Synopses & Reviews
Organized chronologically by musical era, this comprehensive, authoritative, and accessible volume contains a dazzling display of information, analysis, and color, adding up to a major new learning tool and ongoing reference source to inform and entertain students, scholars, and all lovers of classical music.
Each chapter features an introduction to the period, its key composers and other personalities, musical styles, forms, and instruments. Six thematic strands developed throughout the book are identified by a series of icons at the top of each spread. These elucidating themes designed to expand the reader's knowledge of various aspects of classical music and provide a context within each era are "Women in Music," "Arts & Culture," "Inside the Music," "The Voice," "Performance," and "Influences." A listening guide for each era covers details of orchestration, instrumentation, timing, and full historical background, and an extensive discography and bibliography are also included.
Review
"[A] lively invitation into the world of classical music." Chicago Tribune
Review
"There are many comprehensive musical encyclopedias, but for sheer beauty, the prize goes to this big coffee-table book." Seattle Times
Review
"When...was the last time you saw a picture of the Talking Heads or a mention of Yoko Ono in a classical music reference?" Boston Herald
About the Author
Stanley Sadie, editor of
The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, the unsurpassed musical reference source, was a professor at Trinity College of Music in London for ten years, music critic of
The Times (London) for seventeen years, and music consultant to some twenty-two television programs. Widely considered one of the world's most eminent authorities in music publishing, he is based in London, England.
Vladimir Ashkenazy is a world-renowned virtuoso pianist and conductor.