Music lovers of all ages are drawn to the pure melodies of classical music. Now aficionados of this timeless genre can learn something about classical music every day of the year! Readers will find everything from brief biographies of their favorite composers to summaries of the most revered operas. Interesting facts about the world’s most celebrated songs and discussions of classical music–meets–pop culture make this book as fun as it is informative. Ten categories of discussion rotate throughout the year: Classical Music Periods, Compositional Forms, Great Composers, Celebrated Works, Basic Instruments, Famous Operas, Music Theory, Venues of the World, Museums & Festivals, and Pop Culture Medley.

Learn about the world’s greatest classical compositions and musical traditions in The Classical Music Book. Part of the fascinating Big Ideas series, this book tackles tricky topics and themes in a simple and easy to follow format. Learn about Classic Music in this overview guide to the subject, great for novices looking to find out more and experts wishing to refresh their knowledge alike! The Classical Music Book brings a fresh and vibrant take on the topic through eye-catching graphics and diagrams to immerse yourself in. This captivating book will broaden your understanding of Classical Music, with: - More than 90 pieces of world-famous music - Packed with facts, charts, timelines and graphs to help explain core concepts - A visual approach to big subjects with striking illustrations and graphics throughout - Easy to follow text makes topics accessible for people at any level of understanding The Classical Music Book is a captivating introduction to music theory, crucial composers and the impact of seminal pieces, aimed at adults with an interest in the subject and students wanting to gain more of an overview. Here you’ll discover more than 90 works by famous composers from the early period to the modern day, through exciting text and bold graphics. Your Classical Music Questions, Simply Explained From Mozart to Mendelssohn, this fresh new guide goes beyond your typical music books, offering a comprehensive overview to classical music history and biography. If you thought it was difficult to learn about music theory, The Classical Music Book presents key information in an easy to follow layout. Explore the main ideas underpinning the world’s greatest compositions and musical traditions, and define their importance to the musical canon and into their wider social, cultural, and historical context. The Big Ideas Series With millions of copies sold worldwide, The Classical Music Book is part of the award-winning Big Ideas series from DK. The series uses striking graphics along with engaging writing, making big topics easy to understand.

A Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction Book of 2021 A provocative interpretation of why classical music in America "stayed white"—how it got to be that way and what can be done about it. In 1893 the composer Antonín Dvorák prophesied a “great and noble school” of American classical music based on the “negro melodies” he had excitedly discovered since arriving in the United States a year before. But while Black music would foster popular genres known the world over, it never gained a foothold in the concert hall. Black composers found few opportunities to have their works performed, and white composers mainly rejected Dvorák’s lead. Joseph Horowitz ranges throughout American cultural history, from Frederick Douglass and Huckleberry Finn to George Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess and the work of Ralph Ellison, searching for explanations. Challenging the standard narrative for American classical music fashioned by Aaron Copland and Leonard Bernstein, he looks back to literary figures—Emerson, Melville, and Twain—to ponder how American music can connect with a “usable past.” The result is a new paradigm that makes room for Black composers, including Harry Burleigh, Nathaniel Dett, William Levi Dawson, and Florence Price, while giving increased prominence to Charles Ives and George Gershwin. Dvorák’s Prophecy arrives in the midst of an important conversation about race in America—a conversation that is taking place in music schools and concert halls as well as capitols and boardrooms. As George Shirley writes in his foreword to the book, “We have been left unprepared for the current cultural moment. [Joseph Horowitz] explains how we got there [and] proposes a bigger world of American classical music than what we have known before. It is more diverse and more equitable. And it is more truthful.”

Music in the Classical World: Genre, Culture, and History provides a broad sociocultural and historical perspective of the music of the Classical Period as it relates to the world in which it was created. It establishes a background on the time span—1725 to 1815—offering a context for the music made during one of the more vibrant periods of achievement in history. Outlining how music interacted with society, politics, and the arts of that time, this kaleidescopic approach presents an overview of how the various genres expanded during the period, not just in the major musical centers but around the globe. Contemporaneous treatises and commentary documenting these changes are integrated into the narrative. Features include the following: A complete course with musical scores on the companion website, plus links to recordings—and no need to purchase a separate anthology The development of style and genres within a broader historical framework Extensive musical examples from a wide range of composers, considered in context of the genre A thorough collection of illustrations, iconography, and art relevant to the music of the age Source documents translated by the author Valuable student learning aids throughout, including a timeline, a register of people and dates, sidebars of political importance, and a selected reading list arranged by chapter and topic A companion website featuring scores of all music discussed in the text, recordings of most musical examples, and tips for listening Music in the Classical World: Genre, Culture, and History tells the story of classical music through eighteenth-century eyes, exposing readers to the wealth of music and musical styles of the time and providing a glimpse into that vibrant and active world of the Classical Period.

This book is written from a composer's point of view and is intended to be a reference book for the analysis of arranging techniques. Its aim is to help composers and arrangers improve their compositional skills as well as their understanding of various musical styles. Through a study and analysis of the scores and styles of the master composers, the author gives a broad view of the music of both the past and of the present. This allows the musician to navigate within the contemporary music scene with an essential awareness of and appreciation for all genres of music. the skills and concepts taught in this book will help the aspiring arranger harmonize melodies and write counter-melodies quickly and efficiently utilizing various combinations of instruments and voices, whether for pops orchestra, television, or recordings, according to the demands of modern commercial music.

In recent years classical music has become a test case for debates over the future of culture. As times have changed, the value traditionally placed on this music has been challenged on social rather than aesthetic grounds. Lovers of classical music have been asked how its privileged history can be reconciled with growing demands for social justice and social inclusiveness. They have been asked how the music’s standing as one of the great accomplishments of the West can be reconciled with the many injustices on which those accomplishments in part depended. How can the future of classical music escape the darker shadows of its past? ‘Classical Music in a Changing World: Crisis and Vital Signs’ addresses the crisis provoked by such questions in two complementary ways. Several of the chapters show how the classical music world is already grappling with the crisis, and finding vital signs beyond the borders of the music’s traditional European strongholds: in Turkey from Ottoman times to the present, in Colombia, and in a Black American film. Other chapters identify areas that still need improvement, especially on behalf of female and LGBTQ+ musicians, and suggest how advances can be made both on concert stages and in schools. This volume, which opens with an introduction by Alberto Nones that contextualizes the book and outlines the main arguments of its chapters, contains an essay by Lawrence Kramer that examines the place of classical music in the history of consciousness—a history now changing rapidly—and concludes with a Postscript written by the two editors. The writing in this volume will be accessible to a wide audience, including scholars and students, professionals and amateurs, performers and listeners. Teachers will find it a source of lively classroom debate, and scholars a source of learning outside the usual arenas. The book’s “vital signs” include the accompanying audio tracks (available for download at: https://vernonpress. com/book/1281), which feature vibrant music-making from a diverse range of performers and composers.