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

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 ...