My rating:
add to my books
Loading...
The Vintage Guide to Classical Music
by
Jan Swafford
The most readable and comprehensive guide to enjoying over five hundred years of classical music -- from Gregorian chants, Johann Sebastian Bach, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to Johannes Brahms, Igor Stravinsky, John Cage, and beyond.
The Vintage Guide to Classical Music is a lively -- and opinionated -- musical history and an insider's key to the personalities, epochs, and ...more
The Vintage Guide to Classical Music is a lively -- and opinionated -- musical history and an insider's key to the personalities, epochs, and ...more
Paperback, 624 pages
Published
December 15th 1992
by Vintage
There is a good chance some of your friends read this book. Sign in to see!
sign in »
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
This book is currently not featured on any Listopia lists.
Add this book to your favorite list »
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
114)
This is a fantastic book. Jan Swafford is not only intelligent but approachable. His vocabulary astounds me, and the there is nothing to say about how enriching the biographies and "side-bars" are. This book is fantastic for every level of music lover - from performer to listener to historian to veteran to novice to beginner. Jan Swafford has done something special for the world in creating undersized-easy-to-use - guide to western "classical" music from circa. 1200-1992... t...more
This serviceable overview of the history of classical music is primarily a collection of biographies of the lives of major composers. It gives short shrift to music before the classical period, which is a shame because the story of Medieval and Renaissance music is every bit as interesting and rather less well known than more recent developments. Swafford is a lively writer and the lives of composers are rarely dull.
His treatment of Wagner left me disgusted and bitter, but then many...more
His treatment of Wagner left me disgusted and bitter, but then many...more
A real pleasure to read. Because Swafford has a justified confidence that he isn't a snob, he doesn't need to engage in any knee-jerk populism when writing about this freighted subject. Writing fairly and engagingly about the relative strengths and weaknesses of several dozen individuals who are all gods among men--with fewer than 600 pages, there's no space for mere demigods--is a real achievement.
My favorite two lines are from the section on twentieth-century composers:
...more
My favorite two lines are from the section on twentieth-century composers:
...more
quite engaging and comprehensive - from musical terms to individual composers; a must for anyone building a classical music library.
A MUST OWN FOR ANY CLASSICAL MUSICIAN!
Very helpful suggestions on building a classical music library. Nice essays on tonal vs. atonal music, consonance and dissonance, etc. plus lots of little details about famous musicians. Did you know Beethoven was only 5'4" tall and had a 10th symphony in the works before he died?
view 2 comments
Melissa
added it
This was required reading in my college music history courses, but has become one of my favorite music history reference books. It's concise, and it highlights interesting things about composers and pieces of music that help bring music history to life.
Excellent source of information, and surprisingly engaging and easy to read. Best book of music history I've read (though that's not really saying much).
Stuart
marked it as to-read
Heather
marked it as to-read
Tansy E
added it
Rennie
marked it as to-read
King
marked it as to-read
Steeve
marked it as to-read
نزار شهاب الدين
marked it as to-read
Reese
marked it as to-read
Fergie
marked it as to-read
Brandon
marked it as to-read
E.J. Iannelli
added it
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
