A History of Music in Western Civilization: Fascinating Discussions by 15 Prominent Music Authorities, with Musical Examples [12-cd set]

by Various

From anonymous 10th century troubadours to world-renowned 20th century composers, "A History of Music of the Western World" explores the roots of the most influential music genres of our time. Essential listening for students and lovers of great music, the collection includes stimulating discussions by 15 prominent music authorities, including Christopher Hogwood and Dr. Wilfrid Mellers.
The collection includes
1) New Arts for Old: Medieval Music 1100-1480
2) Musick's Feaste: Music of the Renaissance 1480-1600
3) "A Pearl Distorted": the Baroque Period 1600-1750
4) Sonata and the Creative Ideal: The Classical Period 1750-1830
5) Expressions and Extravagance: The Romantic Period 1830-1900
6) Reaction and Revolution: The Modern Period 1900-1945
7) Contemporary Music 1945-1980
8) Approaches to Popular Music 1960-1980
9) From Cave to Cavern: The History of Percussion Instruments
10) Islands in the Sun: The Story of Reggae and Calypso
11) A Jug of This: An Introduction to English Folk Music
12) Instruments Around the World

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, History

1 pages, Audio CD

First published December 26, 1996

About the author

Various is the correct author for any book with multiple unknown authors, and is acceptable for books with multiple known authors, especially if not all are known or the list is very long (over 50).

If an editor is known, however, Various is not necessary. List the name of the editor as the primary author (with role "editor"). Contributing authors' names follow it.

Note: WorldCat is an excellent resource for finding author information and contents of anthologies.

Reviews

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was such an interesting and necessary format for a book of this type. It's separated into sections, some are like presentations, some are conversations, interspersed with clips from the music they are discussing. They don't go into detail about the biographical information of the composers, so you won't find out how many siblings Bach had. Aside from the name and location and time of the composers, they talk only about the style of music, the format and structure, and then play an example of what they're talking about. It's wonderful and fascinating.

[Vicky Liu · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the format of this book. Being able to hear the musical exerpts right as it is being discussed is great. Although I enjoyed several of the segments like the one on the Baroque era and world instruments, some of the segments on modern and pop music focused too much on philosophy and culture rather than the music. So while I had a good time listening, I find it hard to recommend this to someone who is very new to music because many of the segments jump into the topic with not much introduction. At the same time, I don't recommend it to someone very interested in music because it barely skims the surface and all the musical exerpts are pretty short.

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice run through of all the blue chip composers. The audio book helped me conclude that I am most interested in romantic era piano compositions: Chopin, Liszt, DeBussy, Shubert, Mendelssohn, Brahms.

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Compiled in 1983. Very helpful in illustrating the different musical periods. A very broad survey. Satisfying

[Pao]

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