Neri's oratory. Dramatized versions of biblical stories. Palestrina and harmonies of celestial Jerusalem. Religious dramas of Roswitha. Laura Guidiccioni's first oratorio text. Music by Cavalieri. At Santa Maria della Vallicella. Orchestra behind the scene. Description. Carissimi, "father of oratorio and cantata." Alessandro Scarlatti. Another Alessandro. Dr. Parry's opinion. "San Giovanni Battista" and famous air. Tradition about Stradella. What recent writers say. Handel and the "Messiah." Bach and the "Passion Music." "The Creation" and Haydn. Beethoven's "Mount of Olives." Mendelssohn, in "St. Paul" and "Elijah." Oratorios of Liszt and Gounod. Next step in the evolution.
That adventurous spirit, Monteverde. Charm in exploring resources of instrumentation. Operatic overture. Forge of genius. Dance of obscure origin. Craving for individual expression. Touch of authority by Corelli. Cardinal Ottoboni's palace. Symphony, a sonata for orchestra. Purcell, Scarlatti, Sammartini and the Bachs. Monophonic style. Contrasting movements. German critic on early sonata. Further explanation. Meaning of symphony. Haydn with Esterhazy orchestra. Father of the symphony. Mozart. Beethoven. Schubert. Schumann. Mendelssohn. Berlioz, the musical heretic. His "fixed idea" and programme music. Liszt and symphonic poem. Saint-Saëns. Tschaikowsky and Russian spirit. Sinding. Grieg. Gade. Brahms and absolute music.
We cannot gain experience by being brought into contact with the experiences of others, nor can we know music by reading about it. Only by taking it into our hearts and homes, by admitting it to our intimate companionship, can we approach a knowledge of the art that has enriched so many lives, even though it has never yet completely fulfilled its function. At the same time, every music lover is helped to new ideas, inspired to fresh efforts, by suggestions and statements from those who have themselves had deep experiences in their search for the inner sanctuary of the Temple of Art.
Musicians have been too much inclined to treat their art as something to be exclusively appropriated by a favored class of men and women, and are themselves greatly to blame for its mistaken isolation. True, music has its privileged class. To this belongs the mind of creative genius that can formulate in tones the universal passions, the eternal verities of the soul. In it may also be numbered those gifted beings whose interpretative powers peculiarly adapt them to spread abroad the utterances of genius. Precisely in the same way religion has its prophets and its ministers. Music, as well as religion, is meant for everyone, and the business of its ministers and teachers is to convey to all the message of its prophets.