C. F. Abdy Williams – författare

C. F. Abdy Williams (1855-1923), a noted music scholar, traced the history of the discipline at Oxford and Cambridge from the fifteenth century to the late Victorian period in this 1894 book. He discusses the earliest records of degrees in the subject, the establishment of professorships, the requirements for degrees and the ceremonies associated with their conferral. He provides biographical information for graduates from as early as 1463, noting that English music of this early period was in a very advanced stage compared to that of the rest of Europe. He also includes, in an appendix, the names of those persons who are mentioned as graduates but whose names do not appear in the university records. His book reveals the importance attached to the cultivation of music at the ancient British universities and the prestige attached to their scholars over several centuries.

'Keeping time', along with artistic accentuation and intelligent phrasing, is essential to successful musical performance. Rhythm alone had rarely been the subject of specialised study until the late nineteenth century, when several books on this topic by Rudolf Westphal were published in Leipzig. Westphal's work inspired Charles Francis Abdy Williams's 1911 book which is reissued here. Williams re-examines the classical and romantic repertoire from Handel to Tchaikovsky in the light of ancient Greek musical theory, focusing particularly on the earliest writings by Artistoxenus of Tarentum (fourth century BCE). In Williams's view, the rhythmic forms used by the Greeks are universally intelligible, and appear in all ages and cultures, unlike melodies or scales, which vary hugely. He provides insights into the microstructure of works including Bach's oratorios, Beethoven's sonatas and Schubert's songs, which will continue to intrigue musicians, classicists and mathematicians today.