Norton Anthology of Western Music

As a student, I was required to use this text book for music history (1750 - ) and, unlike most other textbooks, I actually read this one! I was very impressed with both the depth and breadth of the text, as I found the text to include an impressive balance of both.Our final project for the course was a "historiography" paper (or the "history of history"). For this project we examined seven text books, comparing purposes, organization, etc. I found that the Grout by far met my needs, as an undergraduate music performance student, the best. I believe, it's the industry standard because it's truly excellent. While there are texts that provide more depth and others for a more general audience, Grout, et al. provide a solid introduction (as a music history course should) to the field, providing sufficient examination of the music itself and the background of the composers.Below is an excerpt from my final paper for the course. For this I chose to compare the treatment of Beethoven in each of the seven texts."For the past semester, I have been reading from A History of Western Music by J. Peter Burkholder as my primary source for studying music history and therefore it has been very influential in my conception of music history and how it should be taught and studied. Burkholder devotes nearly an entire chapter to the composer, thus emphasizing his centrality in the development of music. The entire text is very well organized, being systematically broken down essentially into an outline; this carries through in the discussion on Beethoven. After a brief introduction, Burkholder discusses Beethoven according to the three periods of his life. He provides an account of the circumstances in each period and a description of a piece from each of the three periods (which are also in the accompanying anthology and recording set). This allows the reader to have an aural, visual, and descriptive comparison of the changes in Beethoven’s music. The model of Haydn and Mozart in the Pathetique Sonata, the heroism of the Eroica Symphony and the characteristic inwardness of the late period in Op. 131 are seen, heard and described in the chapter (and accompanying scores). Burkholder not only refers to both the track number of the accompanying CD set and the page in the anthology, guiding the reader to the music, but marks the references in a different colored ink. He includes several source readings, musical excerpts, timelines, pictures, diagrams, and other resources throughout the chapter for the greater comprehension of the reader. Together these elements provide strong evidence for the "centrality of Beethoven" discussed at the conclusion of the chapter."

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: [...] 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 !

I had a paper to write on the evolution of European music. If you have to write a paper like I, or if you have intellectual curiosity, I would wholly recommend this book. It spans from the Ancient Greeks to Schoenberg, and the detail and references provided are simply astounding. You could take a whole year of classes based off of what is in this book. Don't let it's publication date fool you, this book shines above all others. Truly the definitive work on European music.

I used this book when I studied music forty-five years ago. I was not a music major but I learned so much about the source of what has become modern music. How can you fully appreciate the sounds you listen to today if you have no idea of the origin of your music style. While contemporary writers trace trendy music from one music generation to the next; to truly understand why you like what you like you must go back to the origins of the sounds. When I finished the course my favorite period was the Baroque. If you have not listened to J.S. Bach, then you have no idea why you enjoy today's contemporary fads. We owe a debt of thanks to Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, and their predecesors for laying the ground work for today's enjoyment.

It's not bad for a used book, I'm sure if I had gotten a new copy it would have been better, but realistically, a book this expensive (and used) is not worth it unless it's for class

I haven't had a chance to do more than browse through the book since I just received it today but it looks like exactly what I wanted. This is a college textbook and has had several more editions (this one is the 7th), but it is in absolutely perfect condition! The price was much lower than I had expected even for a textbook that is no longer used. I found a treasure!

Mesmo não tendo mudado muito em relação às edições anteriores da série, esse volume da antologia vale à pena ser adquirido (mesmo para quem possui a edição anterior) pelas poucas adições ao repertório.

比我想像的還要良好幾乎快全新 ^^

Fantastic book. Every chapter is illustrated with samples. All what my students need.

billig und ausreichend für den Zweck. nicht die neueste Edition aber hat alles was ich brauchte. und beim Test hat es sich hilfreich bewiesen.

It is essential reading for my daughter's university course. It has been - and still is - very well used.