CONTENTS Introduction. The Pianoforte and Its Immediate Precursors, the Harpsichord and the Clavichord Part I. The First Classical Period Chapter I. Polyphonic Music Chapter II. The Three Greatest Composers of Polyphonic Music for the Harpsichord: J. S. Bach, G. F. Haendel, D. Scarlatti Part II. The Second Classical Period A. The Epoch of the Development of the Sonata-Form Chapter III. Monophonic Music - Form - The Sonata-Form Chapter IV. The Three Composers who Developed the Sonata-Form to Its Logical Limits: C. P. E. Bach, Joseph Haydn, W. A. Mozart B. The Epoch of the Predominance of Content in the Sonata Chapter V. The Content of Music Chapter VI. L. van Beethoven: The Composer who Embodied in the Sonata the Noblest Possible Content and Raised It to the Highest Significance as a Work of Art C. The Transition from the Classic to the Romantic Period Chapter VII. The Classic and the Romantic in Music Chapter VIII. Beethoven's Two Greatest Contemporaries in the Domain of Pianoforte Music: C. M. von Weber and Franz Schubert Part III. The Romantic Period Chapter IX. Mendelssohn, Chopin and Schumman Part IV. The Development of Pianoforte Technic Chapter X. The Technic of the First Classical Period Chapter XI. The Technic of the Second Classical Period Chapter XII. The Technic of the Transition Period Chapter XIII. The Technic of the Romantic Period Part V. Minor Composers and Virtuosi of the Different Epochs Chapter XIV. A. The Epoch of the Polyphonic Music B. The Epoch of the Sonata C. The Contemporaries of the Romanticists and their Successors, to the Present