First published 1934

The revolutionary situation -- Impressionism and disruption -- Debussy as key-figure -- Music and the naughty 'nineties -- The age of pastiche -- Diaghileff and Stravinsky as time travellers -- Surrealism and neo-classicism -- 'Toute reaction est vraie' -- Synthetic melody -- Abstraction in music -- Erik Satie and his musique d'ameublement -- Nationalism and democracy -- The Russian nationalists -- The conflict between nationalism and form -- Nationalism and the modern scene -- The cult of the exotic -- Exoticism and 'low life' -- The spirit of jazz -- Symphonic jazz -- The appalling popularity of music -- Mechanical romanticism -- Craft for Craft's sake -- Mechanical music and the cinema -- The disappearing middlebrow -- A psychological cul-de-sac -- Schonberg and official revolution -- Sibelius and the integration of form -- The symphonic problem -- Sibelius and the music of the future.