Musical Instruments and their Homes

Abstract

THIS work should prove very useful to all who are interested in music and musical instruments. Primarily it professes to be a catalogue of the collection of musical instruments made by Mrs. J. Crosby Brown, of New York; but its value has been greatly augmented by a series of essays on the music and musical instruments of Oriental and savage races. The “catalogue” portion is well illustrated with clever pen-and-ink sketches, which give, for the most part, an excellent idea of the instruments, though they do not exhibit a great amount of detail. A brief description with dimensions, and, where possible, the native name, accompanies each sketch. The catalogue is divided into geographical sections, and at the end of each is added an essay treating of the music of the country from an historical and theoretical point of view, with a general account of the native instruments. Though these essays contain little that is new or original, they nevertheless form extremely useful compilations from a large amount of scattered literature; the references are full, and the list of authorities is a very representative one.