Music History Surveys?

[Stan Haskins]

Does anyone have any suggested books or recorded lecture series about music history (You know, orchestral music - something to supplement my fading memories of the undergraduate survey classes I took)

I'm looking for relatively comprehensive overviews of composers, methods used, orchestration/performance style/composition style used to "define" musical periods and their place in history, etc . . .

Any suggestions appreciated - Thanks!

[billyfalconer]

Originally Posted by Stan Haskins

Does anyone have any suggested books or recorded lecture series about music history (You know, orchestral music - something to supplement my fading memories of the undergraduate survey classes I took)

I'm looking for relatively comprehensive overviews of composers, methods used, orchestration/performance style/composition style used to "define" musical periods and their place in history, etc . . .

Any suggestions appreciated - Thanks!

There's always Grout, which you can probably find used. And yes, I know that some early editions had errors, but it's still a good starting point.

[Stan Haskins]

Originally Posted by billyfalconer

There's always Grout, which you can probably find used. And yes, I know that some early editions had errors, but it's still a good starting point.

Sorry, I'm not familiar with it. Do you know the title, publisher, or anything else?

Thanks!

[billyfalconer]

Originally Posted by Stan Haskins

Sorry, I'm not familiar with it. Do you know the title, publisher, or anything else?

Here's the latest edition on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/History-Wester.../dp/0393979911

But, like I said above, you can probably find one at a used book store, especially one by a college campus. It's a standard textbook, and tends to get sold at the end of semesters.

[Jeremy Allen]

I'm with Billy: get the Seventh Edition of the Grout/Burkholder. It is a vastly improved version of the standard Grout textbook; Peter Burkholder did a great job of fixing whatever errors and omissions may have been in the previous editions and gave the whole a thing a very readable context-based approach. If you get the combo pack with the Norton Anthology of Western Music (Amazon sells them as a package) you'll have all of the musical examples referenced in the book and a pretty comprehensive collection of Western art music for a reasonable price.

[MonetBass]

Originally Posted by Jeremy Allen

If you get the combo pack with the Norton Anthology of Western Music...

Ah, the Norton scores from Music Lit. Still have 'em, and I break 'em out once in a while. Not great recordings, but it helps for the sake of having examples.

[Stan Haskins]

Thanks -

I'll start looking for the Grout/Norton Anthology (btw, anyone who wants to get rid of their copy can PM me)

Not to belabor the point, but I'm also kind of a fan of lecture series on tape (great for long drives). Does anyone know of any good audio series that survey the history of "western art music"?