THE APPRECIATION OF MUSIC
VOL. I.
THE APPRECIATION OF MUSIC CLOTH $1.50
_By Thomas Whitney Surette and Daniel Gregory Mason_
SUPPLEMENTARY VOLUME OF MUSICAL ILLUSTRATIONS $1.00
VOL. II.
GREAT MODERN COMPOSERS CLOTH $1.50
_By Daniel Gregory Mason_
VOL. III.
SHORT STUDIES IN GREAT MASTERPIECES
_By Daniel Gregory Mason_
OTHER WORKS
BY
DANIEL GREGORY MASON
A GUIDE TO MUSIC. A BOOK FOR BEGINNERS CLOTH $1.25
ORCHESTRAL INSTRUMENTS AND WHAT THEY DO,
WITH TWENTY-SEVEN ILLUSTRATIONS AND
ORCHESTRAL CHART CLOTH $1.25
THE
APPRECIATION OF MUSIC
VOLUME I
BY
THOMAS WHITNEY SURETTE
AND
DANIEL GREGORY MASON
_NINTH EDITION_
_Supplementary Volume of Musical Illustrations
Price $1.00_
NEW YORK
THE H. W. GRAY CO.
SOLE AGENTS FOR
NOVELLO & CO., LTD.
COPYRIGHT, 1907, BY
THE H. W. GRAY COMPANY
The Knickerbocker Press, New York
PREFATORY NOTE.
This book has been prepared in order to provide readers who wish to
listen to music intelligently, yet without going into technicalities,
with a simple and practical guide to musical appreciation written from
the listener's rather than from the professional musician's standpoint.
The authors believe that there is at the present moment a genuine need
for such a book. Teachers in schools, colleges, and universities,
educators in all parts of the country, and the music-loving public
generally, are every day realizing more vividly the importance of
applying to music the kind of study which has long been fruitfully
pursued in the other arts; and with the adoption, in 1906, by the
College Entrance Examination Board, of musical appreciation as a
subject which may be offered for entrance to college, this mode of
studying music has established itself firmly in our educational system.
Yet its progress is still hampered by the lack of suitable text-books.
The existing books are for the most part either too technical to
be easily followed by the general reader, or so rhapsodical and
impressionistic as to be of no use to him.
In the following pages an effort has been made, first, to present
to the reader in clear and untechnical language an account of the
evolution of musical art from the primitive folk-song up to the
symphony of Beethoven; second, to illustrate all the steps of this
evolution by carefully chosen musical examples, in the form of short
quotations in the text and of complete pieces printed in a supplement;
third, to facilitate the study of these examples by means of detailed
analysis, measure by measure, in many cases put into the shape of
tabular views; and fourth, to mark out the lines of further study by
suggesting collateral reading.
Too much stress cannot be laid on the fact that the music itself is the
central point of the scheme of study, to which the reader must return
over and over again. Carefully attentive, concentrated listening to the
typical pieces presented in the supplement is the essence of the work,
to which the reading of the text is to be considered merely as an aid.
These pieces are for the most part not beyond the reach of a pianist of
moderate ability.
At the same time, the authors have realized that some readers who might
profit much by such study will not be able to play, or have played for
them, even these pieces. For them, however, the music will still be
accessible through mechanical instruments.
In view of the fact that one of the chief difficulties in the study of
musical appreciation is the unfamiliarity of classical music to the
ordinary student, the use of an instrument by the students themselves
should form an important part of the work in classes where this book is
used as a text-book. It is hoped that with such practical laboratory
work by all members of the class, and with the help of collateral
reading done outside the class under the direction of the teacher,
and tested by written papers on assigned topics, the course of study
outlined here will be found well-suited to the needs of schools and
colleges, as well as of general readers.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
PAGE
ELEMENTS OF MUSICAL FORM. 1
I. INTRODUCTORY 1
II. WHAT TO NOTICE FIRST 3
III. MUSICAL MOTIVES 4
IV. WHAT THE COMPOSER DOES WITH HIS MOTIVES 6
V. THE FIRST STEPS AS REVEALED BY HISTORY 10
VI. A SPANISH FOLK-SONG 12
VII. BALANCE OF PHRASES 13
VIII. SUMMARY 14