Development of Western Music: A History

by K. Marie Stolba

chapters commence with a general historical overview and conclude with a summary of the developments in musci discussed therin

Genres: Music, History, Nonfiction

734 pages, Hardcover

First published August 28, 1990

Reviews

[David]

Since, of all art forms, I find music to move me the deepest I thought I would explore some of the technical theory behind it. The relationships to math are astounding, who knew that harmonics and patterns with mathematical cores could have such profound impact on the soul. MATH>>>>SOUL.

A lot of the structures of early Western Classical music is related to the Catholic church- I learned a fair amount about the structures of Catholic ritual and the accompanying music. So much devotion.

The book gave me a good primer but I will not actually finish it- its a text book and I'm not in a class- who was I kidding?

[mensch · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent and comprehensive overview of the development of Western music through the ages, starting from the Greeks to dodecaphony and further. The book is rather technical at times, so some passages are not easy to follow for someone who can't read notes or is oblivious to the musical jargon. One should get a hold of the separate, optional audio anthology as some of the musical examples are best explained by listening to them.