Tragedy in the Art of Music

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A distinguished musicologist examines from the beginnings of Western civilization the continuing manifestations of tragedy in music. Leo Schrade considers the role of music in Greek tragedy, the nature of music drama in the early Renaissance, and, placing particular emphasis on the Baroque period, the tragic element in operas. In a final section that deals with tragic figures in music and the artist’s awareness of tragedy, Schrade concludes that “the history of artists is, and must be by its nature, the history of tragedy.”