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University Daily Kansan Wednesday, March 3, 1965
Musicologist Lectures On Music Study Value
The three main reasons for studying music history are to get a better understanding of music; to hear and judge the music of the past with the ears of the past; and to understand the whole of world history better, according to Donald J. Grout, internationally known musicologist.
Prof. Grout, a professor of music history at Cornell University, said this in a speech on "Music History and Music Reality" in a humanities lecture last night.
"The distinction between reality and history constantly plagues music historians," he said, "or, putting it otherwise, is the music itself not enough?"
Prof. Grout will speak at a Student Union Activities (SUA) coffee forum at 4:30 today in the Big Eight Room of the Kansas Union.
A HISTORIAN NEVER can give the total picture, Grout pointed out. He has to limit himself to certain periods. For other periods he has to rely on specialists for the evaluation of sources in that period. When choosing his sources, the historian already has decided for him who is historically important.
Having chosen his sources, the historian has to consider the most important figures. He must check on the composer's works, and see that the manuscripts he studies represent the composer's final intentions. "He must be able to determine them in terms of sound," Grout said. "Often a work sounds different today, as we do not know exactly how it was originally played." Composers often took a lot for granted, and never wrote down precise instructions.
Finally, a music historian has to interpret his facts. He divides the history into style periods, of which the boundaries are vague. They are divided not only in terms of time, but also in terms of the way the composers wrote.
"THE DIVERSITY OF STYLES among social groups in a certain period also has to be considered when defining boundaries," Grout said. He used today's situation as example: there is the avant-garde, the regular opera and concert public, and admirers of the Beatles and the like. He believed that historians have not given enough thought to this problem.
Grout said the concept of music history has changed. "The historians of the Renaissance saw the music of the Middle Ages as barbaric," he said, "and their own music as a distinct improvement."
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The idea of progress was generally accepted up through the 19th century. In this century, though, this optimistic concept has changed, and historians now prefer to limit themselves to specific periods and avoid the overall view.
12th & Oread
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THE HISTORY OF MUSIC is seen by some as "developing in phases" or as determined by the total cultural pattern of the time. Marx saw it as determined by the economic and social structure of society.
"For instance," Dr. Grout said, "Schubert's music is seen as a product of bourgeois society."
THERE ARE ALSO DIFFERENT views on the matter of causality in history. "Not everything is possible at a given time," Grout said, "The composer has to work with the existing resources. But it takes a great composer to produce a great work, not just a typical work."
Grout said he hoped general historians would use music history more in the future to complete the true overall picture of the world's history. "History is one whole, no strand of it can be neglected without doing injury to the rest."
Aircraft Educator Will Speak Tonight
Mitchell has had much experience in the transportation field while working as a training specialist and analyst for several major companies. He has also worked with computers in the armed service and industry.
Frank Mitchell, Cessna Aircraft's air age education supervisor, will speak on "The Future of General Aviation" tonight at 7:30 in room 200 of the new engineering building.
Mitchell attended the University of Wisconsin and the University of Southern California and graduated from the University of Oklahoma.
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