Note 4 — Chapter IV · BEGINNINGS OF ORCHESTRATION.

Monteverde's admitted position at the dawn of orchestration constitutes so vast a point of departure in scientific method, that the unprejudiced writer of to-day must, toward Monteverde rather than toward anyone else, weigh and sift opinions as to his intention, however much these opinions combat each other. The statements of the present writer that Monteverde was the first to suggest instrumental characterization in his music—the same being evidenced in the scores that have come down to us—are supported by the majority of investigators. There are, however, others who have followed the same trail and whose conclusions are as worthy of future credence. These declare that it is only a fantastic conceit, which grew out of the circumstance that in the list of characters and instruments in the prefatory matter of the score of Monteverde's "Orfeo," there is a chance association like Pluto's name standing opposite the trombones, etc., which, falsely reasoned, has placed Monteverde in an epoch-making niche where he should not be.