This comprehensive book looks at the philosophical side of music - how it is connected with emotions and morals - before giving biographies of selected composers, looking at various instruments, and ending with a critique of music in England. The four main sections are: Philosophical, Biographical, Instrumental and Music in England. A very wide variety of subjects are covered - short biographies and analyses of the works of the great composers, origin of the violin, carillons, blind singers, the organ-grinder, string bands, brass bands, Belgium Bell-founders, violins, composers; an interesting mixture of essays and philosophical conjectures.Structured discussion of music around four books: 'Philosophical', 'Biographical' (Handel, Gluck, Haydn, Schubert, Mozart, et al) 'Instrumental and Music in England.