The first historical and critical study of neoclassicism from the genesis of the concept in fin de siecleFrance in the 1870s through the Schoenberg/Stravinsky polemic. By the end of the nineteenth century the traits of "classicism" in music had become clearly established. This codification cast long shadows over contemporary artists, encouraging a movement away from order, continuity and tradition towards freedom, innovation and novelty - and the term neoclassicism made its first appearance.

This study, the first ever critical examination of "neoclassicism" in music, provides a broad cultural context for the investigation of its origins, then looks in turn at Wagner and the French reaction to him; Saint-Saens, d'Indy, Debussy, Ravel and their French contemporaries; Germany and France in the decade which includes the First World War, with special reference to Thomas Mann and Ferrucio Busoni, and to Jean Cocteau and the "New Simplicity"; and Igor Stravinsky, the composer most frequently cited in connection with this term.

Reprint; first published 1988.