The musicians of the century--Henry Purcell and music in England--Italy: Alessandro Scarlatti; Arcangelo Corelli; Domenico Scarlatti--The beginnings of French opera: the _Ballet-comique de la reine_; Cambert and Perrin--Jean Baptiste de Lully--Couperin and Rameau--Music in Germany: Keiser, Mattheson, and the Hamburg opera; precursors of Bach. XIV. HANDEL AND THE ORATORIO 418 The consequences of the seventeenth century: Bach and Handel--Handel’s early life; the opera at Hamburg; the German oratorio--The Italian period, _Rodrigo_, _Agrippina_, and _Resurrezione_--Music in England; Handel as opera composer and impresario--Origins of the Handelian oratorio; from 'Esther’ to 'The Messiah’--Handel’s instrumental music; conclusion. XV. JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH 448 Introduction--The life of Bach--Bach’s polyphonic skill and the qualities of his genius--Bach’s contribution to the art of music and the forms he employed--The revision of keyboard technique and equal temperament--Bach’s relation to the history of music. INDEX. See Volume III. BIBLIOGRAPHY. See Volume III. ILLUSTRATIONS IN VOLUME ONE King René and his Musical Court (in colors) _Frontispiece_ FACING PAGE Orchestra of Pan’s Pipes (Aboriginal) 22 Old Japanese Print: 'Girl of the Old Kingdom playing the Harp’ 58 Ancient Egyptian Fresco showing Instruments in Use 82 Greek Flute and Kithara Players (in colors) 96 The Contest between Apollo and Marysas 122 The Organ in the Middle Ages 156 Mediæval French Sculpture showing Trouvères and Jongleurs with Instruments 202 The Tournament of Song in the Wartburg 218 Josquin des Près (photogravure) 252 Altar of the Virgin by Bellini (photogravure) 268 Orlando di Lasso (photogravure) 308 Perluigi da Palestrina (photogravure) 316 'The Concert’; Painting by Giorgione (in colors) 328 Claudio Monteverdi (photogravure) 338 Henry Purcell (photogravure) 388 Arcangelo Corelli (photogravure) 396 Jean-Baptiste de Lully (photogravure) 408 Jean-Philippe Rameau (photogravure) 414 Georg Friedrich Handel (photogravure) 438