Source Readings in Music History: The Baroque Era

by W. Oliver Strunk

Source reading of Baroque era in music history.

Genres: Music

Paperback

First published January 1, 1966

Reviews

[Mac · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was by far the best book in the Source Readings in Music History that I've read so far. The first section covers the early Italian baroque period of the first operas and madrigals. There were a surprising number of literary texts in dialogue form, including an extended excerpt from Johann Joseph Fux's Gradus ad Parnassum. Fux's work, which showed how to write in good counterpoint, was probably the most useful from a technical point of view. Surprisingly there were no excerpts from other technical treatises by authors such as François Couperin, Johann Joachim Quantz, or C.P.E. Bach. These authors are more useful for a modern musician trying to play in a historically-informed style. But the excerpts included here are quite good at establishing the historical context of the period, and the conflicts between old and new styles and philosophies, etc.