A Complete History of Music: for Schools, Clubs, and Private ReadingBaltzell, W. J. (Winton James)
History
A Complete History of Music: for Schools, Clubs, and Private Reading
Baltzell, W. J. (Winton James)
Music -- History and criticism
=Influence of Art on Music=.—All of the fine arts, with the exception
of Music had, by the year 1100, reached a fairly high stage of
development due, no doubt, to the fact that they are to a great
extent composed of concrete materials. Music, owing to its lack of
the concrete and the inability of men literally to place their hands
upon its material, had lagged behind, so that in 1100 we find only a
small amount of material, and that in a most chaotic condition. This
material was, however, sufficient to produce definite musical forms
if united into a homogeneous whole; such a state, however, could
be produced only as the result of some great influence which would
galvanize the component parts into action. Fortunately, there was
just such an influence, one which had passed through an evolution
similar to that needed in music, though because of its more concrete
form and its necessity to man, this evolution had occurred at a
proportionately earlier date. This influence was an art form, a phase
of architecture known as the Gothic. Gothic architecture was a form
built up by the unifying of the principal styles of architecture into
one uniform whole, and composed of a _multiplicity_ of _details_, but
of such evident _relation to each other_ as to make a distinct art
form. This form was first used in Paris about the year 1000 A. D.
Music was, approximately, in the same condition as Architecture before
the birth of the Gothic principle, and needed a stimulus, a comrade
art undergoing much the same evolution, to start it on its path of
polyphonic development. In the year 1100 musical chaos became united
into one uniform art by means of Measured Music or Proportion, thus
allowing the systematizing of the mass of then existing material,
and the construction of definite art forms. Since Architecture had
undergone just such a change one century before, it is more than
probable that the effect of this change was the starting of a similar
one in Music, though the result was not to show until one hundred years
after its occurrence in the kindred art.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account