This 1874 account of the music of ancient Greece, Egypt and Rome was the only volume of the author's proposed history of music to be published. William Chappell, eldest son of the founder of Chappell's the music publishers, was noted for his interest in ancient and traditional music and was the founder of the Musical Antiquarian Society in 1840. Best remembered for his Popular Music of the Olden Time, Chappell justifies the need for his study of ancient music in a long introduction to the volume which criticises the approaches of Charles Burney and Sir John Hawkins and attacks the validity of Helmholtz's work on acoustics. The work explores theory, practice, science, philosophy and the instruments of the time through analysis of ancient sources such as Aristotle, Pythagoras, Boethius and Vetruvius and of iconographical materials. A comprehensive glossary-cum-index is included together with topic summaries for each chapter.
- ISBN13 9780511693724
- Publish Date 29 August 2010 (first published 20 July 2009)
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country GB
- Publisher Cambridge University Press
- Imprint Cambridge University Press (Virtual Publishing)
- Format eBook
- Language English