Initiation musicale - Widor, Charles-Marie 1844-1937 (Paris Hachette, 1923)
In the preface to Initiation musicale, a kind of music primer, Widor proclaimed: “This little book contains the program of what is necessary to know in music.” The book's topics include: the ear, sound, harmonics, timbre, wind and stringed instruments, keyboard instruments, scales, harmony (consonant and dissonant), counterpoint, composition, the origins of music, opera, acoustics, and various composers (Handel, Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Weber, Schumann, Wagner). Everything is deliberately simplified and compressed—sometimes naively so: beginning his chapter on counterpoint, Widor casually observed, “Nothing is less complicated.” (...) (John R. Near)
Keywords: 20th Century (1901-2000); Music education; Music theory; Acoustics; Instrumentation