The purpose of this book is to give music-lovers and young musical students a more intimate acquaintance with the Symphony Orchestra and its instruments than they, perhaps, possess.
The instruments are described one by one; and, finally, the Orchestra, which is, itself, treated as an instrument on which the Conductor may be said to play.
Attention should be called to the description of Lully’s famous Orchestra and to the interesting group of artists who played in it, such as Descoteaux, the tulip-fancier, described by La Bruyère in his Caractères, and Marin Marais, one of the greatest virtuosi of the Seventeenth Century.
It is often said that the virtuoso-conductor did not appear until the Nineteenth Century. I think the facts given here will prove that Lully was the first of the “star-conductors”; and that our Symphony Orchestras may be said to have their origin in the “Twenty-Four Violins of the King,” one of whom is represented in the illustration facing page 160.
It should also be noted that the illustrations have all been photographed especially for this work,—many of them from rare volumes and old prints.
I wish to offer my grateful thanks to Mr. Walter Damrosch for having so kindly read the page-proofs and to Mr. Harry Harkness Flagler for the interest he has taken in the preparation of this book.
E. S.
New York,
October 4, 1917