Tracing Music’s Origin-part 4

Tracing Music’s Origin-part 4

            In 1960, Donald Grout published his famous, “A History of Western Music”.  In this treatise, Grout is careful not to be specific concerning the origins of music.  He attributes the beginning of Western art music to the Christian church.  He also states that “Greek mythology ascribed to music a divine origin and named its inventors and earliest practitioners gods and demigods, such as Apollo, Amphion, and Orpheus.”3 He also mentions Old Testament references to music but does not recognize Bible music as authentic knowledge concerning the beginnings of music. 

            In 1971, Edith Borroff published, “Music in Europe and the United States”.  She begins her treatise on music history with “Speculation on the beginnings of music is endlessly fascinating, but no certainty is even likely to come to it.”  In 1990, K. Marie Stolba published, “The Development of Western Music History”. She begins this treatise on music history by reminding history students that “Plato placed the origin of music in creation, and numerous legends present music as a gift of the gods or the invention of one of them.” She begins chapter one by acknowledging the music of Ugarit and the te’amim (musical notation) of the Bible.