MUSIC, HISTORY OF

history of Western music from ancient times to the 20th century. All ancient civilizations entered historical times with a flourishing musical culture. That the earliest writers explained it in terms of legend and myth is evidence of the remote beginnings of the art of sound. Among the speculations about its origin, the more plausible are that it began as a primitive form of communication, that it grew out of a device to expedite communal labour, or that it originated as a powerful adjunct to religious ceremonies. While such theories must necessarily remain speculative, it is clear, despite the prehistoric musical artifacts found in central Europe, that the cradle of Western music was the fertile crescent cupping the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea. There the Mesopotamian, Egyptian, and Hebrew nations, among others, evolved political, social cultures that were absorbed by the conquering Greeks and, in turn, by the Romans, who transported a relatively sophisticated art form back to western Europe. In all of these early cultures the social functions of music were essentially the same since their climate, geographic location, cultural pace, and mutual influences produced many more social similarities than differences. The primary function of music was apparently religious, ranging from heightening the effect of magic to ennobling liturgies. The other musical occasions depicted in both pictures and written accounts were equally functional: stirring incitements to military zeal, soothing accompaniments to communal or solitary labour, heightening aids to dramatic spectacles, and enlivening backgrounds to social gatherings that involved either singing or dancing or both. In every case musical sounds were an adjunct either to bodily movement (dance, march, game, or work) or to song. Many centuries were to pass before pleasure in euphonious sound became an end in itself. Additional reading General music reference works include Don Michael Randel (ed.), The New Harvard Dictionary of Music (1986); and Denis Arnold, The New Oxford Companion to Music, 2 vol. (1983, reprinted 1990). Also useful are Friedrich Blume (ed.), Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart, 17 vol. (194986); Stanley Sadie (ed.), The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 20 vol. (1980, reprinted 1993); and Theodore Baker, Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, 8th ed., rev. by Nicolas Slonimsky (1992).Survey histories include Donald Jay Grout and Claude V. Palisca, A History of Western Music, 4th ed. (1988); New Oxford History of Music, 10 vol. (195490), with some volumes in 2nd editions; and K Marie Stolba, The Development of Western Music: A History, 2nd ed. (1994).The Prentice Hall History of Music Series offers a comprehensive set of period surveys, including Jeremy Yudkin, Music in Medieval Europe (1989); Howard Mayer Brown, Music in the Renaissance (1976); Claude V. Palisca, Baroque Music, 3rd ed. (1991); Reinhard G. Pauly, Music in the Classic Period, 3rd ed. (1988); Rey M. Longyear, Nineteenth-century Romanticism in Music, 3rd ed. (1988); and Eric Salzman, Twentieth-century Music, 3rd ed. (1988). The following monographs offer more detailed studies of specific periods: Albrecht Riethmller and Frieder Zaminer (eds.), Die Musik des Altertums (1989); Lise Manniche, Music and Musicians in Ancient Egypt (1991); Giovanni Comotti, Music in Greek and Roman Culture (1989; originally published in Italian, 1979); Richard H. Hoppin, Medieval Music (1978); Gustave Reese, Music in the Renaissance, rev. ed. (1959); Lorenzo Bianconi, Music in the Seventeenth Century (1987; originally published in 1982); Manfred F. Bukofzer, Music in the Baroque Era, from Monteverdi to Bach (1947, reissued 1977); Philip G. Downs, Classical Music (1992); Leon Plantinga, Romantic Music (1984); Robert P. Morgan, Twentieth-century Music (1991); and Nicolas Slonimsky, Music Since 1900, 5th ed. (1994). Ralph Thomas Daniel The Editors of the Encyclopdia Britannica