Author Description

In this acute and wide-ranging survey, Gerald Abraham deals with such subjects [...] as the musicality of different nations; the influence on music of languages, political events, and social customs; the value and danger of tradition for the individual composer; and whether the rise of electronic music, unlike earlier musical revolutions, will prove a true discontinuity which may actually mark the end of the Western tradition in music [...]ContentsI. The Nature of Musical TraditionII. The Dynamic SynthesisIII. The Historical Process at WorkIV. The Factor of LanguageV. The Social FactorVI. Tradition and the Individual GeniusIndex