substantial grounds for generalisation. The happiness of the idea of adopting subjects which are raised above the commonplace, even in modern clothes, by embodying some deeply set patriotic enthusiasm, may fairly be acknowledged; and so may the genuine success of the special class of comic and satiric light operas which have been so much in vogue in England in recent years. But the artistic methods adopted in such works do not yet suggest new extension of principles, or attainment of new points of vantage; and their consideration may well be deferred till the field of vision becomes wider, and the world has not to judge of the phenomena at close quarters

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

THE long story of the development of music is a continuous and unbroken record of human effort to extend and enhance the possibilities of effects of sound upon human sensibilities, as representing in a formal or a direct manner the expression of man's inner being. The efforts resolve themselves mainly into impulses to find means to produce the effect of design, and to contrive types of expression which are capable of being adapted to such designs. And as the difficulty of coping with two things at once is considerable, men have generally concentrated their efforts on design at one time, and on expression at another. So that some periods are characterised by special cultivation of principles of form, and others by special efforts in the direction of expression; and owing to the interlacing of various causes in human affairs, these conditions have generally coincided with conditions of society which are adapted to them. The formal character of the music of Mozart's and Haydn's time agrees very well with the character of society in their time; and when a more vehement type of expression became possible the style agreed well with the character of the time, which was specially marked by that impulse to shake off the old conventions which found its most violent expression in the French Revolution.

The first steps in the direction of the essentially modern type of music were made when men attempted to improve upon pure melodic music by singing melodies simultaneously at different pitches. It took an immense time to produce a satisfactory result in part singing; but by degrees men found out how to vary their bald successions of fifths and fourths by ornamental notes, and to make their various simultaneous

tunes move without too hideous a cacophony. They found out how to systematise their experiments at least so far as to make the closing points bear some relation to the beginnings, and to contrive something which had the effect of a cadence. And in the course of some centuries, without making the inner organisation of their movements at all definite in design, they succeeded in stringing harmonies together by means of independent voice parts in such a way as to produce the most purely beautiful sound possible. Things arrived at the first crisis under the influence of the Roman Church, and almost all music was then written in the contrapuntal style used in the Church services.

Then, having apparently exhausted the possibilities in this direction, a new impulse seized upon composers, to apply music more decisively to secular uses, and to find a method of treatment better adapted to secular ideas. They began to employ some of the devices which had been mastered in the way of chord effects in a new way, and gave a solo voice something like musical talking to do. It was like going back to chaos at first; but they had something to build upon, and as the solo voice-part grew more definite, so did the order of the chord successions. They found out that a chord made up of one

definite set of notes afforded an excellent contrast to another chord made up of a different set of notes, and that certain chords were more nearly allied to one another than others. They also found that the old scales that they had used in ecclesiastical music were not accommodating enough for the successions of chords they wanted; and under the influence of their growing feeling for systematisation of these chords, they modified these old modes till they had got the tones and semitones in better order for harmonic purposes, and had added a fair quantity of extra chromatic notes to give variety to their progressions. Music began to expand into a variety of types. Instrumental music began to take a different character from choral music, and secular from sacred vocal music. And by degrees, as the various resources made available by the new arrangement of the scales became better understood, and the devices of the old counterpoint were adapted to the new

system, the second great crisis was achieved, which is mainly illustrated in the great works of Bach and Handel, who gave utterance to the new vigour of the Protestant impulses.

Here again men seemed to have arrived at the highest point possible without another change of method; and they applied themselves to developing new types of design, in which melody and harmony were combined in new ways. Their feeling for the relationships of harmony enabled them to spread their bases of structure over wider areas, and to obtain effects of contrast by making one long passage represent one key, and another represent a contrasting one; and by combining various types of contrast into one complete design. The ease with which such a type of design could be handled, enabled them to make use of other elements of effect. The element of colour began to come in very noticeably, and a new climax was reached when all the resources so far attained were combined in symphonies and operas. Art had by this time branched out into a very considerable number of forms, but their actual style was not very distinct. The respective styles of opera and of symphony, of sonata and of Church music, were all very much alike. The principles on which the various forms were constructed were the same; and their internal organisation, as far as minutia were concerned, was rather indefinite and conventional.

But in the next age things began to move at a very much increased speed. It was the age of revolutionary ideas; and men were bent on getting rid of conventions, and on seeing things as they are. The art began branching out right and left; the style of orchestral works such as symphonies began to differ more intrinsically from opera style; song style from sonata style; oratorio style from the style of Church services, and all from one another. Men found that different objects entailed different treatment; and the subtleties of style had their full measure of attention from men gifted at last with a fine critical sense of relevancy and appropriateness. Again, the internal organisation of works began to be much more definite and articulate. Ideas were put into compact and

vivid forms, and the various inner and secondary parts gained more distinct vitality.

Then came the time when men, having many resources at their disposal, sought to use them more decisively for the purposes of expression. The differentiation of forms went on faster than ever. Each large group was subdivided into subordinate groups, and each different item received different treatment. Pianoforte music came to comprise dances of various kinds and calibres, nocturnes, lyrics of all sorts, sonatas, scherzos, capriccios, fugues, and endless other varieties. Operas came to comprise the grand, the comic, the buffa, the seria, and various other national and distinctive types. And each form that had vitality showed a still further advance in effects of colour, articulation of detail, and close approximation to dramatic or expressive consistency. The principle of tonality was expanded to the utmost limits of intelligibility both for design and effect; and with all the resources of harmony and polyphony for form and direct expression; with melody-both inward and outward-for general tone and all that corresponds to vocal utterance, and with rhythm to convey the impression of gesticulatory expression and colour to intensify meaning, mankind seems finally to have full measure of almost unlimited materials available to illustrate anything he will.

But the resources are so immense, that none but composers gifted with special vital energy, and power to grasp many factors at once, seem likely to use them to the full. There are plenty of indications that men are tired of the long journey, and find the rich variety of resource rather overwhelming, and long for things a little less copious in detail and artistic fulness. Those who aim highest must have command of all resources; but there must be music for all types of mind and all varieties of nature; and there is no necessity that because a thing employs only the minutest. fraction of the available resources of art, that it need be bad. The song from the music hall may be excellent and characteristic, and often is; the music of people who have every opportunity to be refined and cultivated may be detestably