As musical art advanced
rhythm and melodic expression became united.
The study of the origin, function and evolution of music, according to
modern scientific methods, is a matter of comparatively recent date. As
late as 1835 a French writer of the history of music expressed profound
regret that he had been unable to determine when music was invented, or
to discover the inventor's name. It was his opinion that musical man had
profited largely from the voices of the feathered tribes. He seriously
asserted that the duck had evidently furnished a model for the clarionet
and oboe, and Sir Chanticleer for the trumpet. An entire chapter of his
book he devoted to surmises concerning the "Music before the Flood." The
poor man felt himself superior to the poetic fancies of the ancients,
which at least foreshadowed the Truth, but had found no firm ground on
which to stand.
Much finer were the instincts of Capellmeister Wolfgang Kasper, Prince
of Waldthurn, whose historical treatise on Music appeared in Dresden in
1690.
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