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Overview
This classic anthology assembles over 200 source readings, bringing to life the history of music through letters, reviews, biographical sketches, memoirs, and other documents. Writings by composers, critics, and educators touch on virtually every aspect of Western music from ancient Greece to the present day.
- Engaging, witty headnotes set every selection in its historical context.
- Known for its impeccable and wide-ranging scholarship, this edition retains most existing readings and brings the volume up to date to offer the most authoritative collection of primary sources available anywhere.
- Original historical documents and firsthand accounts of musicianship, from a rich selection of diverse authors and sources, help students gain insight into the personalities, controversies and developments of every musical period.
- The text's self-contained, chronological and topical design provides the student and instructor with maximum flexibility and ease of use.
- Students complete this text with an understanding and appreciation of the full scope of music history that contributes and enlivens their musical experiences.
Part I: THE HERITAGE OF ANTIQUITY.
1. Orpheus and the Magical Powers of Music (Ovid).
2. Pythagoras and the Numerical Properties of Music (Nicomachus).
3. Plato''s Musical Idealism.
4. Aristotle on the Purposes of Music.
5. The Kinship of Music and Rhetoric (Quintilian).
6. Music in Temple and Synagogue: The Judaic Heritage (Bible, Philo of Alexandria).
7. Music in the Christian Churches of Jerusalem, c. A.D. 400 (Egeria).
Part II: THE MIDDLE AGES.
8. The Church Fathers on Psalmody and on the Dangers of Unholy Music (St. Basil, St. John Chrysostom, Origen of Alexandria, Eusebius of Caesarea, Honorius of Autun).
9. The Testimony of St. Augustine.
10. The Transmission of the Classical Legacy (Boethius, Shakespeare).
11. Music as a Liberal Art (Scholia enchiriadis).
12. Before Notation (Isidore of Seville, St. Augustine, John the Deacon, Notker Balbulus, Costumal of St. Benigne).
13. Embellishing the Liturgy (Notker Balbulus, Ethelwold).
14. Musical Notation and Its Consequences (Odo of Cluny, Guido of Arezzo, Chaucer).
15. Music in Courtly Life (Raimbaut de Vaqueiras, Roman de la rose).
16. The Emergence of Polyphony (Aldhelm, Scotus Erigena, Hucbald, Regino of Prüm, Giraldus Cambrensis, Anon. IV, John of Salisbury).
17. The Forms and Practices of Music, c. 1300 (Johannes de Grocheo, Aegidius of Murino).
18. The First Musical Avant Garde (Jean de Muris, Jacobus of Liège, John XXII, motet and madrigal texts).
19. The Life of Francesco Landini (Filippo Villani).
20. A Letter from Guillaume de Machaut.
Part III: THE RENAISSANCE.
21. The "Fount and Origin" (Martin Le Franc, Tinctoris).
22. Music at Church and State Festivities in the Early Renaissance (Manetti, d''Escouchy).
23. The Triumph of Emperor Maximilian.
24. Music as a Business (Petrucci, Francis I, Tallis and Byrd).
25. Music in Castiglione''s Courtier.
26. Josquin des Prez in the Eyes of His Contemporaries (Glareanus, "Gian," Coclico, Luther).
27. Luther and Music (Luther, Walther, parody texts).
28. The Swiss Reformers (Calvin).
29. The Reformation in England (cathedral injunctions, John Bull).
30. High Renaissance Style (Aron, Zarlino).
31. Willaert the Reformer (Zarlino, Stocker).
32. Music at a Medici Wedding (Giunti).
33. Lasso and Palestrina as Revealed in Their Letters.
34. The Life of the Church Musician (Constitutiones Capellae Pontificae, Zarlino, etc.).
35. The Genres of Music in the High Renaissance (Morley, Cerone, Vicentino).
36. The Counter Reformation (Bishop Franco, Council of Trent, Palestrina, Animuccia, Ruffo, Gregory XIII, Coryat).
37. Palestrina: Fact and Legend (Agazzari, Cresollio, Guidiccioni, Baini, Palestrina).
38. Madrigals and Madrigalism (Mazzone, Zarlino Morely).
39. Gesualdo, Nobleman Musician (Fontanelli).
40. The Most Musical Court in Europe (Bottrigari, Guistiniani).
41. Music and Dancing as Social Graces (anonymous conversation book, Arbeau, Byrd, Morely, Shakespeare).
42. Renaissance Instrumentalists (Tinctoris, Ventemille, cathedral and municipal documents).
43. Radical Humanism: The End of the Renaissance (Vicentino, Mersenne, Le Jeune, Galilei).
Part IV: THE BAROQUE.
44. The Birth of a "New Music" (Caccini).
45. The "Second Practice" (Artusi, Monteverdi).
46. The Earliest Operas (Gagliano, Striggio).
47. Basso Continuo and Figured Bass (Agazzari, Banchieri).
48. From the Letters of Monteverdi.
49. Venice, 1637: Opera Opens for Business (Ivanovich).
50. Schütz Recounts His Career.
51. The Doctrine of Figures (Bernhard).
52. Music and Scientific Empiricism (Milton, Bacon).
53. Music in the Churches of Rome, 1639 (Maugars).
54. Music under the Sun King (Pierre Rameau).
55. Rationalistic Distaste for Opera (Corneille, Saint Évremond, La Bruyère).
56. A New Sound Ideal (Mersenne, La Blanc).
57. The Baroque Sonata (North, Purcell, Couperin).
58. Modern Concert Life is Born (North).
59. The Mature Baroque: The Doctrine of the Affections (Descartes, Mattheson).
60. The Art of Music Reduced to Rational Principles (J. P. Rameau).
61. The Earliest Musical Conservatories (Burney).
62. Castrato Singers (Burney).
63. The Conventions of the Opera Seria (Goldoni).
64. Opera Audiences in Eighteenth Century Italy (Sharp).
65. Domenico Scarlatti at the Harpsichord (Burney).
66. A Traveler''s Impressions of Vivaldi (Uffenbach).
67. Couperin on His Pièces de Clavecin.
68. The Piano Is Invented (Maffei).
69. Addison and Steele Poke Fun at Handel''s First London Opera.
70. Some Contemporary Documents Relating to Handel''s Oratorios.
71. Bach''s Duties and Obligations at Leipzig.
72. Bach Remembered by His Son.
73. Bach''s Obituary (C. P. E. Back, Agricola).
Part V: THE PRE CLASSICAL PERIOD.
74. The Cult of the Natural (Heinichen, Scheibe).
75. The Advice and Opinions of an Italian Singing Master (Tosi).
76. From Geminiani''s Violin Tutor.
77. From Quantz''s Treatise on Flute Playing.
78. Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach on Playing Keyboard Instruments.
79. The Rise of the Italian Comic Opera Style (La serva padrona, d''Holbach, Hiller).
80. From Rousseau''s Dictionary of Music.
Part VI: THE CLASSICAL PERIOD.
81. A Side Trip into Aesthetics (Rousseau, Avison, Beattie, Twining, Smith, Kant).
82. Haydn''s Duties in the Service of Prince Esterházy.
83. Gluck''s Operatic Manifesto.
84. "Folk Song" a New Name for Something Very Old (Herder).
85. Some General Thoughts on Music by Dr. Burney.
86. Frederick the Great Gives a Concert (Burney).
87. The Young Mozart as a Scientific Curiosity (Barrington).
88. From Mozart''s Letters.
89. Haydn''s Reception in London (Burney, London dailies).
90. Sonata Form and the Symphony Described by a Contemporary of Haydn (Kollmann).
91. A Musical Episode of the French Revolution.
92. Vienna, 1800.
93. Beethoven''s Heiligenstadt Testament.
94. The First Reactions to Beethoven''s "Eroica" Symphony.
95. A Contemporary Portrait of Beethoven.
96. The First Performance of Beethoven''s Ninth Symphony.
Part VII: THE LATER NINETEENTH CENTURY: ROMANTICISM AND OTHER PREOCCUPATIONS.
97. Music as a Proper Occupation for the British Female (Burgh).
98. Leigh Hunt on Rossini.
99. Schubert Remembered by a Friend (Spaun).
100. Paganini, the Spectacular Virtuoso (Hunt).
101. The Virtuoso Conductor (Spohr).
102. The State of Music in Italy in 1830.
103. From the Writings of Berlioz.
104. The Program of the Symphonie Fantastique.
105. From the Writings of Schumann.
106. Liszt, the All Conquering Pianist.
107. From the Writings of Liszt.
108. Glimpses of Chopin Composing, Playing the Piano. (Sand, Mikuli. Hogarth, Heine).
109. Mendelssohn and Queen Victoria.
110. Verdi''s Rise to Solitary Eminence (Basevi).
111. From the Writings of Wagner.
112. Wagner''s Beethoven.
113. The "Music of the Future" Controversy (Schumann, Mendelssohn, Liszt, Brendel, Brahms).
114. P.T. Barnum Brings the Swedish Nightingale to America.
115. Smetana and the Czech National Style (Novotný).
116. The "New Russian School" (Stasov).
117. Musorgsky, a Musical Realist.
118. Chaikovsky on Inspiration and Self Expression.
119. Brahms on Composing (Henschel).
120. The "Brahmin" Point of View (Hanslick).
121. Verdi at the Time of Otello.
122. Grieg on the Norwegian Element in His Music.
123. The Post Wagnerians: Mahler.
124. The Post Wagnerians: Richard Strauss.
Part VIII: THE TWENTIETH CENTURY.
125. Debussy and Musical Impressionism.
126. Questioning Basic Assumptions (Busoni).
127. From the Writings of Charles Ives.
128. Musical Expressionism (Schoenberg, Wellesz, et al.).
129. The Retreat to the Ivory Tower (Berg).
130. The Death of Tonality? (Webern).
131. Arnold Schoenberg on Composition with Twelve Tones.
132. The Rite of Spring (Stravinsky, Van Vechten, Cui, Du Mas).
133. A Futurist Manifesto (Russolo).
134. The New Folklorism (Bartók, Stravinsky, Vaughan Williams).
135. The Cataclysm (Bartók).
136. Between the Wars (Sessions).
137. The New Objectivity (Stravinsky).
138. Anti Romantic Polemics from Stravinsky''s Autobiography.
139. Schoenberg on Stravinsky, Stravinsky on Schoenberg.
140. The Cult of Blague: Satie and "The Six" (Satie, Collet, Milhaud).
141. Polytonality (Milhaud).
142. The Only Twentieth Century Aesthetic? (Thomson).
143. The Making of Wozzeck (Berg).
144. Approaching the Limits of Compression (Schoenberg, Webern).
145. The Assimilation of Jazz (Gershwin, Ravel).
146. "New Musical Resources" (Cowell).
147. Retrenchment (Hindemith).
148. Music and the Social Conscience (Weill, Hindemith, Copland).
149. Music and Ideology (Russian Association of Proletarian Musicians).
150. Composers on Trial (Shostakovich, Prokofiev).
151. Music Under and After the Nazis ("Entartete Musik" Exhibition, three readings on Carl Orff).
152. The Outlook after World War II (Thomson).
153. New Developments in Serialism (Boulez, Adorno, Krenek, Babbitt, Wuorinen).
154. Stravinsky the Serialist.
155. Postwar Compositional "Issues" (Sessions).
156. Music and the Cold War ( Nabokov, Ligeti,).
157. Music and the "New Left" (Fluxus Group, Cardew, Henze).
158. The Master of "Organized Sound" (Varèse).
159. The Music of Chance (Cage).
160. New Approaches to the Organization of Time (Carter).
161. Composer and Society (Britten, Babbitt, Rochberg).
Part IX: THE RECENT PAST, AND THE PRESENT.
162. Defection (Ned Rorem on the Beatles).
163. "Minimalism" (Reich, R. Wilson, Glass).
164. Fusion (Harrison).
165. New Eclecticism (Schnittke).
166. New Romanticism ( Druckman, Del Tredici, Kriesberg).
167. Technological Revolution (Mathews, Lansky).
168. Postmodernist paradigms (S. Johnson, Lerdahl, Boros).
169. Feminist Perspectives (Oliveros, Broido and Oteri, Monk,, McClary).
170. New topicality (Adams, Corigliano).
171. Millennium''s end (Ferneyhough, Gann, Monk, Slobin).
172. A Glimpse of the Future? (Tommasini).
1. Orpheus and the Magical Powers of Music (Ovid).
2. Pythagoras and the Numerical Properties of Music (Nicomachus).
3. Plato''s Musical Idealism.
4. Aristotle on the Purposes of Music.
5. The Kinship of Music and Rhetoric (Quintilian).
6. Music in Temple and Synagogue: The Judaic Heritage (Bible, Philo of Alexandria).
7. Music in the Christian Churches of Jerusalem, c. A.D. 400 (Egeria).
Part II: THE MIDDLE AGES.
8. The Church Fathers on Psalmody and on the Dangers of Unholy Music (St. Basil, St. John Chrysostom, Origen of Alexandria, Eusebius of Caesarea, Honorius of Autun).
9. The Testimony of St. Augustine.
10. The Transmission of the Classical Legacy (Boethius, Shakespeare).
11. Music as a Liberal Art (Scholia enchiriadis).
12. Before Notation (Isidore of Seville, St. Augustine, John the Deacon, Notker Balbulus, Costumal of St. Benigne).
13. Embellishing the Liturgy (Notker Balbulus, Ethelwold).
14. Musical Notation and Its Consequences (Odo of Cluny, Guido of Arezzo, Chaucer).
15. Music in Courtly Life (Raimbaut de Vaqueiras, Roman de la rose).
16. The Emergence of Polyphony (Aldhelm, Scotus Erigena, Hucbald, Regino of Prüm, Giraldus Cambrensis, Anon. IV, John of Salisbury).
17. The Forms and Practices of Music, c. 1300 (Johannes de Grocheo, Aegidius of Murino).
18. The First Musical Avant Garde (Jean de Muris, Jacobus of Liège, John XXII, motet and madrigal texts).
19. The Life of Francesco Landini (Filippo Villani).
20. A Letter from Guillaume de Machaut.
Part III: THE RENAISSANCE.
21. The "Fount and Origin" (Martin Le Franc, Tinctoris).
22. Music at Church and State Festivities in the Early Renaissance (Manetti, d''Escouchy).
23. The Triumph of Emperor Maximilian.
24. Music as a Business (Petrucci, Francis I, Tallis and Byrd).
25. Music in Castiglione''s Courtier.
26. Josquin des Prez in the Eyes of His Contemporaries (Glareanus, "Gian," Coclico, Luther).
27. Luther and Music (Luther, Walther, parody texts).
28. The Swiss Reformers (Calvin).
29. The Reformation in England (cathedral injunctions, John Bull).
30. High Renaissance Style (Aron, Zarlino).
31. Willaert the Reformer (Zarlino, Stocker).
32. Music at a Medici Wedding (Giunti).
33. Lasso and Palestrina as Revealed in Their Letters.
34. The Life of the Church Musician (Constitutiones Capellae Pontificae, Zarlino, etc.).
35. The Genres of Music in the High Renaissance (Morley, Cerone, Vicentino).
36. The Counter Reformation (Bishop Franco, Council of Trent, Palestrina, Animuccia, Ruffo, Gregory XIII, Coryat).
37. Palestrina: Fact and Legend (Agazzari, Cresollio, Guidiccioni, Baini, Palestrina).
38. Madrigals and Madrigalism (Mazzone, Zarlino Morely).
39. Gesualdo, Nobleman Musician (Fontanelli).
40. The Most Musical Court in Europe (Bottrigari, Guistiniani).
41. Music and Dancing as Social Graces (anonymous conversation book, Arbeau, Byrd, Morely, Shakespeare).
42. Renaissance Instrumentalists (Tinctoris, Ventemille, cathedral and municipal documents).
43. Radical Humanism: The End of the Renaissance (Vicentino, Mersenne, Le Jeune, Galilei).
Part IV: THE BAROQUE.
44. The Birth of a "New Music" (Caccini).
45. The "Second Practice" (Artusi, Monteverdi).
46. The Earliest Operas (Gagliano, Striggio).
47. Basso Continuo and Figured Bass (Agazzari, Banchieri).
48. From the Letters of Monteverdi.
49. Venice, 1637: Opera Opens for Business (Ivanovich).
50. Schütz Recounts His Career.
51. The Doctrine of Figures (Bernhard).
52. Music and Scientific Empiricism (Milton, Bacon).
53. Music in the Churches of Rome, 1639 (Maugars).
54. Music under the Sun King (Pierre Rameau).
55. Rationalistic Distaste for Opera (Corneille, Saint Évremond, La Bruyère).
56. A New Sound Ideal (Mersenne, La Blanc).
57. The Baroque Sonata (North, Purcell, Couperin).
58. Modern Concert Life is Born (North).
59. The Mature Baroque: The Doctrine of the Affections (Descartes, Mattheson).
60. The Art of Music Reduced to Rational Principles (J. P. Rameau).
61. The Earliest Musical Conservatories (Burney).
62. Castrato Singers (Burney).
63. The Conventions of the Opera Seria (Goldoni).
64. Opera Audiences in Eighteenth Century Italy (Sharp).
65. Domenico Scarlatti at the Harpsichord (Burney).
66. A Traveler''s Impressions of Vivaldi (Uffenbach).
67. Couperin on His Pièces de Clavecin.
68. The Piano Is Invented (Maffei).
69. Addison and Steele Poke Fun at Handel''s First London Opera.
70. Some Contemporary Documents Relating to Handel''s Oratorios.
71. Bach''s Duties and Obligations at Leipzig.
72. Bach Remembered by His Son.
73. Bach''s Obituary (C. P. E. Back, Agricola).
Part V: THE PRE CLASSICAL PERIOD.
74. The Cult of the Natural (Heinichen, Scheibe).
75. The Advice and Opinions of an Italian Singing Master (Tosi).
76. From Geminiani''s Violin Tutor.
77. From Quantz''s Treatise on Flute Playing.
78. Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach on Playing Keyboard Instruments.
79. The Rise of the Italian Comic Opera Style (La serva padrona, d''Holbach, Hiller).
80. From Rousseau''s Dictionary of Music.
Part VI: THE CLASSICAL PERIOD.
81. A Side Trip into Aesthetics (Rousseau, Avison, Beattie, Twining, Smith, Kant).
82. Haydn''s Duties in the Service of Prince Esterházy.
83. Gluck''s Operatic Manifesto.
84. "Folk Song" a New Name for Something Very Old (Herder).
85. Some General Thoughts on Music by Dr. Burney.
86. Frederick the Great Gives a Concert (Burney).
87. The Young Mozart as a Scientific Curiosity (Barrington).
88. From Mozart''s Letters.
89. Haydn''s Reception in London (Burney, London dailies).
90. Sonata Form and the Symphony Described by a Contemporary of Haydn (Kollmann).
91. A Musical Episode of the French Revolution.
92. Vienna, 1800.
93. Beethoven''s Heiligenstadt Testament.
94. The First Reactions to Beethoven''s "Eroica" Symphony.
95. A Contemporary Portrait of Beethoven.
96. The First Performance of Beethoven''s Ninth Symphony.
Part VII: THE LATER NINETEENTH CENTURY: ROMANTICISM AND OTHER PREOCCUPATIONS.
97. Music as a Proper Occupation for the British Female (Burgh).
98. Leigh Hunt on Rossini.
99. Schubert Remembered by a Friend (Spaun).
100. Paganini, the Spectacular Virtuoso (Hunt).
101. The Virtuoso Conductor (Spohr).
102. The State of Music in Italy in 1830.
103. From the Writings of Berlioz.
104. The Program of the Symphonie Fantastique.
105. From the Writings of Schumann.
106. Liszt, the All Conquering Pianist.
107. From the Writings of Liszt.
108. Glimpses of Chopin Composing, Playing the Piano. (Sand, Mikuli. Hogarth, Heine).
109. Mendelssohn and Queen Victoria.
110. Verdi''s Rise to Solitary Eminence (Basevi).
111. From the Writings of Wagner.
112. Wagner''s Beethoven.
113. The "Music of the Future" Controversy (Schumann, Mendelssohn, Liszt, Brendel, Brahms).
114. P.T. Barnum Brings the Swedish Nightingale to America.
115. Smetana and the Czech National Style (Novotný).
116. The "New Russian School" (Stasov).
117. Musorgsky, a Musical Realist.
118. Chaikovsky on Inspiration and Self Expression.
119. Brahms on Composing (Henschel).
120. The "Brahmin" Point of View (Hanslick).
121. Verdi at the Time of Otello.
122. Grieg on the Norwegian Element in His Music.
123. The Post Wagnerians: Mahler.
124. The Post Wagnerians: Richard Strauss.
Part VIII: THE TWENTIETH CENTURY.
125. Debussy and Musical Impressionism.
126. Questioning Basic Assumptions (Busoni).
127. From the Writings of Charles Ives.
128. Musical Expressionism (Schoenberg, Wellesz, et al.).
129. The Retreat to the Ivory Tower (Berg).
130. The Death of Tonality? (Webern).
131. Arnold Schoenberg on Composition with Twelve Tones.
132. The Rite of Spring (Stravinsky, Van Vechten, Cui, Du Mas).
133. A Futurist Manifesto (Russolo).
134. The New Folklorism (Bartók, Stravinsky, Vaughan Williams).
135. The Cataclysm (Bartók).
136. Between the Wars (Sessions).
137. The New Objectivity (Stravinsky).
138. Anti Romantic Polemics from Stravinsky''s Autobiography.
139. Schoenberg on Stravinsky, Stravinsky on Schoenberg.
140. The Cult of Blague: Satie and "The Six" (Satie, Collet, Milhaud).
141. Polytonality (Milhaud).
142. The Only Twentieth Century Aesthetic? (Thomson).
143. The Making of Wozzeck (Berg).
144. Approaching the Limits of Compression (Schoenberg, Webern).
145. The Assimilation of Jazz (Gershwin, Ravel).
146. "New Musical Resources" (Cowell).
147. Retrenchment (Hindemith).
148. Music and the Social Conscience (Weill, Hindemith, Copland).
149. Music and Ideology (Russian Association of Proletarian Musicians).
150. Composers on Trial (Shostakovich, Prokofiev).
151. Music Under and After the Nazis ("Entartete Musik" Exhibition, three readings on Carl Orff).
152. The Outlook after World War II (Thomson).
153. New Developments in Serialism (Boulez, Adorno, Krenek, Babbitt, Wuorinen).
154. Stravinsky the Serialist.
155. Postwar Compositional "Issues" (Sessions).
156. Music and the Cold War ( Nabokov, Ligeti,).
157. Music and the "New Left" (Fluxus Group, Cardew, Henze).
158. The Master of "Organized Sound" (Varèse).
159. The Music of Chance (Cage).
160. New Approaches to the Organization of Time (Carter).
161. Composer and Society (Britten, Babbitt, Rochberg).
Part IX: THE RECENT PAST, AND THE PRESENT.
162. Defection (Ned Rorem on the Beatles).
163. "Minimalism" (Reich, R. Wilson, Glass).
164. Fusion (Harrison).
165. New Eclecticism (Schnittke).
166. New Romanticism ( Druckman, Del Tredici, Kriesberg).
167. Technological Revolution (Mathews, Lansky).
168. Postmodernist paradigms (S. Johnson, Lerdahl, Boros).
169. Feminist Perspectives (Oliveros, Broido and Oteri, Monk,, McClary).
170. New topicality (Adams, Corigliano).
171. Millennium''s end (Ferneyhough, Gann, Monk, Slobin).
172. A Glimpse of the Future? (Tommasini).
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