The Power of Sound (Classic Reprint) - Tapa blanda

Excerpt from The Power of Sound

It is in this last point, in the convergence of my arguments to conclusions concerning the popular bearings and possibilities of Music, that my chief encouragement has lain throughout. It is to my growing conviction on that subject that I chiefly aim at winning others the conviction that this art, if its conditions were better understood, might do far more for numbers in all classes who at present feel themselves at sea in it, and get comparatively little out of it but more particularly that it has a unique message for the uncultivated and ignorant, for the publicans and sinners; and not in the millennium, but now; not after but before they cease to be uncultivated and ignorant. I may add, that if such phrases have here an ad captandum and exaggerated air, and suggest irrelevant rhetoric about the general soundness and impressibility for good of the popular heart, my support of them in the sequel, with restricted reference to this most isolated region of experience, will probably prove only too persistently plain and rigorous.

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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.

Excerpt from The Power of Sound

A considerable part of the substance of this book has already appeared in the shape of articles in the Fortnightly Review, the Nineteenth Century, Fraser's and Macmillan's Magazines, and Mind. This disconnected mode of publication was specially unfavourable to a subject where the prevailing doubt and disagreement as to the very first principles precludes taking anything for granted. In their present more coherent form, I trust that my main positions may at any rate have gained in clearness. One word may be said as to arrangement. My primary concern being with the æsthetics of Hearing, and in particular with Music, the various analogies and contrasts which other regions of experience present have been introduced in connection with the different divisions of the main subject; which has led to a somewhat sporadic notice of other arts. To those who believe in transcendental links, making all the arts One, this treatment may appear unsatisfactory; but it certainly conduces to the distinctness of my humbler line of argument.

My chief object, after certain preliminary explanations, has been to examine, in such a way as a person without special technical knowledge may follow, the general elements of musical structure, and the nature, sources, and varieties, of musical effect; and by the light of that enquiry to mark out clearly the position of Music, in relation to the faculties and feelings of the individual, to the other arts, and to society at large.

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.