Strunk's Source Readings in Music History (Revised Edition) [Hardcover]

Leo Treitler (Editor), W. Oliver Strunk (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0393037525 | ISBN-13: 978-0393037524 | Publication Date: April 17, 1998 | Edition: Revised Edition

The definitive collection of great writings on music from ancient Greece through the twentieth century.

Forty-five years after the appearance of the first edition, Oliver Strunk's monumental anthology of writings about music has been thoroughly revised and extended by a team of scholars working under the direction of musicologist Leo Treitler. For this new edition, seven specialists in music history have replaced some selections, added others, contributed new translations, and provided additional notes and introductions. An entire new section, covering the twentieth century, significantly enlarges the book's scope. Readers can now acquire a comprehensive picture of Western musical thought and ideas through the ages.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Leo Treitler, Distinguished Professor of Music at the City University of New York, is the author of Music and the Historical Imagination, as well as other books and articles on music historiography and medieval music.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 1576 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; Revised Edition edition (April 17, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393037525
• ISBN-13: 978-0393037524
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.4 x 2.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #441,739 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Visual Artist's Review, April 23, 2008

By 

Jokie X Wilson "jokiex" (San Francisco, California United States) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Strunk's Source Readings in Music History (Revised Edition) (Hardcover)

I am a visual artist with a great appreciation for music. Over the years, I have had many questions about music, why it was done this way or that, why some people felt something wasn't music that others did, and the like. I generally listen to music while I paint and draw. I am educated in visual art making, history, and aesthetics. I wanted a book that would answer my questions and in the voices of the composers, critics, philosophers, performers, and others of the periods in question. I wanted something not too technical, something that explained the whys and why nots. I wanted a book like the Art in Theory series, but about music. This is that book!

Granted, a person's appreciation for the texts will be deeper with the ability to read music and a knowledge of how to play it. A few essays are almost entirely about sophisticated technical issues. But most of the book is accessible to the layperson or philistine. True, some issues in visual art and music overlap, but there are many differenes in thinking. So, my art education itself would not explain to me what I needed to know.

The book made me as comfortable with music as I have been in my life with visual art. Music can have an intimidation factor due to it being a language most of us cannot write. But hearing the issues that concerned the creators of music as well as philosophers who wished to discuss it made it an incredibly human and welcoming phenomenon. Yes, you can have a sense of humor about great composers, performers, and the like. Yes, some composers find other composers boring. But even the composers you can't stand work their tails off to make experiences that we can enjoy. Hey, everybody wants to be loved ;-).

This revised edition has some snappy articles by various women in it. Yay! So, it's not just a boys club. And it attempts to have a global cultural edge to it, while staying in the Western tradition. So, you get a variety of perspectives that sometimes have an outsider feel about them.

It took me two months to read this book and I don't regret a minute of it! It was a very enriching experience and has opened my eyes to musics I never imagined I'd like! :-{D}

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant collection, January 11, 2007

By 

James Cockroft (Holbrook, New York) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Strunk's Source Readings in Music History (Revised Edition) (Hardcover)

This is an excellent compendium of music philosophy from ancient times through the 20th century. The selections are grouped into large sections covering individual periods, and the sections are subdivided into subsections covering various movements. Each section opens with a helpful introduction that clarifies the material to follow, and most of the selections are complete. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in the development of orchestral music and aural philosophy.

For first-hand accounts, period criticism and reviews, I recommend Weiss and Taruskin's "Music in the Western World" ISBN: 0-02-872900-5.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must buy for all music students., February 17, 2008

By 

M. Fuchs (Columbus, OH) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Strunk's Source Readings in Music History (Revised Edition) (Hardcover)

Any college music student at any level will benefit from owning this book. An excellent supplement for music history or theory studies, it contains much of the primary source material that is discussed in history textbooks. Definitely buy the full volume hardcover text if you have not yet purchased a few of the single volume paperbacks. The full text contains all of the same materials. It may be heavier to carry around, but you will save almost $200.