I here present to the musical public a book written in a style of my own, not a scientific and systematically well-arranged treatise.

This no reasonable man would expect of an old music-master, who, in his long practice in the realm of tones, could not arrive at learned and too often fruitless deductions.

Nature made me susceptible to that which is good and beautiful; a correct instinct and a tolerable understanding have taught me to avoid the false and the vicious; a desire for increased knowledge has led me to observe carefully whatever I met with in my path in life; and I may say, without hesitation, that I have endeavored, according to my ability, to fill the position to which I have been called.

This is no vain boast, but only the justifiable assertion of a good conscience; and this no man needs to withhold.

For these reasons, I have been unwilling to refrain from giving to the world a true expression of my opinions and feelings.