A General History of Music
From the Infancy of the Greek Drama to the Present Period

This elegant 1886 work gives due weight to the history of music in England as well as the contemporary scene.

William Smith Rockstro (Author)

9781108064798, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 27 June 2013

558 pages, 49 b/w illus.
21.6 x 14 x 3.2 cm, 0.7 kg

A friend and pupil of Mendelssohn, the composer and author William Smith Rockstro (1823–95) was regarded as an expert on early music. He contributed articles on the subject to Sir George Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians as well as teaching counterpoint and plainsong at the Royal College of Music. His published output includes biographies of Handel (1883), Mendelssohn (1884) and the opera singer Jenny Lind (1891), all of which are reissued in this series. The present work was first published in 1886. In its narrative of musical history since the Greeks, it gives due weight to the development of music in England and includes, naturally, a chapter on Handel that reflects his enduring influence on national taste. The final section of the book discusses the contemporary musical scene and considers the importance of the recently deceased Wagner for the music of the future.

Preface
Part I. Music in the Early Ages: 1. The music of the Greeks
2. The music of the early Christians
Part II. Music in the Middle Ages: 3. The condition of music in the early middle ages
4. Troubadours, minstrels and minnesingers
5. The invention of counterpoint
6. Concerning the polyphonic schools
7. The productions of the polyphonic schools
8. Polyphonic music in England
9. Mediaeval hymnody
Part III. Music in the Seventeenth Century: 10. On the schools of the decadence
11. Early history of the opera
12. Early history of the oratorio
13. Instrumental music
14. The later composers
15. The English school of the Restoration
Part IV. Music in the Eighteenth Century: 16. Music in Italy
17. Music in France, England and Germany
18. The modern system of part-writing
19. The seven lamps
20. George Frederick Handel
21. Johann Sebastian Bach
22. Christoph Willibald Gluck
23. Franz Joseph Haydn
24. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
25. Ludwig van Beethoven
26. The development of the piano-forte
27. Dramatic music in Italy
28. Dramatic music in France
29. The schools of Leipzig and Vienna
30. Music in England
Part V. Music in the Nineteenth Century: 31. The seven lesser lights
32. Music in Italy
33. The German schools
34. The French schools
35. The English schools
Part VI. The Present Condition of Music, and its Probable Influence upon the Future: 36. The new world
37. Wilhelm Richard Wagner
38. L'envoi
Appendix
Index and chronological table.

Subject Areas: Music [AV]