to so-called "popular taste"; people have
an instinctive liking for the best when it is fairly put before them.
We are not providing a musical digest, since music requires _active
cooperation_ by the hearer, nor are we trying to interpret music in
terms of the other arts. Music is itself. For those who may be
interested in speculating as to the connection between music and art,
numerous books are available--some of them excellent from their point
of view.

This book concerns itself with music _as_ music. It is assumed that,
if anyone really loves this art, he is willing and glad to do serious
work to quicken his sense of hearing, to broaden his imagination, and
to strengthen his memory so that he may become intelligent in
appreciation rather than merely absorbed in honeyed sounds. Music is
of such power and glory that we should be ready to devote to its study
as much time as to a foreign language. In the creed of the music-lover
the first and last article is familiarity. When we thoroughly know a
composition so that its themes sing in our memory and we feel at home
in the structure, the music will speak to us directly, and all books
and analytical comments will be of secondary importance--those of the
present writer not excepted. Special effort has been made to select
illustrations of musical worth, and upon these the real emphasis in
study should be laid.

The material of the book is based on lectures, often of an informal
nature, in the Appreciation Course at Harvard University and lays no
claim to original research. The difficulty in establishing points of
approach makes it far more baffling to speak or write about music than
about the other arts. Music is sufficient unto itself. Endowed with
the insight of a Ruskin or a Pater, one may say something worth while
about painting. But in music the line between mere statistical
analysis and sentimental rhapsody must be drawn with exceeding care.
If the subject matter be clearly presented and the analyses
true--allowance being made for honest difference of opinion--every
hope will be realized.

The author's gratitude is herewith expressed to Mr. Percy Lee Atherton
for his critical revision of the text and to Professor William C.
Heilman for valuable assistance in selecting and preparing the musical
illustrations.

W.R.S.

Cambridge, Massachusetts
_June_, 1919

Contents

I. PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS 1

II. THE FOLK-SONG