In closing, a word should be said concerning the contributors to the Narrative History. There is ample precedent for the method here employed of assigning different periods to writers especially familiar with them. Such collaboration has obvious advantages, for the study of musical history has become an exceedingly diverse one and by specialization only can its various phases be thoroughly grasped. Any slight difference in point of view or in style will be more than offset by the careful and appreciative treatment accorded to each period or composer by writers whose sympathies have led them to a careful and adequate presentation, in clear perspective, of the merits of a given style of composition. The editors have endeavored as far as possible to avail themselves of the able researches recently made in Italy, Germany, France, etc., and they extend their acknowledgment to such authors of valuable special studies as Johannes Wolf, Hermann Kretschmar, Emil Vogel, Romain Rolland, Julien Tiersot, etc., and especially to the scholarly summary of Dr. Hugo Riemann, of Leipzig. A more extensive list of these works will be found in the Bibliographical Appendix to Volume III. LELAND HALL CONTENTS OF VOLUME TWO PAGE INTRODUCTION BY LELAND HALL iii PART I. THE CLASSIC IDEAL CHAPTER I. THE REGENERATION OF THE OPERA 1 The eighteenth century and operatic convention--Porpora and Hasse--Pergolesi and the _opera buffa_--_Jommelli_, Piccini, Cimarosa, etc.--Gluck’s early life; the Metastasio period--The comic opera in France; Gluck’s reform; _Orfeo_ and _Alceste_--The Paris period; Gluck and Piccini; the Iphigénies; Gluck’s mission--Gluck’s influence; the _opéra comique_; Cherubini. II. THE FOUNDATIONS OF THE CLASSIC PERIOD 45 Classicism and the classic period--Political and literary forces--The conflict of styles; the sonata form--The Berlin school; the sons of Bach--The Mannheim reform: the genesis of the symphony--Followers of the Mannheim school; rise of the string quartet; Vienna and Salzburg as musical centres. III. THE VIENNESE CLASSICS: HAYDN AND MOZART 75 Social aspects of the classic period; Vienna, its court and its people--Joseph Haydn--Haydn’s work; the symphony; the string quartet--Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart--Mozart’s style; Haydn and Mozart; the perfection of orchestral style--Mozart and the opera; the Requiem; the mission of Haydn and Mozart. IV. LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN 128