596 726211 Copyright, 1916 BY FREDERIC H. RIPLEY AND ELIZABETH SCHNEIDER STANFORD SOCIAL ED ̈* PREFACE The second in the series of Art-Music Readers deals with well-established facts of music history but adds those gems of literature and painting which have become associated with the romance of the art. Song and story have ever traveled hand in hand. Charming pictures heighten the interest of a subject by firing the reader's imagination. The presence of the printed music in this book affords still another means of bringing the art itself before the student. For schoolroom purposes the character of the reading material is most important. The aim of the Art-Music Readers is, first of all, to make the text good literature,pure, simple, direct, dignified and inspiring. It is pure because it contains the best forms of English expression; simple, because it uses familiar words in the most familiar way; direct, because it treats each subject without complications; dignified, because it never descends to silly diction under the delusion that such expressions amuse and attract the young; inspiring, because it directs the thought to lofty themes and creates a desire for the best in art. The books will be read by art students of all ages with equal interest and profit. Hence, while the title, Second Reader, implies a continuous historic sequence, the material is so complete within itself that the books may be used in any order, and the interest created will be equally strong in all grades. |