Customer Reviews

Music in Ancient Greece and Rome

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This book is great. I was looking for a clear and concise introduction to the world of ancient western music, and this is it. There are other books, thicker and full of technicisms, detailing all the little nuances of modality, tuning, lexicography... Try to read them if you can. This book manages to cover all the topics I was interested in (instruments, scales, notation) and some others in a brilliant way. It is a bit on the expensive side, but totally worth it.

This is so far a fascinating book to read. It covers music from ancient times and he uses actual music that was uncovered from those times. What I find very interesting is the connection to the modal/tonal music that we are most familiar with in this day and age. I like the way he connects things in his book! I recommend this to anyone who is interested in history and music alike. I think I shall enjoy this book for years to come!!!

My PhD is in Classical Studies, and this is the best-written work I've seen by anyone in the field. The author wrote it in his retirement, which may explain his comfortable, no-nonsense approach to the subject matter, although I have a feeling he was the same way as a professor. The material is thoroughly covered but with no time-wasting pedantic preening, and the prose style is actually a pleasure to read. If you love music, and you love the literature and art of ancient Greece, this is a book you will treasure.