El libro de la música clásica

Big Ideas Simply Explained

by Katie Derham (Foreword)

El libro de la música clásica analiza con un lenguaje claro más de noventa obras de distintos compositores, unos legendarios y otros menos conocidos, e incluye diagramas e infografías que explican los conceptos fundamentales y las grandes ideas que subyacen a la creación y la apreciación de la música clásica. Tanto el oyente ocasional como el auténtico aficionado encontrarán en este sugerente libro una útil herramienta para entender mejor la música clásica.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, History, Reference, Art, Classical Music, Biography

352 pages, Hardcover

First published August 28, 2018

Reviews

[Michelle Curie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've seen these Big Ideas books around a lot, since they're all eye-catching and thematically intriguing, but this was the first one I picked up! And it can serve as an approachable and accessible introduction to classical music indeed.



Chronologically structured, it's a timeline of classical music's history. I liked that a lot, since the reason I picked this up was to fill in gaps I had in my own knowledge of the genre. It starts with Early Music from the 11th to 15th century and then covers the Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Romantic, Nationalism and finally Modern and Contemporary. In a way, this structure helps to put information in context.

It's introducing artists by picking a piece each. I think this is a successful approach, considering the target group for this consists of people who know classical music, but aren't experts on the subject (or so I'd assume?). With most artists, there's an article on that particular piece, retelling its history, why it mattered and what makes it special and is accompanied by a short biography of the artist. There's no point in reading the chapters if you're not willing to actually listen to the music, but they're all available somewhere on YouTube or Spotify or whatever medium you like to listen your songs on.

It's a bit quantity over quality. While the articles themselves were insightful and accessible to people who aren't familiar with musical terminology or music theory, the chapters themselves don't go particularly in depth – which they also don't claim they do. As said before, they focus on one piece per artist and you won't necessarily know what was happening beyond that. It teaches you just enough to find out what sparks your interest, though, and then you can go on and pursue further knowledge, which makes this pretty successful, I'd say.

While giving an overview more than teaching in-depth-knowledge, this was a pretty dense read that took me several months to work through. I had a good time and would definitely recommend this for people curious about classical music without already established expertise on the subject.

[umrah : castiel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have finally finished this book! It was a fascinating read, with much information about the classical music world, and I feel like I've learnt a lot from it. I spent a lot of time researching/really absorbing in the information in this book, and it's been fun!

[Tina Doncheva · Rating 3 out of 5]

Chronologically speaking and design-wise, the book is very good. Content-wise, it could be improved a lot. Still, it is a good basis for those who are interested in classical music and are making their first steps into it. Thus, it would seem boring to those who already have some knowledge, as it does not say much. (Not to mention, it does not give the best examples or illustrations.) It vaguely touches upon some topics and just when one thinks that something particular would be reviewed in-depth and analysed, it stops right there, with no further information. Also, it would have been better if there was a CD (or, rather, CDs) with a compilation of at least some of the mentioned pieces.

[Mr Shahabi · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think this book would make more sense with accompanied music

[Heidi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brought back good memories from Music Literature class. I especially liked the sections about Hildegard von Bingen and Vivaldi's The Four Seasons.

[Ocean G · Rating 3 out of 5]

I cannot for the life of me fathom why they would release an audiobook about classical music without any music. I understand this was originally a print book, but if they went through the trouble of professionally narrating it, and as far as I can tell pretty much every piece of music discussed is in the public domain, I don't understand why they wouldn't add the music. Especially given that there are certain lines like these:
"The apparently unrelated chords of F, B, D# and G# form the basis for the work's harmonic instability."
"...landing not merely in a key (E major) unrelated to the first chord (B flat), but a diminished 5th (a semitone less than a 5th) below it, resulting in a tri-tone, an interval in 3 tones"
"each chord is to be appreciated for the sensuality of its sound"

One can only really follow if they know the pieces by heart, or if they can listen to them. Granted, I can go online and find these (and I did for several), but I often cannot, like when I'm driving, etc. I can't help thinking it was just laziness.

So, aside from this the book was very interesting, although much of it seemed to be over my head.

Some of my notes:
Jacopo Peri apparently created the first opera (Dafne, and the first that still exists, Euripide). He worked for the De Medici family, which means the De Medici brought us the first opera, as well as, you know, the renaissance.

Henry Purcell probably would have started opera in England had he not died early. In the end it was the german Handel (who performed for King George on a boat in the Thames).

I want to read more about Stravinsky and the first performance of Le Sacre du printemps
"1912: Igor Stravinsky pastes a cord of a dominant 7th on E flat over a cord of F flat major and causes an outrage"

[Lucy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book. Even though as a music major, I took music history, I've forgotten a lot of what I learned. I liked seeing pictures of some of the personalities of music, performers as well as composers, old productions as well as new. I think it accomplished its purpose of making me want to learn more and hear more. Thanks to modern technology such as YouTube, we can look up any musical piece that sounds like it might be interesting and listen to it. With some pieces, there will be many, even dozens, perhaps hundreds, of recordings. Those we really like, we can download or even find on CDs or vinyl.
While not in-depth, the book covers a lot of territory, leaving the reader the choice of further study. And unlike my music history class, this book mentions female composers and contemporary music. The last piece mentioned was composed in 2011, Alleluia by Eric Whitacre.
Chapters are: Early music (1000-1400); Renaissance (1400-1600); Baroque (1600-1750); Classical (1750-1820); Romantic (1810-1920); Nationalism (1830-1920); Modern (1900-1950); Contemporary. After the chronological chapters, there's an equally chronological Directory of composers, starting with Johannes Ockeghem (c1410-1497) and ending with Magnus Lindberg (born 1958), James MacMillan (born 1959), Marc-Anthony Turnage (born 1960), and George Benjamin (born 1960). There's also a glossary and an index.

[Deb · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loved the design and layout. Really interesting to read. I realized that besides Eric Whitacre, I know none of the contemporary classical composers. This was a fun review! Need to bush up on my classical composers and work. Also, so glad to discover Dmitri Shostakovich! I've heard his work, but now I can associate the name!

The book was also full of quotes. About music and from composers admiring their contemporaries. Really enjoyed seeing what they had to say about each other! Here are a few:

* To sing is to pray twice. Magnus liber Organi (c.1170) Leonin (p.28)
* The end of all good music is to affect the soul. Claudio Monteverdi (p67)
* The end and final of all music should be none other than the glory of God. St Matthew Passion (1727) JS Bach (p.98)
* An audience shouldn't listen with complacency. Pierrot Lunaire, Op. 21 (1912), Arnold Schoenberg (p. 240)
* I haven't understood a bar of music in my life, but I have felt it. Le Sacre du Printemps (1913), Igor Stravinsky (p. 246)
* Stand up and take your dissonance like a man. Symphony No. 4 (1916), Charles Edward Ives (p. 254)

[Steph De Mel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really like Dorling Kindersley's "Big Ideas" series, and "The Classical Music Book" is no exception. The information is well-organised and easy to digest, and I find the inclusion of timelines, tables, and contextual detail both useful and well-presented. The glossary is also a great resource for refreshing one's memory of relevant terminology.

I created a Spotify playlist to accompany my reading of this book, which allowed me to listen to the pieces of music it features while simultaneously reading about them. I found this an immersive experience, which particularly aided my understanding of some of the more technical detail, not least because my knowledge of musical theory is fairly sketchy.

Thus, I enjoyed reading this book, and I have discovered several new favourite pieces that I'm now keen to listen to on a more regular basis. The experience has also made me more eager to pick up Clemency Burton-Hill's "Year of Wonder", which I think I'll also pair with the relevant soundtrack.

[Jesse Scobie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A decent overview of the history of classical, western music! I use to read several of these "Big Ideas" books years ago, the last one was on money in 2022. Anyway, I finally got around to this one, since it's on much of what I studied in college, though my major was music production/recording in jazz.
This book covers all the major classical composers from the days of the Italian Renaissance music through the famous Baroque era with Bach, etc. Then through Mozart, of course, Beethoven and other popular Romantic composers, all the way to Ligeti and Eric Whitacre, who I actually met once at my college Shenandoah Conservatory. I just wish there was an accompany album of the pieces discussed.

[Mácio Meneses · Rating 5 out of 5]

Um dos meus hobbies favoritos é montar playlists de músicas, e sempre faço pesquisas antes de montá-las. Nesse final de ano, eu queria montar uma playlist sobre a música erudita (ou música clássica, ou música escrita - como preferir), e não estava encontrando as informações na internet de forma fácil e "mastigada".

Com esse livro, encontrei tudo o que precisava e mais um pouco. Descobri que eu precisaria não de uma, mas de oito (!) playlists para contar um pouco da história da música clássica. Descobri um mundo imenso que têm redimensionado a forma que eu entendo a música como arte. Recomendo a leitura a todos que se interessam por música.

[Wendell Ramat Cabán · Rating 4 out of 5]

Siempre me ha fascinado la música, personalmente toco el piano y ukelele. El conocer el origen cronológico de la música y el impacto que ha tenido en la sociedad es inspirador. El libro contiene piezas musicales de compositores famosos que tienen siglos y aún en día suenan a nuestro alrededor. Es muy entretenido tanto leerlo como mirar las páginas, tiene muchas imágenes y "quotes". Uno de mis "quotes" favoritos que menciona el libro es; "La vida es como el jazz, es mejor cuando improvisas". La música es tan importante en nuestra vida, que forma parte de lo que somos. Lo recomiendo, muy educativo.

[Megan Iranpour · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. I bought this audiobook impulsively before realizing that it was a DK book. As you can imagine, I’m about 150% sure some of its allure is lost when the reader listens to it, as DK always produces such visually-appealing books. This is why I rounded up to 4 stars. I bought this to brush up on any missing knowledge, add to my music education, and glean some great anecdotes that my students appreciate. This book accomplished that, and I particularly added to my modern music knowledge, which was sparse after about 1950 or so. Recommended if you are looking to learn and grow in your musical understanding.

[Guillermo Barrios · Rating 2 out of 5]

Por muy interesante que sea el tema, el libro en sí está muy pobremente estructurado (y, en mi opinión, también escrito): conceptos que se definen mucho después de haber sido introducidos, fechas para una misma obra o periodo que bailan de un capítulo a otro y una falta incomprensible de perspectiva global o de hilo conductor histórico más allá de la cronología. Es como si cada obra fuese analizada por una persona diferente, la cual no tiene ni idea de lo que se ha escrito antes o se escribirá después.

Uno acaba con la sensación amarga de que ChatGPT hubiera hecho un mejor trabajo de edición...

[Laurel · Rating 4 out of 5]

🎹🎼🪗🥁🎸🎺🎻

I wonder how classical composers would react if they were here today in the culture of auto-tune, capitalistic musicals and classical covers of contemporary pop music - I wonder which one would love it and which one would hate it - trying to picture Beethoven or Mozart trying to succeed in the 21st century - I think the majority of the pioneer composers would love the open creativity and would probably use social media and YouTube to spread their pieces 🎹

Maybe BTS could collab with Brahms or Bach - Omgosh that would make an excellent movie …

[Rami · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was going to rate it 3 stars, but after reading the final chapter (postmodernism), now I feel extremely generous giving it 2 stars. I mean... 4 pages on Cage's 4'33"? Just ridiculous.

The obligation to fit into the rigid format of this series has undermined the potential of this book. Filled with so much irrelevant information that a music lover wouldn't care about, and would only come up on history of music or music theory exams.

If distilled down into around 150 relevant pages, I would give it 5 stars. But this, this isn't a book I'd recommend out of this series.

[Maru · Rating 2 out of 5]

¿están buscando un libro que brinde datos curiosos sobre un compositor o período de la Música Clásica? Creo que este logra su cometido. Sin embargo, si buscás profundizar en, por ejemplo, armonía o el estilo contrapuntístico de Bach o cuáles son sus obras más importantes y por qué, o de Haydn o cualquier otro, creo que este libro no es el adecuado. Además, no trae alguna playlist o CD que lo acompañe :(.

[Patricia J · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not a book for light entertainment or stories about the composers in our history. It is an excellent reference tool should you want more information about a particular composer. It's heavy reading and at times laborious, but just know that up front and use it as a reference tool rather than for relaxation. Unless....of course, if you're a classical music junkie and want to know about every obscure composer out there.

[Hal · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very nice chronologically oriented review of the evolution of classical music. The book highlights key works of every composer through the ages with individual profiles and interesting facts. The graphics are splendid. A commendable addition to any audiophiles collection as well as those looking to explore classical.

[Miku · Rating 4 out of 5]

As someone who have no idea of this subject I can say that this is a worthwhile book. I recommend this book to people who have no idea of this subject and a beginner. This is a great book to introduce yourself to the subject.

But my only problem is that if or is there anyway for us to know the form of music and what they sound like.

[Richard Meyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Great Overview

I do highly recommend this book, especially for the relatively uninformed like me. I especially enjoyed the sections covering the baroque, classical and romantic periods. I found the latter sections on modern or contemporary a bit tedious. It may be because I don't particularly enjoy most of that music.

[MK · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is DK's "Big Ideas Simply Explained" series.
This series will help you summarize basic knowledge and overview.

The theme of this book is classical music, so reading it while listening to classical music at the same time will enhance the atmosphere.

▽Spotify Classical Essentials
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i...

[Autumn Kearney · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Classical Music Book should be called The History of Classical Music. The title was a bit misleading. The book is arranged in chronological order. The contents are: Early music, Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Romantic, Nationalism, Modern and Contemporary. Yes, it was extensively researched, however I still wasn't that impressed with it.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

This definitely would have been better as an physical book. It was hard to follow at times and I expected the audio to have clips of some of the works, which it did not. That being said, the content was interesting and the narrator fun to listen to.

[Scott Vandrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautifully illustrated overview of evolution of classical music from early music to contemporary. As a complete “self-lesson” I would recommend listening to the highlighted pieces of music in each chapter. A comprehensive overview.

[Bill Fuller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very thorough, I learned quite a bit, but felt there was too much space spent on recent music and not enough on the Classical and Romantic periods. But it does shoot for a balance so not a major complaint.

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

Encyclopedic, in a way, arranged chronologically by composition. VERY selective - it leaves out Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, for example, who I've always thought was one of the giants of orchestration - and I started reading it a LOT before I finished it, so there's that. I did learn from it.

[Sam Doyle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book. Very easy for a layperson to understand. However, it did suffer from recency bias. Relegating Clara Schumann, Bizet, and Holst to the directory in favour of smaller modern and contemporary composers is criminal.

[Indah Threez Lestari · Rating 4 out of 5]

523 - 2019

[CHARLES SCOTT JOHNSON · Rating 4 out of 5]

A useful book for someone like me with no musical background.