THE seventeenth century was a revolutionary epoch. In one way
or another, of course, all ages are revolutionary; but the seven-
teenth century with its spate of philosophers, with all its religious
and political disturbance--absolutism in monarchic government here,
republicanism there and regicides elsewhere--was exceptional. One
characteristic of the seventeenth century which goes some way to
explain the great social upheavals was a zest for experiment. And this
in turn led to the dominant mode of seventeenth-century expression--
precision. Galileo (whose father was a not unimportant Florentine
composer), Bacon, Newton, Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz (who knew
Handel at Hanover) signify this quality within science and philosophy.
Literature was the dominant art--especially in France--and the other
arts became, for a time, subordinate. The artist fights for survival.
Therefore it is exhilarating to watch the process of musical acclimatiza-
tion to the new tendencies of general thought.

Choral music is especially interesting; first, because of its natural
contiguity to words, and second, because of its natural function as some
sort of communal symbol. About the year 1600 the world was plagued
by young men with progressive ideas. As is often the case some of
these young men were young only in spirit: otherwise somewhat past
middle age. Musically the most notable were the Florentine group
headed by Count Giovanni Bardi, the principal pioneer of the 'new
music'--nuove musiche. Bardi indicates the advanced opinions of
Florentine criticism in one essay addressed to Giulio Caccini. It will be
noticed that the style of choral writing that was formerly general there
comes in for as much adverse criticism as any of our own day, which
may be thought to resemble, say, Brahms.

'Nowadays,' he wrote, 'music falls into two main divisions; one
belongs to counterpoint. The other should be called arte di ben cantare.'
He disliked madrigals in particular, because--

-55-