A History of Musical Style

I can't imagine why this isn't required reading in every music program in the world. This book is so invaluable to music historians, performers, and lovers in general of any period of music, that it should be on everyone's shelf. The other glowing reviews don't do it justice, and neither would anything I could write. If you want to consider yourself informed about any period in music, this is the place to start. Crocker's book is technical enough for those with even the most extensive backgrounds in music, while being accessible to those who are just beginning to learn about musical development. I recommend this to all my students and colleagues, and it is, quite simply, one of those books you shouldn't be without.

This is truly a great book. It is always astonishing to come face to face with a comprehensive one-volume work on any topic. Invariably, I ask myself, how is it possible that one person could study and write about so many things? Such books are rare, but this is one of them. The book begins with music of the Franks and takes a whirlwind tour through the centuries, revealing a wealth of insight into the major and minor genres in western music. Although the book is often pigeonholed as a standard reference work for musicology students cramming for exams; it is much more than that, and there are ideas here that you won't find elsewhere. In addition, anyone who has the patience to tease through a few complicated musical forms can read this book and learn from it--the prose is straightforword and not a bit sesquipedalian. There are those who say that the parts dealing with medieval and renaissance music are the most rewarding, but I found the whole book interesting. The book is fun to read alongside Gerald Abraham's "Concise Oxford History of Music."

Crocker's History of Musical Style is an invaluable resource for the serious listener. Markedly different from both the routine music history and the contextless, isolated concert programme notes, it provides the kind of deep analysis that enables the reader to understand the relationships between compositional trends as they are expressed by representative composers. Additionally, Crocker's professional background in Medieval music means that the pre-Bach periods are given ample attention by an expert in the field rather than by a subject matter "tourist."I had this text when I was in college 30 years ago and was delighted to find it still in print because it is the one music history I recommend without hesitation to my musically literate friends.