De Villoteau a Saint-Saens

The 19th century is a key period for the study of music in antiquity: it was during this time that fragments of Greek musical notation and theorists' treatises were (re-)discovered, while excavations in Pompeii and in Egypt brought to light important remains of musical instruments. Some of the first syntheses on the history of music were written under the leadership of Belgian, English, French, German, Italian scholars. Composers and artists who were attempting to re-create music in the antique style for the plastic arts, theatre and opera were inspired by the latest discoveries, as musical instruments remain. The historical context of the 19th century played an important role in these developments: the disciplines of history and musicology were being formed and the reconstructions of forgotten musical instruments were multiplying, but the taste for Orientalism and the Romantic quest for origins had a lasting influence on contemporary perceptions. The aim of this book is to examine the sources used and to understand the methodologies employed at that time. The authors investigate the paradigms of a seminal period for "music archaeology," on which current research is sometimes still dependent.