Historical Anthology of Music, Volume II: Baroque, Rococo, and Pre-Classical Music

Willi Apel and Archibald Davidson put together the two-volume "Historical Anthology of Music" with such intelligence, taste, and care that it is still a definitive resource after fifty years in print. This volume begins with an excerpt of recitative from Jacopo Peri's "Euridice" (the first surviving complete opera) and takes to the pre-cursors of Classical music. While great composers are included, so are a range of composers whose music is largely unavailable in popular editions. It is easy to find J.S. Bach's music, but how much Pelham Humphrey do you have on your shelf? The examples are quite diverse, the notation, including realizations of figured bass (in smaller notes) is wonderfully clear for the ease of understanding by students. There is a nice balance of instrumental and vocal music, of sacred and secular music, and of various geographical locals and different time century and a half included in this book. There is commentary on the pieces in the back along with translations of the texts into English. The book has a nice large format and is wonderfully easy to read.