Excerpt from A Treatise on Harmony The object aimed at in this volume is the combination of true philosophical principles with simplicity of explanation. It also endeavours to include all necessary details in the smallest possible compass. So many treatises on Harmony have appeared since the beginning of this century, that some apology is perhaps due for adding yet one more to the number. The author must plead as his apology, the conviction that although the existing treatises on the subject contain much very valuable matter, yet all seem to him to be either founded on erroneous principles, or faulty in arrangement. Some mix up together the elements of Harmony, Counterpoint, and Pianoforte-practice; others start from principles not based upon nature, but too often contradicted by the now better ascertained phenomena of acoustics; others repudiate physical science altogether, and treat of Music as though it were only an emotional art. The present volume tries to avoid these and other similar errors. Wherever existing works explain or illustrate any point with clearness, they have been quoted freely and acknowledged with gratitude. Hut in other and more frequent cases it has been necessary to take up entirely fresh ground, and to employ new explanations and illustrations. It is confidently hoped that the system thus evolved may prove useful to the student, by giving him natural and rational explanations of the facts of Music, and of the rules deduced from those facts. The author has aimed throughout at a consistent theory, founded in nature, progressively expanded, and involving no purely arbitrary rules. He now lays the results of his endeavours before the public. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.