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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A decent survey, but not without several major holes,
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This review is from: Baroque Music (3rd Edition) (Paperback)
This book is part of the Prentice Hall History of Music Series. I have not read every book in the series, but they seem to be similar overall--good but not great.
At first one might think a 300+ page book on Baroque music is sufficient. Palisca begins with the rise of the Baroque ideal, and quickly moves to Italy and the rise of Baroque music there. Other chapters cover various genres and countries, including lute and keyboard music, organ and clavier music in Germany, dramatic music in England, sacred music in France, and J.S. Bach. Palisca's writing seems good for undergraduate music majors-the reader needs a strong background of musical terms and concepts in order to get the most out of the book, but it is certainly not too dry or cerebral. The musical excerpts in the book are illustrative of Palisca's points, and the bibliographies at the end of each chapter are particularly helpful. The main problem of this text is its inability to comprehensively address all of the music. While J.S. Bach does receive his own chapter, he only gets twenty pages. Palisca really covers only a couple of concertos in this space, ignoring all of Bach's other works. This happens in a number of places. What this book had going for it was the fact that there were not any other texts out there which were any better. Professors had to choose between this text and the Bukofzer text from the Norton Series written in 1947 (music scholars have uncovered a great deal of information about Baroque music since the Korean War). I have not read the new Norton book by John Walter Hall, but if it's anything like the others, it will beat Palisca's text with regards to information, scope, and scholarship (though probably not readability). Professors teaching an undergraduate course may still go with Palisca's book, but they should be prepared to supplant the text with other materials. It may be a good teaser to those with possible interest in Baroque music, and can be used as a reference/springboard to other topics.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Solid survey text for undergraduate music history courses and the general reader,
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This review is from: Baroque Music (3rd Edition) (Paperback)
The problem with teaching a survey course that introduces a topic a broad and deep as the Baroque era of music (roughly 1600 - 1740) is that there is never enough time to do more than touch on the most important points. If you dive deeply into one area, say, the concerto, that's it. You are done for the term and maybe more. This text does a good job in supporting such a course. It allows the student to get a quick overview and use all those nice new terms they are learning. It is not comprehensive; no single volume book could be.
There are many good music examples and the writing is clear and to the point. A professor using this text will likely provide his or her own supplementary material and focus in on certain areas more than another. Some chapters are likely to be assigned reading, but not discussed much in class. For the general reader, this is also a solid introductory text, but if you don't have a handle on a lot of musical terms, you might want to also pick up a good music dictionary as well.
1.0 out of 5 stars
As good as the worst mistake,
This review is from: Baroque Music (3rd Edition) (Paperback)
When facts count a book is as good as the worst mistake.
When you find one you wonder: how many others there are ? He states: "The earliest known representation of the new family of instruments is this fresco from the 1530s on the cupola of the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Saronno, Piedmont," Now, saying that Saronno is in Piedmont, is like stating that Cambridge (MA) is located in Alabama.
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