Page:Pratt - The history of music (1907).djvu/23

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'''II. Semi-civilized'''—including two distinct groups:

(1) Peoples now existing, like the Chinese, Hindus, etc., whose music has a real system, but without relation to our own;

(2) Ancient peoples, like the Egyptians, Assyrians and Hebrews, who seem to have been on a similar footing with the above. This group shades off into the next, though the connection is not clear.

B.

'''III. Greek and Roman'''—including whatever was the direct basis of the Early Christian and Mediæval development. The end of this period may be variously fixed, 300 being a convenient date. The countries affected all lie about the Mediterranean.

'''IV. Mediæval'''—with four subdivisions:

(1) The Plain-Song Period, when ritual music was gradually perfected and diffused through Europe—to the 12th century;

(2) The Rise of True Composition, both sacred and secular, including the first contrapuntists on the one side and the Troubadours and Minnesinger on the other;

(3) The Netherland Counterpoint of the 15th century;

(4) The Sixteenth Century as the culminating period of mediæval progress and the time of transition to modern styles. Most of Europe is now affected except the most northern countries.

V. Modern—including stages that may well be marked by centuries:

(1) The Seventeenth Century, including the rise of the Opera and of Instrumental Music as specialties;

(2) The Eighteenth Century, with (a) the culmination of previous progress in the first half, and (b) the appearance in the second of the Sonata and Symphony and the modern Orchestra, with new ideas also about the Opera and the Song;

(3) The Nineteenth Century—by far the most complex and productive of all—divisible into three main periods, including (a) the culmination of classical methods, (b) the efflorescence of romantic enthusiasm, and (c) the recent expansion of ideas and forms in manifold further ways.

4. Its Sources and Authorities.—So far as the facts of music can be directly observed, as by watching the actual work of composers or by hearing adequate performances of representative compositions, the data of its history can be studied at first hand. But since this original investigation is possible only to a limited extent, recourse must be had to rescripts of music in written or printed form, to standard summaries in which the facts are set down and discussed, such as histories, cyclopædias, biographies and technical monographs, and to the opinions of trustworthy critics, however expressed.