Voyage musical au pays du passé by Romain Rolland

"Voyage musical au pays du passé" by Romain Rolland is a historical collection of musical essays written in the early 20th century. This work explores the development of music and its cultural context, drawing on biographical studies, satirical narratives, and firsthand accounts from various historical periods, particularly focusing on the transition to modern music. The book delves into the stories of influential but sometimes overlooked figures and trends in European music, aiming to revive interest in their contributions and to offer insight into the evolution of the musical landscape. The opening of "Voyage musical au pays du passé" begins with an avant-propos (foreword) in which Rolland explains that the collection continues his earlier exploration of musicians from past eras, highlighting especially the transitional figures of early 18th-century Europe who shaped the course of modern music. He argues for the importance of recognizing these "pioneers," such as Telemann and the symphonists of Mannheim, despite their contemporary obscurity. The main body starts with an in-depth study of Johann Kuhnau, a polymath and cantor, introduced both as an innovative composer and as a satirical novelist through his fictional work "Der Musicalische Quack-Salber." This section humorously recounts the adventures of a musical charlatan in baroque Germany, critiquing the era's fascination with Italian virtuosity and superficiality. Rolland then transitions to English musical life in the Restoration period, using Samuel Pepys's diary to paint a vivid picture of everyday musical practice and taste, blending anecdote and cultural commentary. The opening thus sets the tone for a rich, engaging journey through musical history, exploring not only leading composers but also social habits, institutions, and the shifting significance of music across European society. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Read or download for free

How to read Url Size
Read now! https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/75794.html.images 545 kB
EPUB3 (E-readers incl. Send-to-Kindle) https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/75794.epub3.images 383 kB
EPUB (older E-readers) https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/75794.epub.images 391 kB
EPUB (no images, older E-readers) https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/75794.epub.noimages 262 kB
Kindle https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/75794.kf8.images 545 kB
older Kindles https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/75794.kindle.images 524 kB
Plain Text UTF-8 https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/75794.txt.utf-8 439 kB
Download HTML (zip) https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/75794/pg75794-h.zip 341 kB
There may be more files related to this item.

About this eBook

Author Rolland, Romain, 1866-1944
LoC No. 21003302
Title Voyage musical au pays du passé
Original Publication Paris: Hachette, 1920.
Note Reading ease score: 68.6 (8th & 9th grade). Neither easy nor difficult to read.
Contents Avant-propos -- Le roman comique d'un musicien, au XVIIIe siècle [Der Musicalische Quack Salber de J. Kuhnau] -- La vie musicale d'un amateur anglais au temps de Charles II, d'après le Journal de Pepys -- Portrait de Hændel -- Les origines du "style classique" dans la musique du XVIIIe siècle -- L'autobiographie d'un illstre oublié: Telemann, rival heureux de J.-S. Bach -- Métastase, précurseur de Gluck -- Voyage musical à travers l'Europe du XVIIIe siècle: I. Italie. II. Allemagne.
Credits Pierre Lacaze and The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
Language French
LoC Class ML: Music: Literature of music
Subject Composers -- Biography
Subject Music -- 18th century -- History and criticism
Category Text
EBook-No. 75794
Release Date
Copyright Status Public domain in the USA.
Downloads 330 downloads in the last 30 days.
Project Gutenberg eBooks are always free!
iBiblio