The Oxford History of Western Music: College Edition

by Richard Taruskin, Christopher H. Gibbs

Based on the award-winning six-volume work by Richard Taruskin, The Oxford History of Western Music, College Edition, presents the most up-to-date and comprehensive history of Western music available.

DISTINCTIVE FEATURES


· Offers a unique focus on the people behind music history


· Places musical works within their larger cultural, social, and political contexts, providing a compelling narrative of music history


· Covers music of all eras along with a special emphasis on the most studied works of the past 200 years


· Improves critical thinking by offering differing perspectives on how the Western musical canon developed


· Builds listening and analysis skills through comprehensive discussion of key works


· Includes helpful learning and study tools (timelines, maps, musical examples and diagrams, chapter summaries, key terms, study questions, and a glossary)

Offering a complete package for building students' understanding and appreciation of the classical canon, this groundbreaking text is also supplemented by a variety of high-quality

--- Instructor's Resource CD containing a computerized test bank, an Instructor's Manual, study questions, PowerPoint-based lecture slides, and links to Oxford Music Online

--- A free companion website (www.oup.com/us/taruskin) with chapter outlines, key terms and definitions, and suggested links
--- Three score anthologies* featuring scores of key works discussed in the text and introductory essays prepared by a team of expert authors; a full three-volume CD set* corresponding to the three score anthologies contains musical examples from the anthologies in high-quality MP3

Oxford Anthology of Western Music
Volume The Earliest Notations to the Early Eighteenth Century
Edited by David J. Rothenberg and Robert R. Holzer
> V1 Print 9780199768257
> V1 Recorded Anthology (2 CDs): 9780199768288

Oxford Anthology of Western Music
Volume The Mid-Eighteenth Century to the Late Nineteenth Century
Edited by Klára Móricz and David E. Schneider
> V2 Print 9780199768264
> V2 Recorded Anthology (3 CDs): 9780199768295

Oxford Anthology of Western Music
Volume The Twentieth Century
Edited by Klára Móricz and David E. Schneider
> V3 Print 9780199768271
> V3 Recorded Anthology (2 CDs): 9780199768301

--- A concise edition of recordings* is also available on 3 9780199768318

* Sold separately

Genres: Music, History, Nonfiction, Reference

1248 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible. After almost 4,000 pages, the only section I could have done without is the last quarter of the last chapter of the last volume. Overall, Taruskin's erudition and entertaining polemics make this monumental survey very much worth the time it took to get through.

[Matt Baker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Starts slow, picks up once you hit the 17th century.

Well written, I appreciate how well historical events and contemporaneous movements in the other arts are incorporated. I wish I had taken the time to read this earlier into my education, it alone is much better than any history course I ever took.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dude wrote SIX 800 page volumes about the history of Western music. I read this and a few chapters of Volume 2 for an elective this past semester. This book is at times long winded and confusing if you are not a musically minded person, but the topic is super interesting. I discovered I have a deep love for Western music written before 1600 (after that, not nearly so much) and this book is as in depth of an introduction as you are going to get.

[Joe Matson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found it to be quite an interesting read, although I struggled to interest my students in reading it. I wonder if the target audience isn't college students (as the book claims) but people who have already studied Western art music and want to read a second opinion.