Project Gutenberg
2016-09-13
Public domain in the USA.
394
Smith, Hermann
1824
1910
04031598
The World's Earliest Music
Traced to Its Beginnings in Ancient Lands by Collected Evidence of Relics, Records, History, and Musical Instruments from Greece, Etruria, Egypt, China, Through Asyria and Babylonia, to the Primitive Home, the Land of Akkad and Sumer
E-text prepared by deaurider, turgut, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made available by Internet Archive (https://archive.org)
"The World's Earliest Music" by Hermann Smith is a historical account written in the early 20th century. This work explores the origins and evolution of music across ancient civilizations, particularly focusing on the evidence of musical instruments from regions like Greece, Egypt, China, Assyria, and Babylonia. The author aims to shed light on how these early cultures shaped the development of musical expression and the significance of music in their daily lives. At the start of the book, Smith introduces the idea of a "music-trail" that leads us through the remnants of ancient civilizations and their musical instruments. He contemplates the challenges in understanding ancient music due to the scarcity of intact artifacts and emphasizes the value of rock carvings, paintings, and archaeological findings in reconstructing musical history. The author also highlights the interconnectedness of music, culture, geography, and history, indicating that our current understanding of music is derived from the evolution and transmission of musical ideas over millennia, particularly from ancient Egypt and Greece. Smith invites readers to engage in this journey to explore how the nuances of ancient music continue to resonate through time. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
Reading ease score: 59.0 (10th to 12th grade). Somewhat difficult to read.
en
Music -- To 500 -- History and criticism
ML
Text
Category: History - Ancient
Category: Music
Category: Archaeology & Anthropology
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