A Handbook of Bible and Church Music. By the Bev.
J. Aston Whitlock. (S.P.C.K.)—It is a_ melancholy fact that any attempt to realise ancient music ends in failure. Music, more than the other arts, depends on tradition. Give some one who has never heard or played anything but polkas and comic songs the finale of the" Sonata Appassionata " to play, and, granted that he could execute the notes, what resemblance would there be to the true interpretation as we know it ? But when even the written notes do not exist, how impossible is it to form any idea of what ancient music was like ? In the early part of the present little book the author has to content himself with giving explanations of the musical terms used in the Bible, with references to Egyptian and other monuments. In a supplement two Hebrew songs, a hymn, and a psalm are given. The author tells us that there is reason to believe that these tunes are of great antiquity.
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