A HISTORY OF ARABIAN MUSIC - TO THE XIIITH CENTURY by HENRY GEORGE FARMER (Hardback Edition)
Although this work was first published in 1929 it has never been superseded as a history of early Arabian music in English. The author, Professor Farmer, was the outstanding authority on all aspects of Arabian music and wrote many other works on the subject.
In the introduction, Professor Farmer identifies the main pre-islamic sources fpr the Arabian musical traditions and shows how these led to the islamic civilisation of the Khalifate. The few people who had previously written on the subject had suggested that we should look to Greece and Persia as the sources of Arabian music. Professor Farmer however agreed with Professor Sayce who wrote "we must cease to regard Arabia as a land of Deserts and Barbarism; it was on the contrary, a trading centre of the ancient world, and the Muslims who went forth from it to conquer Christendom and found empires, were but the successors of those who, in earlier times, had exercised a profound in fluence upon the destinies of the East".
A chapter discussing music in relation to Islam contributes a body of knowledge which satisfies scholars, ethnomusicicologists, and members of the Islamic community. Subsequent chapters show how music developed through the great early periods of Islamic civilisation, the orthodox Khalifate, the Umayyads, the Golden Age of the Abbasids and their later decline and fall.
Each chapter has three sections, the first dealing with the social and political factors which determined the general music culture. The second descibes the musical life of the period together with details of theory and practice of music. the thirs section is devoted to biographies of all the celebrated composers, singers, instramentalists, theorists, and scientists. A bibliography and index complete the work.
Product Code: LUZAC13
