor], Parry, C. Hubert H. (Charles Hubert Hastings), 1848-1918 [Author of introduction, etc.] Digital Source: Project Gutenberg Gutenberg Release Year: 2021 First Publication Year: Not confirmed

Key Word: Musicians; Music -- History and criticism Target Reader: Readers of public-domain and historical texts

Book Edition: Project Gutenberg digital edition Book Language: en

Edition facts

Words 173,288

Reading time 754 min

Text sections 64

This digital edition of The art of music. Vol. 01 (of 14) — Reading Notes is described by source-level measurements including 173,288 words, 12 hr 34 min estimated reading time, and 64 detected text sections.

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This editorial note examines how the opening, middle, and later excerpts of Volume 1 guide a first reading of this early 20th-century music history survey, focusing on its editorial structure, narrative voice, and treatment of medieval polyphony.

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and scales; contrast--The aborigines of Carribea, Polynesia, Samoa, Africa--The rhythmic element: music and the dance; instruments of percussion--Harmonic traces--Wind instruments and their scales; the xylophone--Instruments of semi-civilized peoples--The North American Indian--Influence of modern culture on savage music.

Significance of exotic music--Classification; Aztecs and Peruvians--The Orient: China and Hindustan, the Mohammedans--Exotic instruments--Music as religious rite; music and dancing--Music and customs; Orient and Occident.

III. THE MOST ANCIENT CIVILIZED NATIONS 64

Conjecture and authority--The Assyrians and Babylonians; instruments; scales--The Hebrews--The Egyptians; social aspects; Plato’s testimony; instruments--Egyptian influence on Greek culture and its musical significance.

IV. THE MUSIC OF THE ANCIENT GREEKS 88

Significance of Greek music--Greek conception of music; mythical records--Music in social life; folk-song; general characteristics of Greek music--Systems and scales--Pythagoras’ theories; later theorists: Aristoxenus to Ptolemy--Periods of Greek composition; the _nomoi_; lyricism; choral dancing and choral lyricism; the drama--Greek instruments; notation.

V. THE AGE OF PLAIN-SONG 128

Music in the Roman empire--Sources of early Christian music; the hymns of St. Ambrose--Hebrew traditions--Psalmody, responses, antiphons; the liturgy; the Gregorian tradition; the antiphonary and the gradual; sequences and tropes--Ecclesiastical modes; early notation.

VI. THE BEGINNINGS OF POLYPHONY 160

The third dimension in music--'Antiphony’ and Polyphony; magadizing; organum and diaphony, parallel and oblique--Guido d’Arezzo and his reputed inventions; solmisation; progress of notation--Johannes Cotto and the _Ad organum faciendum_; contrary motion and the beginning of true polyphony--Measured music; mensural notation--_Faux-bourdon_, _gymel_; forms of mensural composition.

VII. SECULAR MUSIC IN THE MIDDLE AGES 186

Popular music; fusion of secular and ecclesiastical spirit; Paganism and Christianity; the epic--Folksong; early types in France, _complainte_, narrative song, dance song; Germany and the North; occupational songs--Vagrant musicians; jongleurs, minstrels; the love song--Troubadours and Trouvères; Adam de la Halle--The Minnesinger; the Meistersinger; influence on Reformation and Renaissance.

PART III. THE POLYPHONIC PERIOD

VIII. THE RISE OF THE NETHERLAND SCHOOLS 226

The Netherland style; the _Ars Nova_; Maschault and the Paris school; the papal ban on figured music--The Gallo-Belgian school; early English polyphony; John Dunstable; Dufay and Binchois; other Gallo-Belgians--Okeghem and his school--Josquin des Prés; merits of the Netherland Schools.

IX. THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE 258

Spirit of the Renaissance--_Trovatori_ and _cantori a liuto_; The Florentine _Ars Nova_; Landino; _caccia_, _ballata_, _madrigal_--The fifteenth century; the Medici; Netherland influence; popular song forms--Adrian Willaert and the new madrigal--Orazio Vecchi and the dramatic madrigal.

X. THE GOLDEN AGE OF POLYPHONY 284

Invention of music printing--The Reformation--The immediate successors of Josquin; Adrian Willaert and the Venetian school; Germany and England--Orlando di Lasso--Palestrina; his life--The Palestrina style; the culmination of vocal polyphony--Conclusion.

PART IV. THE DEVELOPMENT OF HARMONY

XI. THE BEGINNINGS OF OPERA AND ORATORIO 324

The forerunners of opera--The Florentine reform of 1600; the 'expressive’ style; Peri and Caccini; the first opera; Cavalieri and the origin of the oratorio--Claudio Monteverdi: his life and his works.

XII. NEW FORMS: VOCAL AND INSTRUMENTAL 348

Résumé of the sixteenth century--Rhythm and form; the development of harmony; figured bass--The organ style; _canzona da sonar_; _ricercar_; _toccata_; _sonata da chiesa_; great organists--The genesis of violin music; _canzona_ and _sonata_--The _sonata da camera_; the suite--Music for the harpsichord--The opera in the seventeenth century; Heinrich Schütz.

XIII. THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 388

The musicians of the century--Henry Purcell and music in England--Italy: Alessandro Scarlatti; Arcangelo Corelli; Domenico Scarlatti--The beginnings of French opera: the _Ballet-comique de la reine_; Cambert and Perrin--Jean Baptiste de Lully--Couperin and Rameau--Music in Germany: Keiser, Mattheson, and the Hamburg opera; precursors of Bach.

XIV. HANDEL AND THE ORATORIO 418

The consequences of the seventeenth century: Bach and Handel--Handel’s early life; the opera at Hamburg; the German oratorio--The Italian period, _Rodrigo_, _Agrippina_, and _Resurrezione_--Music in England; Handel as opera composer and impresario--Origins of the Handelian oratorio; from 'Esther’ to 'The Messiah’--Handel’s instrumental music; conclusion.

XV. JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH 448

Introduction--The life of Bach--Bach’s polyphonic skill and the qualities of his genius--Bach’s contribution to the art of music and the forms he employed--The revision of keyboard technique and equal temperament--Bach’s relation to the history of music.

INDEX. See Volume III.

BIBLIOGRAPHY. See Volume III.

ILLUSTRATIONS IN VOLUME ONE

King René and his Musical Court (in colors) _Frontispiece_

Orchestra of Pan’s Pipes (Aboriginal) 22

Old Japanese Print: 'Girl of the Old Kingdom playing the Harp’ 58

Ancient Egyptian Fresco showing Instruments in Use 82

Greek Flute and Kithara Players (in colors) 96

The Contest between Apollo and Marysas 122

The Organ in the Middle Ages 156

Mediæval French Sculpture showing Trouvères and Jongleurs with Instruments 202

The Tournament of Song in the Wartburg 218

Josquin des Près (photogravure) 252

Altar of the Virgin by Bellini (photogravure) 268

Orlando di Lasso (photogravure) 308

Perluigi da Palestrina (photogravure) 316

'The Concert’; Painting by Giorgione (in colors) 328

Claudio Monteverdi (photogravure) 338

Henry Purcell (photogravure) 388

Arcangelo Corelli (photogravure) 396

Jean-Baptiste de Lully (photogravure) 408

Jean-Philippe Rameau (photogravure) 414

Georg Friedrich Handel (photogravure) 438

Johann Sebastian Bach (photogravure) 468

CHAPTER I PRIMITIVE MUSIC

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The first pages of this volume establish a clear editorial hierarchy: Daniel Gregory Mason as editor-in-chief, with associate editors from Harvard and Columbia, and a managing editor from the Modern Music Society of New York. The title page announces a “Comprehensive Library of Information for Music Lovers and Musicians,” signaling an authoritative yet accessible tone. The introduction by C. Hubert H. Parry, a prominent British musician, adds scholarly weight. Readers should note that the book is part of a fourteen-volume set, and this first volume covers “the pre-Classic periods,” focusing on early music up to the Baroque. The excerpts show a narrative history approach, blending technical discussion with cultural context, as seen in the detailed account of the ars nova movement.

Editorial Structure and Intended Audience

The front matter reveals a deliberate design for both amateurs and specialists. The editor-in-chief, Daniel Gregory Mason, was a Columbia University professor and composer, while associate editors Edward B. Hill and Leland Hall came from Harvard. The managing editor, César Saerchinger, was active in the Modern Music Society of New York. This mix of academic and contemporary music-world figures suggests the series aimed to bridge scholarly research and practical musicianship. The volume is profusely illustrated, with references to musical examples that can be heard in the HTML version via clickable [Listen] tabs. The transcriber’s notes explain that Greek words have been transliterated except in a song text, and that some scores were modified for audio files. These details indicate a production attentive to usability, though the plain text version loses some musical notation.

Narrative Voice and Historical Method

The excerpt from Chapter VII (likely on the Netherland style) demonstrates the book’s method: it traces the growth of polyphonic writing from “stiff organum” and the “mensural system” that bound music to “triple rhythm and … mathematical laws.” The author contrasts this with the ars nova, a reform that reintroduced duple time and greater rhythmic variety. The narrative attributes the reform to Philippe de Vitry, though noting that none of his compositions survive. The text also mentions competing claims for priority from Florence and England, showing awareness of historiographical debate. The writing is dense with terminology—tempus perfectum, prolation, cadences—but explains each term. This suggests the book expects readers to engage with technical concepts, yet provides enough context for newcomers.

The Ars Nova as a Turning Point

The discussion of the ars nova occupies a central place in the excerpt, illustrating how the volume frames musical change as a struggle between dogma and freedom. The text lists four characteristics of the reform: reintroduction of duple time, emancipation of voices through rhythmic variety, prohibition of parallel octaves and fifths, and differentiation between half and full cadences. Each point is tied to notational innovations, such as the circle and half-circle time signs. The author connects these technical developments to broader cultural forces, like the influence of Troubadour song and secular music. This approach—linking notation, theory, and social context—recurs throughout the volume. Readers should watch for similar patterns in later chapters, where the narrative likely applies this framework to other periods.

Reading with the Musical Examples

The excerpts reference musical examples that are integral to the argument. For instance, the discussion of imitation as “the repetition of a theme or phrase … at a different pitch” is accompanied by a score image and an audio file in the HTML version. The transcriber’s notes indicate that some scores were modified to generate the audio, so the heard version may differ slightly from the printed notation. This is a practical consideration for readers using the digital edition: the [Listen] and [PNG] tags allow direct comparison between text and sound. The volume also includes images like “King René and his Musical Court,” which visually anchor the historical narrative. For a first reading, following these multimedia elements enriches the textual analysis, especially for those unfamiliar with early music notation.

This first volume rewards readers who move slowly through its technical passages, using the musical examples as a guide. The editors’ decision to include both scholarly apparatus and accessible explanations makes it suitable for self-study. As the opening volume of a fourteen-part series, it establishes a foundation in medieval and Renaissance music that later volumes will build upon. For those new to music history, starting with the introduction by Parry and then sampling a chapter on a familiar topic—like the ars nova—can provide an entry point into the book’s systematic approach.

There’s something tender in how this volume’s editor lets the medieval voices arrive slowly, as if inviting us to eavesdrop rather than lecture us. The same unhurried patience lingers in the A Short History of English Music — Reading Companion, where the past feels less like a timeline and more like a quiet room we’re lucky to sit in for a while.