Customer Reviews

Twentieth Century Music: An Introduction (4th Edition)

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I used this book two graduate level music courses, and had it recommended as a great resource in a third class. While it can be read and understood by someone new to this era in music, it is also full of information that even the most knowledgable musician can appreciate. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in Twentieth-Century music.

I applaud Salzman for his achievement. The book is intellectual, thorough, and perhaps even profound at times. He's obviously listened to these composers and studied their works extensively, not just as a historian, but as a composer.

My problem with the book is that it's not an introduction. Rather, it's a history of musical ideas that will make little sense without already having a firm grasp of the music and the period. The writing style is fluffy and abstract; he prefers long, windy sentences that are full of vague descriptions and impressions; it's almost never concise; and after reading a section, you're often left wondering what it was all about.

For most students, it won't be a very practical book since he doesn't give a clear sense of the timeline (it's only roughly chronological), doesn't tell us which works are most significant (he seems to write about whatever "inspires" him), does not discuss composer biographies at all, and doesn't even give musical examples in the body of the text (only in the appendix). His argument against giving musical examples is that they would make the book too intimidating for the beginner. This is absurd: first, the book is already intellectually daunting and incomprehensible to somebody who hasn't already studied the period and done some substantial listening; second, not having musical examples makes the whole thing far too abstract. With some concrete examples, it might actually be possible to evaluate some of his never-ending, theoretical musings.

Overall, an impressive achievement, but undisciplined, long-winded, and inappropriate as an introduction to the period. Go with Morgan's survey as a start.

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Twentieth-Century Music: A History of Musical Style in Modern Europe and America (The Norton Introduction to Music History)