This essay traces the gradual spiritual decline of Western music from the sacred monophony of Christian Gregorian Chant, through the increasingly secular polyphonic music of the Middle Ages, to later Renaissance, Operatic, and Romantic styles. Godwin shows that the evermore ornamented styles of Western music are a departure from the ancient and original function of music, which symbolized, beyond the capacity of language, the presence of God in the world. With the discovery of polyphonic sound, for instance, Godwin claims that Western culture began to delight in human creativity, forgetting the deeper meaning and function of music and turning it into “a kind of substitute for religion or mysticism”.

I.R.Y.C (Joscelyn) Godwin affords us a glimpse of the traditional world of music in this introduction to the Institutione Musicae of Boethius in which there are described three different types of musicians: the theorist, composer and performer and the hierarchical roles they play. Irwin contrasts this with modern day music in which the theorist has disappeared and the performer is now given pride of place with the audience making up the third element. As a result, contemplativity, which is the true end of music, has all but disappeared. However, all is not lost as the mechanical production of music allows us to become familiar with great works and in hearing them repeatedly opens a door onto the spiritual realm.