Masterpieces of Music Before 1750: An Anthology of Musical Examples from Gregorian Chant to J. S. Bach. - book review

American Music Teacher, April-May, 2002 by Bryan Burton

edited by Carl Parrish and John F. Ohl. Dover Publications, Inc. (31 E. 2nd St., Mineola, NY 11501), 2001. (Copyright 1951 by W.W. Norton & Co. Renewed 1979 by John F. Ohl and Catherine C. Parrish.)

Masterpieces of Music Before 1750 is a compilation of selected musical examples representing styles, forms and genres from the early Middle Ages to the mid-eighteenth century accompanied by brief historical and analytical notes. This collection was originally published in 1951; the current edition is a republication of the original text in a small paperback format.

The editors' intent was to provide the music history student with a repertoire of basic materials for analysis and practical performance. Fifty works have been chosen, representing such forms as chant, organum, masses, motets, chanson, canzonas, lute pieces, ricercari and keyboard works from an anonymous early-seventeenth-century canzona to a fugue from Bach's Die Kunst der Fuge. Major composers from each historical and stylistic period are represented in this text. Masterpieces of Music Before 1750 may serve as a companion reference guide for any music history textbook covering these historical eras.

Each example has been transcribed (where necessary) and edited to practical performance vocally or at the keyboard by students seeking insight and understanding of the work. A number of editorial techniques have been employed to increase accessibility to selections: In most cases, scores have been compressed to two staves; only treble and bass clefs are used to avoid the difficulty of reading older clefs unfamiliar to beginning music history students; where necessary, selections are transposed to suit modern performance practices; notation has been simplified through reduction of note values in some earlier examples; barlines are added to unmeasured music; and vocal texts are presented in both the original language and English with the exception of those in Liturgical Latin, with the translation given at the beginning of the analysis. With the exception of a few examples from modern editions, all editing and realizations are those of Carl Parrish and John Ohl.

The discussions accompanying each selection are intended to offer the reader a starting point for analysis. These concise, yet rich, essays provide discussions of form, historical context and performance practices, setting each work in a historical and stylistic context. The editors include brief comments identifying the evolution of techniques and styles, comparisons of similar works and references to composers and compositions not included in this text. Original sources of the examples are cited from historical editions, manuscripts and modern editions. These brief introductions to musical examples provide adequate analytical information to provide the reader with a starting point for more in-depth analysis of the work.

While Masterpieces of Music Before 1750 continues to serve as an excellent introduction to earlier styles, forms and genres, there are several concerns that should be considered. In the half century since the original publication, more extensive research into early music has been conducted by leading musicologists, extending our understanding of these styles and composers. It is possible that, in some instances, the historical and analytical discourse in this text may not represent the most current view of the examples offered. One should ask: Are the realizations following contemporary understandings of the process and style? Have other works been discovered that are more effective representatives of a particular style or genre? Has research identified composers listed as anonymous or clarified the identity of composers in cases of disputed works? Do the analyses follow contemporary theoretical practices regarding early musics? Comparisons of the editors' discussions and analyses with newer anthologies and texts may provide insights into these issues and would be a valuable research experience for the student of music history, to whom this text was addressed.

A practical concern may be whether the student in a beginning music history course (the editors' original audience) possesses the requisite keyboard skills to perform each of these works. This issue could be resolved through the production of a companion recording of the examples as edited and transcribed in Masterpieces of Music Before 1750. Another practical concern is readability of the musical examples. A comparison of the original publication and the current reprint shows a slightly reduced page size. The resulting crowded pages calls into question whether the music could easily be read at the keyboard.

Despite the questions raised in the previous two paragraphs, Masterpieces of Music Before 1750 continues to serve as a valuable introduction to music styles often unfamiliar to music students and provides usable transcriptions of early works in modern notation. In its newly reprinted edition, this text will remain a staple for the study of early music. Reviewed by Bryan Burton, Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania.