Ebook The History of Music

Not even the excellent master Heinrich Schutz can be credited with so universal and intimate acquaintance with contemporary musical theory and practice. That he well-nigh succeeded in fusing the teachings of the two chief schools of his time is indeed remarkable, and singles him out from the crowd of his contemporaries; yet, put in juxtaposition with our six great masters, he cannot be said' to have reached their level either in the ideal world or in the creation of new forms, although what he did prepared the way for them in a very glorious manner. To us, each of this noble six is the discoverer of new lands in the world of tonal art, on which but few uncultivated portions remain for their successors to till and fructify. The style of Bach, Handel, Gluck, Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven was grounded on the intensest objectivity, whilst that of their great, talented followers is of a subjective nature, united to a more or less interestingly developed musical manner. The great German tone-poets, dating from the beginning of the last century, fall naturally into two divisions, the first of which may fittingly be described as representing The epoch of German genius, and the second The epoch Of the great talents.