A History of Western Music, Sixth Edition (Hardcover)

~ Donald J. Grout (Author), (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

First rate….I am frankly in awe of the achievement. -- Ed Nowacki, University of Cincinnati

This truly significant updating…will be welcomed enthusiastically by teachers and students alike. -- Andrew Dell'Antonio, University of Texas, Austin --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Product Description

Recognized as the finest survey of Western art music in the English language, this distinguished book has enlightened a multitude of music lovers since it first appeared in 1960. This handsome new edition incorporates the latest advances in music scholarship.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 843 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; 6th edition (December 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393975274
• ISBN-13: 978-0393975277
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 7.3 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #346,103 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

53 of 59 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The 6th edition still sets the standard !, April 10, 2004

By	K. Mahood "musikdok" (Northern Virginia, United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I remember the First edition of Grout's "A History of Western Music"--it was the main text in use when I was a first year undergraduate student. In fact it was one of the standard texts in use at a large number of colleges. The good news is that I was pleased to see the excellent changes. I didn't have to look far to find my first (1 st) edition Grout ( I've used it still until I purchased this new 6th edition several weeks ago)--there are 101 more pages of text. In reality there is much more to look at as the 1st edition book was only 6 x 9 inches. The new 6th Edition is larger: 7 1/4 by 10 1/2 inches. In addition, there is a highly attractive layout; the best feature? A wonderful highlighted-in-blue area (appearing every 40 pages or so) in which the composers themselves speak about a wonderful range of topics such as Francois Couperin 'On the Union of the Italian and French Styles' or, the great J.S. Bach's description of one the church service's he organized (known as an 'Order of Service') taken from a collection of his memoirs.
Lastly, I enjoyed seeing the addition of an overall "Time-Line of Events" which prefaces each unit. This includes not only items from music, but any historical event which remotely affected change in music or musical thought.
My singluar critical note is perhaps something which the authors had little time to devote to. The 6th edition ends with composers who, in this reviewer's opinion, were certainly not 'mainstream'--like John Cage (1912-1992) (who's infamous "4'33" is actually a period of four minutes and thirythree seconds in which the 'performer' remains totally silent). Cage was popular in the late 70s more for his extremism than anything else. The last paragraph of the book does state, in effect, that composers are being more sensitive to their audiences. (No doubt! Their INsensitivity nearly killed classical music in the 70s) As with any textbook, deadlines must limit speculation--there will undoubtedly be a 7th edition to address more changes in our musical world.
Lastly, the reader should take note that the current author of this work, Claude V. Palisca, is also the author of the "Norton Anthology of Music" which can be used in conjunction with this text. Also, the publisher, W.W.Norton and Co., has a website for readers (which is also mentioned in the text: http://www.wwnorton.com/grout.). The website is still active (I just visited it) and has a wealth of information and listening resources---too bad we didn't have this back in 1967 !

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Reference!, October 19, 2003

By	S. Desouches "avid reader" (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Before I say anything else, you should know that the everyday price for this 6th edition hardcover book is much less at your local bookstore (not at liberty to state where). Why on earth does Amazon charge so much!?

I was delighted to hear that Palisca had released yet another edition of this fine reference on the history of Western art music. I present pre-concert lectures & talks for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Ravinia Festival and other local orchestras and I find this reference to be a good starting point for refreshing my knowledge of the historical context behind a piece of music I've been asked to talk about. The writing gets clearer and easier to read with every new edition. I found the 6th edition a very easy read, engrossing and wonderfully thorough given the scope of what it sets out to achieve.

Since I want this reference to assist me with historical context, I found that it does a terrific job up to the late 19th century, and is somewhat lacking from then on. The reference treats the late 19th and 20th century on a composer-by-composer basis and doesn't link the overall trends very well. For instance I couldn't find much on why Shostakovich and Prokovief composed as they did, whereas composers of the 18th and 19th centuries are placed in larger trends and movements rather easily. I understand that it takes time and dedicated scholars to reveal the many layers that make up an era and its art, so I am forgiving if still a little frustrated.

I was impressed that Palisca set out to have each and every section & composer reviewed by scholars in their respective fields of expertise. For instance, I had read a recently published and excellent book that set out to challenge the generally accepted view on Haydn and his place in history as a composer of symphonies, and that author is referenced as a source for the section on Haydn in this 6th edition. Palisca's desire to be thorough and to reflect the lastest research and thought on composers and their eras makes this 6th edition an even more valuable resource for my personal library.

I also found the revised glossary to be outstanding and incredibly helpful!

27 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The beset in its field -- revised or not, October 27, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: A History of Western Music (Hardcover)

Contrary to the views of the reviewer from San Francisco, the newly-revised fifth edition is much improved over the third and fourth editions. While I will agree that some book companies promote "newness" as a novlety, I don't agree that such is the case with this book. New discoveries are made about the history of music, especially early music, every year. If books such as this one weren't revised on a regular basis, the text wouldn't necessarily be accurate. Imagine writing a research paper on space travel using a set of enclopedias from 1962; it just won't work. This is by far the best book in its field. For some readers, it may be too concise, as I've heard many complaints that it's dry, boring reading. Well, it's a history textbook, not a Danielle Steele novel, so what would you expect?