Music in Western Civilization, Volume II: The Enlightenment to the Present
"[The writing] was the book's principle strength. It is a truly accessible book…Students might even become better writers by reading this textbook! It's probably alone in its field in this respect, and I can't praise it enough.""Finally a textbook that examines the history if music in the wider context of Western civilization. The reader gets a clear sense of how music functioned in society.""The writing is focused, vivid, and engaging---the strongest I have seen in a college textbook for majors studying Western art music. The author excels at breathing life into the works of prominent composers, and at setting in sharp relief the historical and cultural circumstances that engendered them.""Short chapters delineate material into "user-friendly" segments."