A History of Western Music

I remember the First edition of Grout's "A History of Western Music"--it was the main text in use when I was a first year undergraduate student. In fact it was one of the standard texts in use at a large number of colleges. The good news is that I was pleased to see the excellent changes. I didn't have to look far to find my first (1 st) edition Grout ( I've used it still until I purchased this new 6th edition several weeks ago)--there are 101 more pages of text. In reality there is much more to look at as the 1st edition book was only 6 x 9 inches. The new 6th Edition is larger: 7 1/4 by 10 1/2 inches. In addition, there is a highly attractive layout; the best feature? A wonderful highlighted-in-blue area (appearing every 40 pages or so) in which the composers themselves speak about a wonderful range of topics such as Francois Couperin 'On the Union of the Italian and French Styles' or, the great J.S. Bach's description of one the church service's he organized (known as an 'Order of Service') taken from a collection of his memoirs. Lastly, I enjoyed seeing the addition of an overall "Time-Line of Events" which prefaces each unit. This includes not only items from music, but any historical event which remotely affected change in music or musical thought. My singluar critical note is perhaps something which the authors had little time to devote to. The 6th edition ends with composers who, in this reviewer's opinion, were certainly not 'mainstream'--like John Cage (1912-1992) (who's infamous "4'33" is actually a period of four minutes and thirythree seconds in which the 'performer' remains totally silent). Cage was popular in the late 70s more for his extremism than anything else. The last paragraph of the book does state, in effect, that composers are being more sensitive to their audiences. (No doubt! Their INsensitivity nearly killed classical music in the 70s) As with any textbook, deadlines must limit speculation--there will undoubtedly be a 7th edition to address more changes in our musical world. Lastly, the reader should take note that the current author of this work, Claude V. Palisca, is also the author of the "Norton Anthology of Music" which can be used in conjunction with this text. Also, the publisher, W.W.Norton and Co., has a website for readers (which is also mentioned in the text: http://www.wwnorton.com/grout.). The website is still active (I just visited it) and has a wealth of information and listening resources---too bad we didn't have this back in 1967 !

Contrary to the views of the reviewer from San Francisco, the newly-revised fifth edition is much improved over the third and fourth editions. While I will agree that some book companies promote "newness" as a novlety, I don't agree that such is the case with this book. New discoveries are made about the history of music, especially early music, every year. If books such as this one weren't revised on a regular basis, the text wouldn't necessarily be accurate. Imagine writing a research paper on space travel using a set of enclopedias from 1962; it just won't work. This is by far the best book in its field. For some readers, it may be too concise, as I've heard many complaints that it's dry, boring reading. Well, it's a history textbook, not a Danielle Steele novel, so what would you expect?

This book is Donald J. Grout's masterpiece. Scholarly, detailed, and carefully considered, it includes analyses of pieces from every period in the history of western music. Grout interweaves the development of harmony, rhythm, and usage with the evolution of various instruments and vocal trends, and presents all in the context of social and political history.

"A History of Western Music" is a standard reference text for the academic study of "classical" art music from antiquity to the present (i.e. 1960). As an example of this book's scholarly authority, the 5th edition is commonly the sole information source for many Master's of Music history qualifying exams. Author and Cornell professor emeritus Donald Grout writes with a straightforward style and elucidates his prose with many colorful pictures and musical examples. All those looking for a thorough, single volume survey of Western art music should make this book the first addition to their library.