Excerpt from The Oxford History of Music, Vol. 1: The Polyphonic Period; Part I; Method of Musical Art, 330-1330
The histories of music in current use have or the most part adopted a method which is frankly and ostensibly biographical. Their spirit has been largely that of the Saga or the Epic, rousing our admiration for the achievements of princes and heroes, but leaving us uninformed, and indeed unconcerned, as to the general government of the kingdom or the general fortunes of the host. Such a method has no doubt obvious advantages. It is human, it is interesting, it readily compels our attention, it wins from us a full acknowledgement of the debt that we owe to the great masters. But at the same time it is liable to two attendant dangers: first, that of ignoring the work done by lesser men; second, that of placing genius itself in a false perspective. The history of an art, like the history of a nation, is something more than a record of personal prowess and renown. Tendencies arise from small beginnings; they gather strength imperceptibly as they proceed; they develop, almost by natural growth, to important issues: and the great artist has commonly inherited a wealth of past tradition and effort which it is at once his glory and his privilege to administer.
More especially is this true of music, which among all the arts has exhibited the most continuous evolution.
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works. Это и многое другое вы найдете в книге The Oxford History of Music, Vol. 1