T. A. Arne as an Inventor of Musical Form. 193 



the presence and relative intensity of harmonics. And I re- 

 member a discussion some years ago, in which it was solemnly 

 advanced by one disputant that light had a great deal to do 

 with the propagation of sound, because he found the best 

 place for hearing in one of the large opera houses in London 

 was over a large chandelier. Of course it was the heat and 

 not the light that improved the acoustic qualities of that 

 particular spot. I agree with Sir W. Herschell, who says : 

 " The sense of harmony depends upon the periodical recur- 

 rence of coincidental impulses on the ear, and affords, per- 

 haps, the only instance of a sensation for whose pleasing 

 impression a distinct and intelligible reason can be assigned." 

 Helmholtz modestly calls his discoveries in acoustic science, 

 the lowest grade of musical grammar. Be the position of 

 science in regard to music what it may, to such a discoverer 

 as Helmholtz, and to such authorities as Tyndall, Sidley, 

 Taylor, Koenig, and Dr. Stone, and in the more mathematical 

 department to Lord Rayleigh, Sir Geo. Airey, and Professors 

 Donkin and Everett, the musical world owes a debt of 

 gratitude, the full measure of which I do not think it even 

 yet fully appreciates. 



Not so intimately connected with physical science, but 

 still nearly attached to it, is the aesthetic aspect of music. 

 This largely deals with questions of musical form, and I 

 think I am as much entitled to ask you (as I shall do 

 presently) to pause for a few moments to look at the 

 structure of a piece of music, as others more learned than I 

 may ask your attention to that of a rare plant or a newly 

 discovered chemical substance. So, having, to my own 

 satisfaction at least, shown that music, which is but the 

 discipline of sound, is a subject well within your domain and 

 purview, I now introduce to your notice Thomas Augustine 

 Arne, the greatest English musician of the last century, 

 He stands out as a figure of great artistic interest, as a bold 

 and successful experimenter, and as a melodist of the 



