Five Straight Lines: A History of Music

by Andrew Gant

Whether you prefer Baroque or pop, Theremins or violins, the music you love and listen to shapes your world. But what shaped the music? Ranging across time and space, this book takes us on a grand musical tour from music's origins in prehistory right up to the twenty-first century. Charting the leaps in technology, thought and practice that led to extraordinary revolutions of music in each age, the book takes us through medieval Europe, Renaissance Italy and Jazz era America to reveal the rich history of music we still listen to today. From Mozart to McCartney, Schubert to Schoenberg, Professor Andrew Gant brings to life the people who made the music, their techniques and instruments, as well as the places their music was played, from sombre churches to rowdy taverns, stately courts to our very own homes.

Genres: Music, History, Nonfiction

608 pages, Hardcover

Published May 17, 2022

About the author

Andrew Gant (1963-) is a composer, choirmaster, church musician, university teacher and writer. He has directed many leading choirs including The Guards' Chapel, Worcester College Oxford, and Her Majesty's Chapel Royal. He lectures in Music at St Peter's College in Oxford, where he lives with his wife and their three children. His books for Profile are Christmas Carols and Sing Unto the Lord.

Reviews

[Alex · Rating 1 out of 5]

Got bored, didn't finish. Not super approachable for the general public.

[David Sørensen · Rating 2 out of 5]

History used to be about great men (and a few women, if you were lucky), Plutarch's "Parallell Lives" being an excellent example. This is, however, a thing of the past in modern historiography, where great people are mentioned now and then (apart from biographies of course). They are mentioned when there is a need to do so. We rarely hear about their strange habbits, sex life or childhood unless it is relevant to the topic. A thing of the past it migth be, but apparently not for the history of music.

This book is titled "Five Straight Lines: A History of Music" but a more fitting title would be "Five Straight Lines: Biographies of the Most Famous Musicians of Music in the West". Don't expect to learn much about Romanticism or Classicism as a period, but prepare for a lot of juicy information about the life of Mozart and Listz.

Two stars because it is a completely average read.

[Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book about the entire history of western music. Reviewers have noted how it suffers from compressing such a huge subject - glossing over composers while trying to simultaneously illuminate their lives and works. It does, however, succeed in providing a good, detailed, high-level overview for the novice.

[Brian Hanson · Rating 1 out of 5]

Tiresome. Over-ambitious and therefore rushed. Not very informative. Makes one long for Alex Ross.

[Cassie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Detail heavy. Hard to enjoy most of the time due to the overwhelming detail.

[Katie Harding · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel like this fell into the trap most history of music books do; it ends up listing soo many names and trying to touch on so many composers that you don't get into the detail of much