Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from The Music of the Modern World, Vol. 1 of 2: Illustrated in the Lives and Works of the Greatest Modern Musicians and in Reproductions of Famous Paintings, Etc
Scheffer, Eugene Delacroix, and Paul Delaroche, members of circles where music held a supreme interest. Music is SO nearly allied to painting and sculpture that a picture is Often a better guide to the meaning of a piece than any words - even words Of poetry. The pictorial suggestions Offered in our music pages are only suggestions, but as such may prove stimulating to the imagination of the pianist and singer, especially when they express motion or grace in repose. They Should not be taken too seriously. It is hardly necessary to add that the music OF the modern world is in no sense an encyclopaedia. Quite as many great artists are unmentioned in its pages as find a place there, quite as many very great composers remain unquoted as are repre sented in its music pages. In the case Of Wagner and Berlioz, the narrow excerpt of a melody, or a Short transcription from works so massive, grand, and full of detail, affords no example Of the genius or style Of those immense contours, whereas the tuneful num bers of Rossini, Gounod, or even Meyerbeer are easily separated from their original environment because they are complete in themselves. Much of the music selected is cameo-like in its dimensions and finish, because only cameos could be contained in SO small a compass as the number of pages at our disposal. The editors have collected a group of melodies that will never become Old while civilization endures. Those culled from Russia, Bohemia, and Hungary are as yet scarcely known in America; they will sur prise as much by their congeniality to American temperament as by their exquisite fresh ness. The illustrations of Hunyady Laszlo, by Pennell, are the fruit Of a season's wan dering in Hungary in search of gipsy music. It is needless to say that the author of the great national opera Of Hungary was not a gipsy, and that the patriotic themes that form the context Of the opera are of the purest Hungarian character. Special acknowledgments are due to Gunther co. For the care with which they have type-set the piano music. We believe that such feats as the pedal phrasing in Vogel als Prophet have never before been accomplished with music type. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
