The Madman's Orchestra: The Greatest Curiosities from the History of Music

by Edward Brooke-Hitching

From the bestselling author and former BBC QI Elf comes a fascinating and beautifully illustrated journey through the entire history of music. In The Madman’s Orchestra, join Edward Brooke-Hitching as he lifts the curtain on the strangest episodes from the entire history of music, taking us on a backstage tour of surprising and eccentric stories.
 
From the musical secrets of prehistoric monuments to the future of compositions by artificial intelligence, The Madman’s Orchestra uncovers the most curious tales, madcap musicians, and unusual instruments lost in time – and answers questions   What does the song of a black hole sound like? Which composition requires four helicopters and a string quartet with strong stomachs to play it correctly? How exactly would the ‘cat piano’ sound, and would it be any more pleasing to the ear than the ‘hog harmonium’? Discover musical hoaxes, compositions relayed by ghosts, the code-writing of ‘musical cryptography’, the pop songs smuggled past Soviet censors using X-rays, the beauty of Renaissance ‘eye music’, compositions by the Devil, the supernatural instruments played by witches, and the experimental female scientist who created the ‘visible voice’.
 
Fascinating, funny, and at times barely believable, The Madman’s Orchestra is a unique exploration of the history of music that will strike a chord with fans of beautiful books and bizarre history, and delight with a rich depth and variety of research that ultimately celebrates the boundless creativity of our musical imagination.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, History

256 pages, Hardcover

First published October 23, 2025

About the author

Edward Brooke-Hitching is a writer and award-winning documentary filmmaker. The son of an antiquarian book dealer, he read English and Film at the University of Exeter before entering independent film production. ‘Fox Tossing, Octopus Wrestling and Other Forgotten Sports’ is his first book. He lives in London.

Reviews

[Michelle Graf · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks to NetGalley and Chronicle Books for the ARC.

All the oddities in music history. Sorted by theme. With lots of pictures of the pieces in questions, and a playlist at the end of each chapter of the pieces mentioned. I kinda want to reread this and listen to the corresponding playlist as I go along. But I think I read too fast to make that feasible.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

My thanks to NetGalley and Chronicle Books for an advance copy of this guide to odd, the weird, the different in music, from instruments, songs, composers who create music that shouldn't work, works that have been unfairly forgotten, and ideas that while once popular never become earworms in the popular conscience.

I worked in a music store in the 90's before the Internet made information and file sharing made music easier to find and become acquainted with. There is a song by the band LCD Soundsystem, "Losing my Edge", that explains this wonderful time in music. We had to know things, know odd songs, odd music types. If we didn't know we would ask our fellow employees, grudgingly most of the time. If they didn't we would call customers who might know. Or look through the numerous books about music we kept in the break room. We got some odd questions. Never anything as interesting as some of what I read in this book. Who was the guy who made music out of stalactites? What songs have secret codes in them? What songs were made in the form eye music. What does the sound of 4 helicopters sound like? Some of these questions might have gotten a few black eyes for bothering us. Some of them would have made friends for life. The Madman's Orchestra: The Greatest Curiosities from the History of Music by Edward Brooke-Hitching, is a tome of knowledge about sound and songs in its many myriad ways from the music of the spheres, to the music of the inner heart, from odd instruments, and even catty comments from composers.

The book is about the third in a series of books that Brooke-Hitching has done in a sort of Madman's series about the arts, looking at the weird, the esoteric, the lost and well things that should be lost. The previous editions dealt with libraries and books, and art and galleries, this deals with music its composition, how its played, those that played it, and those who kind of lost themselves doing it. The book begins in the beginning with a section on early instruments, how they were created, and even a modern concert featuring ancient instruments, where things started to go wrong. Along with classic instruments, Brooke-Hitching looks at odd instruments. Ones made from vegetables. Others that were larger than one musician can play. Even others from rocks in caves, or as previously mentioned the drippings of cave rocks. Songs with codes hidden inside, songs with hidden propaganda messages, songs that were visual, and composers who could see the songs they wrote, do to the neurological condition of synesthesia. The book is also lavishly illustrated with pictures art and drawings. One of my favorites parts is the song lists at the end of each chapter detailing the songs discussed.

I really enjoy this series. I love the different, the odd and the strange, and quite a lot of this was new information to me. Which I love as I am always looking for new things to listen too. Some of these are worth a listen, even if just once to go, yup that might be a song somehow. Brooke-Hitching is a very good writer and makes everything interesting and fun. Reading his books are not a task, but a blast, with lots of information to toss out at people, mostly workmates. This book is mostly classical themed, with some mention of jazz and rock. I hope there are more books featuring these other genres planned.

A fun book and a great gift for music fans, or people who just love odd books about the world we live in. I have read most of Brooke-Hitching's works and highly recommend them all. Very good writing, interesting subjects, and a lot of exotica and unique songs, songs that need to be listened to. I eagerly await what Brooke-Hitching has decided to investigate next.

[Marta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kolejna fantastyczna książka Brooke'a-Hitchinga. Lubię sięgać po jego mini leksykony, wybory rzeczy dziwnych i nietypowych, bo zawsze coś mnie zaskakuje.

Tu jestem pod wrażeniem zestawienia. Znalazło się miejsce i dla dziwnych ciekawostek (nietypowe instrumenty, nietypowe zapisy lub wykonania koncertowe), i dla mini esejów (świetne rozdziały o związkach muzyki z matematyką czy obecność diabła w utworach). A do tego każdy rozdział opatrzony jest mini playlistą zawierającą wszystkie utwory omawiane w danej części. Świetne, jeżeli ktoś chciałby przesłuchać sobie samemu przywoływane dziwactwa.

Jak zwykle mam mały problem z układem tekstu. Nie rozumiem, dlaczego tekst nie jest justowany z obu stron - tworzy to dziwną serpentynę, która aż kłuje po oczach (jasne, kolumny na stronach z powodu zdjęć nie są równe, ale przecież dałoby się to złożyć w jakiś równy kształt). Trochę irytują mnie komediowe wstawki, w których autor wrzuca fragmenty recenzji, dziwne przypadki z życia kompozytorów etc., ale cóż, dla każdego coś miłego.

[ines · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Madman's Orchestra presents a fascinating collection of music history's strangest tales. Its art and photography are refreshing also engaging. However the writing style is quite dense and academic so it may not suit casual readers. While the content is entertaining and full of unique facts the text can feel heavy and requires extra effort to digest. This book is great for those already interested in the topic but it might be less ideal for readers looking for a light and easy read.

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review: https://hiplibrariansbookblog.com/202...

[Sesana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eclectic and mostly interesting, but very densely written.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great read for people who love learning about history, especially music history. There was so much information here that I had never heard of (granted, I've never read much music history in the past) but really enjoyed it. The pictures were absolutely amazing and added so much to the text. Also, I truly think we should bring back some of these instruments, like the glass harmonica.

Definitely would recommend this.

Thanks so much to NetGalley for the free Kindle book. My review is my own, and my opinions are freely given.