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Scan 318
An Encyclopedia of the Violin, 1925
13 lines. Read by computer on 28 September 2026. Printed page 288. See the scan on archive.org.
1CHAPTER XIX
2CHAMBER MUSIC
4There is nothing more satisfying, more moving, than chamber music well played, the string quartet in particular. Nothing makes a greater impression on the musical sensibilities than hearing four genuine artists playing a Beethoven quartet. It is at a comparatively recent date that chamber music has taken its rightful place in the domain of the musically popular, and there are still to be found at the present day those who regard music of this type as wearisome.
6The truth is that a certain degree of musical education is necessary in order to appreciate any music at its true value, and chamber music, in particular, appeals only to those of cultivated musical taste.
8When we think of the marvelous treasure of ensemble music which constitute the legacy left the world by Joseph Haydn, in his 83 wonderful string quartets, one cannot help but enthuse over works which have been written with as much good taste as genius. But Haydn is not the only composer who has endowed the chamber music repertory with beautiful works, for ensemble literature has been highly developed by almost all the great composers, and the music contributed to it reaches the highest point of musical inspiration. The greatest of composers, Beethoven, Mozart, Schubert, Schumann, Mendelssohn, Brahms and others have given of their best in order to enrich the noble variety of ensemble which is known as "chamber music."
10The origin of "chamber music" dates back to the year 1555, when it is mentioned in the Antica Musica Ridotta alla Moderna of Nicolas Vicentinos. In 1612, S. d'India is named as being the director of the chamber music at the Ducal Court of Turin; in 1635 we find Giovanni Giaccoma Arrignoni giving concerts of chamber music in Venice; and in 1637 Torquinio Merula published his Canzoni overo Sonate concertante per Chiesa e Camera. At this epoch all music not intended to be performed in the church or in the theater was classed under the head of chamber music, but to-day this expression applies only to sonatas, trios, quartets, quintets, sextets, septets and octets, written in the classic forms or such modern developments as have been added to the chamber music repertory by Schonberg, Stravinsky, Goosens, Poulenc, Milhaud, Bax and others during recent years.
12The wonderful chamber music of the masters has been unquestionably the source of inspiration whence have sprung up in the last century so many splendid organizations which have devoted themselves to the interpretation of
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