Conspicuous among those who have written upon historical or critical topics are William Foster Apthorp and Louis Charles Elson, both of Boston and both born in 1848, Edward Dickinson of Oberlin, born in 1853, Henry Edward Krehbiel and Henry Theophilus Finck of New York, with Philip Hale of Boston, all born in 1854, William James Henderson of New York, born in 1855, James Gibbons Huneker of New York, born in 1860, Richard Aldrich of New York, born in 1863, Oscar George Sonneck of the Library of Congress, Washington, and Daniel Gregory Mason of New York, both born in 1873. An acute and original theorist is Percy Goetschius of New York, born in 1853.
234. Some Final Words.—As one reviews the path through the centuries by which music has attained its present expansion and power, various reflections are suggested.
Some of these pertain to the magnitude and multiformity of musical efforts and interests. An individual musician or music-lover, being naturally engaged with but a few phases of musical art, is apt not to realize what lies beyond his own immediate sphere. Very few can expect to be personally familiar with all the details of even any large division of the total field, since in each of the important branches of the art the workers are counted by hundreds and the works by thousands or myriads. The important point to be borne in mind is that it is possible, even without first-hand knowledge of all the data in detail, to secure a vivid and useful knowledge of the large outlines of musical evolution, with a practical scheme of thought regarding epochs and movements, into which whatever detailed knowledge is obtainable may be fitted. The first great utility of music-history is to supply the perspectives whereby persons and things may be seen in their relations as to time, quality and potency. The art of music has become what it is, not by the miraculous intervention of a score or so of 'great composers,' but by the irresistible momentum of large intellectual and emotional forces that take hold of nations, periods and classes of mind. It is emphatically the function of history to help in discerning what these forces are and how they have operated. Furthermore, the many aspects of music as a large social fact are not disconnected, but organically associated. They interweave and interact, often in subtle and unexpected ways. The humbler are not always insignificant, nor the relatively peculiar and restricted always without influence. No just view of music or musicianship can afford to disdain or ignore any side of the
