Cambridge Illustrated Music Guide

Author: (British) Stanley Sadie et al.
Translator: Meng Xianfu
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-09-01
Features:
Preface: The main purpose of this book is to enhance people's enjoyment of music and their understanding of it. Although this book is primarily designed for those with little or no musical experience or knowledge, I hope that by describing music and introducing its background material, it can also interest and benefit music lovers. The discussion of musical pieces in this book may be somewhat different from the methods commonly used in introductory works. Of course, the first consideration is the description and interpretation of music, but readers will find that this book also pays considerable attention to the history and related background of music. I do not agree with the view that considers an artistic work as an independent entity simply to discuss what it is. Understanding it—its "what"—depends on knowing when it was created, what people were thinking at that time, why it was created, and the techniques used in its creation. Bach's works possess complexity and mystery, while Beethoven's works exude a heroic struggle. However, if we first recognize why these two composers were drawn to mystery or heroism, their works will reveal greater significance.
The first three chapters of this book discuss the materials of music. The fourth chapter discusses "The Elements of Music" (pitch, rhythm, harmony, tone, etc.), primarily to meet the needs of readers who are unfamiliar with or only partially familiar with these elements. While not exhaustive, they serve as a knowledge foundation for the subsequent chapters. The concepts are introduced one at a time, assuming the reader has no prior knowledge of them. The fourth chapter also includes an overview of the principles of musical notation, which will help learners unfamiliar with scores to at least grasp some insights from the examples that appear later in the book. If a guide were to play the examples scattered throughout this book on the piano or through a recording device to convey the essence of music, these examples would be most effective.
Chapters 2 and 3 discuss instruments and musical structure, with a level of depth that allows readers to understand the topics discussed later. The main body of the book, from Chapters 4 to 10, discusses seven different eras of music in chronological order, from the Middle Ages to the present. The first two chapters of these seven chapters were primarily written by Judith Nagley, while the last two were written by Paul Griffiths. I sincerely thank them for their contributions. I also wrote the introduction for each of these seven chapters. In the introductions, I made some attempts—not to provide a comprehensive account of the social and cultural developments of the relevant periods, but to draw attention to some significant or illuminating social and cultural conditions (even in political, academic, and religious aspects) that are important to the music of those times. I also aimed to outline the innovative methods composers used to challenge the ever-changing world, with the goal of making readers realize that music is an integral part of life, constantly evolving alongside the world, and that a broader humanistic context can deepen their understanding of music.
For these reasons, in the important chapters of the main text, we place greater emphasis on biographies of key figures than in most general music books. Without discussing the lives of these individuals, it would be difficult to explain the creative intentions behind a musical work, which is likely the underlying basis for its style and structure. Except for the first few chapters, where existing materials are scarce, and the last chapter, where biographies become less necessary due to readers' familiarity with the modern world, important composers in the other chapters are accompanied by biographies (sometimes brief, sometimes more comprehensive), allowing readers to clearly see the extent of their contributions. We also list concise bibliographies of important composers and chronologies for the most significant ones.
I believe that biographies are inherently engaging because they allow readers to understand the composers' social contexts. When linked to the music itself, biographies can spark readers' interest and increase their engagement. I hope that the passion, enthusiasm, and candid display of these feelings for music by my co-writers will also inspire the readers. Many people first encounter music through popular music. The final chapter, written by Wilfrid Mellers (whom I am very grateful to), discusses various traditions of popular music, and readers can see that its approach is the same as the previous chapters—presenting different backgrounds of musical works. I hope and believe that this chapter can provide a valuable pathway for students who are familiar with and love popular music to enter the of music.
This book does not discuss any music outside the West, and I hope people do not interpret this as a form of ethnocentrism. The Western musical tradition (along with the later-added American Black musical tradition discussed in Chapter 11), with its vastness, richness, and complexity, is already sufficient to be the subject of a book. In the world, there are many other highly complex and rich musical traditions, and a superficial or hasty discussion of them may not genuinely support or cherish them.
In short, this book is primarily written for Westerners, and Western readers may prefer to be closer to their own rather than others' traditions.
In many places in this book (especially in Chapter 2), I have inserted comments to remind readers that Western musical culture is not the only one. I do not claim that this book is a guide to understanding and appreciating music, nor do I claim that it is a history of music, but it can be called a "near" history of music. Although the author carefully selected materials about the lives of composers during the writing process and provided a certain number of "related materials" outside the composers to avoid any significant gaps and to indicate the historical development and continuity, this book is still not a "complete" history of music.
As supplementary materials to the main text, some appreciation tips are placed in appropriate places in the relevant chapters. These tips do not follow a uniform format because different music requires different listening methods. The requirement for using them is to listen to the music while reading the tips (under the guidance of a suitable teacher). Many of these tips are consistent with the more comprehensive discussion of the works in the main text. Further suggestions for appreciating representative works mentioned in the book are found in the "Further Listening" section at the back.
It is inevitable to use some professional terms when discussing music (or any other topic). Many professional terms are explained when they first appear, and all of them are included in the glossary at the end. Since the glossary can be cross-referenced with the main text, it has the nature of an index of musical topics. In addition, there is also a general index at the back, mainly consisting of names.
Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to my close collaborators and loyal assistant, Alison Latham, who, despite her busy schedule, did a great deal of preliminary work for the appendices and the glossary. I also want to thank Elizabeth Aggate, who served as the picture editor and made undeniable imaginative contributions to this book. I also want to express my sincere gratitude to Elizabeth Inglethorpe for her patient work in printing this book.
Stanley Sadie
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Author Bio: Stanley Sadie/Alison Latham
Stanley Sadie served as the editor of The Musical Times from 1967, edited the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (1980 edition), and contributed numerous entries to this authoritative musical reference work. He also edited the New Grove Dictionary of Instruments and co-edited the New Grove Dictionary of American Music with H. Willard Hitchcock. He served as a long-term music critic for Time magazine in the United States and wrote research works on composers such as Mozart and Handel. For his outstanding contributions to music research, he was knighted by the British monarchy in 1982.
Alison Latham studied music at the University of Birmingham. She was the deputy editor of The Musical Times and participated in the compilation of The Annual Review of Music and the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. She is a seasoned editor and renowned expert in the Western music world.
Corelli developed the conservative style of late Baroque concertos, while Antonio Vivaldi developed the progressive style of concertos. Vivaldi's concertos are one of the peaks of Italian Baroque music, numbering around 500. Vivaldi was born in Venice in 1678 and was the son of a violinist. His health was poor in childhood, suffering from some respiratory condition, possibly asthma, as indicated by his later health reports. He received monastic education and was ordained a priest in 1703, but due to his health, he was soon excused from chanting the Mass. Meanwhile, he had become a highly skilled violinist and was sometimes commissioned to replace his father in the orchestra of St. Mark's Cathedral. In the same year he was ordained, 1703, he obtained his first musical position as a violin teacher at one of Venice's orphanages, the Ospedale della Pietà. This institution was one of four that made Venice famous—it housed girls who had lost their parents, were abandoned, or were impoverished, and provided them with education. If they showed musical talent, they would receive special training. The orchestra of the Ospedale della Pietà was renowned for its exquisite technique, and numerous visitors to Venice reported its concerts, where the girls were carefully concealed from the audience to prevent any misconduct.
Vivaldi worked at the Ospedale della Pietà for fifteen years, with brief interruptions. During this time, he composed many concertos and church music for the girls. The wide range of instruments used in his works reflects the playing skills of the girls at the Ospedale della Pietà. His reputation grew both in Italy and abroad. He published his best concertos, and many visitors came to seek him out. He accepted commissions to write concertos for performances in other places, such as for the Dresden court. Later, his father became involved in opera management, and it may have been through this connection that Vivaldi was introduced to the world of opera—opera composition and management. He began writing operas in 1713 and wrote more than forty-five of them, some for performances in Venice, but most for other cities in Northern Italy, as well as for Rome and Prague. This made him frequently travel and stay away from Venice for long periods. During his time away from Venice, he still maintained contact with the Ospedale della Pietà, even sending the concertos he wrote to them by mail, but around 1718, he no longer held an official position there until 1735–1738. Due to his frequent absences, his position was suspended (in the first few months of 1738, he conducted a centennial celebration performance for a theater in Amsterdam). In 1740, he made another trip, possibly to Austria, because his fellow resident, the singer Anna Giraud, had recently moved there. In the summer of 1741, he died in Vienna, apparently in poverty. Few people mourned his death, even in Venice. He had always been difficult to get along with, vain and greedy—but he left a deep mark on music history.