Critical and Historical Essays

About the book

Edward MacDowell considers the origins of music, instruments, notation, song, counterpoint, opera, and the development of instrumental forms. The range gives readers a view of musical history as understood by a practising composer, with judgments that are often argumentative rather than merely descriptive. Some accounts of cultures and historical development reflect assumptions now in need of correction, so the volume should be approached as historical criticism rather than a current textbook. Later discussions of declamation and suggestion turn directly towards questions of expression. The plain-text edition represents musical examples through a notation system explained at the beginning; it does not reproduce a fully engraved score. Readers can use the essays to explore MacDowell's priorities and compare his historical explanations with his ideas about what music can communicate.

• Musical form
• Expression
• Historical criticism

Why read it

For a composer's perspective on the relation between musical technique, history, and expressive possibility.

English essays by Edward MacDowell · musical examples represented in text notation