Music in the History of the Western Church

Dickinson, Edward, 1853-1946Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.3
Word count
673K words
Chapters
68

Tags

English Originals MusicReligion Historical ReappraisalMusic HistoryHumanistic CareWestern ThoughtAcademic StudyIntellectual CommentaryTraditional AestheticsReligious TraditionCultural ChangeMusical Rhythm

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Music in the History of the Western Church by Edward DickinsonAuthor: Dickinson, Edward, 1853-1946,Language: English, Class: ML: Music: Literature of music, Release Date: Jul 13, 2013

Editor's review

This book is Edward Dickinson's systematic survey of the development of music in the Western Church, from early Christian chant to musical practice after the Reformation, understanding changes in musical form within the context of liturgy, theology, and church institutions. Its value lies not in listing repertoire but in examining church music as an institutional and ritual cultural phenomenon; readers can see how Gregorian chant and polyphony grew out of the church's needs and constraints. The Project Gutenberg edition is a public-domain English e-book, convenient for searching and comparing with the original text, and suitable as an introductory reference for the study of Western music history and religious culture. It is best read alongside a general music history or church history; when encountering specialized terms, look up the background first, then return to the text to understand their ritual function. The narrative is oriented toward historical context and institutional analysis, suited to slow reading and note-taking.

Who it's for

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Reading tips

  1. Read the table of contents and introduction first, draw a timeline from early chant to the Reformation, then fill in details chapter by chapter.
  2. After each chapter, listen to a recording of church music from the corresponding period to connect the textual description with auditory experience.
  3. Prepare a glossary and record key terms such as chant, polyphony, and the liturgical year to avoid conceptual confusion.
  4. Read alongside a general history of Western music, using it to fill in background where this book is brief.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

Contents

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14
  15. 15
  16. 16
  17. 17
  18. 18
  19. 19
  20. 20
  21. 21
  22. 22
  23. 23
  24. 24
  25. 25
  26. 26
  27. 27
  28. 28
  29. 29
  30. 30
  31. 31
  32. 32
  33. 33
  34. 34
  35. 35
  36. 36
  37. 37
  38. 38
  39. 39
  40. 40
  41. 41
  42. 42
  43. 43
  44. 44
  45. 45
  46. 46
  47. 47
  48. 48
  49. 49
  50. 50
  51. 51
  52. 52
  53. 53
  54. 54
  55. 55
  56. 56
  57. 57
  58. 58
  59. 59
  60. 60
  61. 61
  62. 62
  63. 63
  64. 64
  65. 65
  66. 66
  67. 67
  68. 68

FAQ

Do I need to know Latin or music theory to read this book? You do not need to be proficient in Latin or music theory. The book involves some Latin terms and names of musical forms, but the narrative focuses on historical context and institutional analysis. Readers need only basic English reading ability and can consult reference works for terminology. A little music theory will make passages on polyphony and chant forms easier to follow.
How does this book differ from an ordinary history of Western music? Ordinary music histories often follow composers and works as their main thread, whereas this book examines music within the institutional, liturgical, and theological context of the Western Church, focusing on how the church shaped musical forms and how music served ritual. It is more a thematic survey of music from the perspective of religious cultural history, suited to readers who want to understand the institutional motivations behind music.
What reading approach suits the e-book edition? The Project Gutenberg edition is a public-domain English e-text, suitable for keyword searching, annotation, and cross-chapter comparison. Use reading software that supports annotation, and organize a timeline and glossary as you read; key chapters can also be printed for close reading. As a historical work, it is best read slowly chapter by chapter rather than all at once.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Dickinson, Edward, 1853-1946 Author · American · 1853–1946

Edward Dickinson (1853–1946) was an American music historian who taught for many years at Oberlin College. Only one of his works is currently held in this collection, Music in the History of the Western Church, which is also his most representative book. Following the development of music in the Western church, it traces the historical outlines of that tradition and combines a historian's perspective with a practical, teaching-oriented purpose, making it a basic introduction to the heritage of church music. Beyond this work, publicly available information about his life and academic career is limited, and his research focus and writing style are chiefly reflected in this volume. Overall, his writings address general readers as well as students of theology and music, and have had a lasting influence in spreading knowledge of the history of church music.