THE HISTORY OF MODERN MUSIC. A Course of Lectures DELIVERED AT THE ROYAL INSTITUTION OF GREAT BRITAIN. BY JOHN HULLAH, HONORARY Fellow of KING'S COLLEGE; PROFESSOR OF VOCAL MUSIC IN QUEEN'S COLLEGE AND IN BEDFORD COLLEGE, LONDON; PREFACE ΤΟ THE FIRST EDITION. THIS Volume contains the substance of a Course of Lectures delivered at the Royal Institution in the early part of this present year.* I have explained in the first Lecture the motives which dictated my choice of subject; in its treatment I have kept two objects constantly in view. (1) To bring out and illustrate that great change in the idiom of Modern Music which accompanied or followed the Renaissance; and to show how far this change differed, in kind and in extent, from that produced on the Sister Arts by the same agency. I do not think that this can be said to have been done, or even attempted, before,—within the same limits, or in any connected manner. The musical student desiring information on the subject has been hitherto compelled to seek it at a number of sources, often difficult of access, and not always very satisfactory when reached. (2) In connexion with this I have tried to awaken some interest and curiosity among my hearers (or readers), in what may be briefly described as "unknown music." Without wishing for a moment to lower in public estimation such composers as have attained, and still maintain, the greatest favour, I cannot but think that the attention which they continue exclusively to * 1862. |