As a student, I was required to use this text book for music history (1750 - ) and, unlike most other textbooks, I actually read this one! I was very impressed with both the depth and breadth of the text, as I found the text to include an impressive balance of both.
Our final project for the course was a "historiography" paper (or the "history of history"). For this project we examined seven text books, comparing purposes, organization, etc. I found that the Grout by far met my needs, as an undergraduate music performance student, the best. I believe, it's the industry standard because it's truly excellent. While there are texts that provide more depth and others for a more general audience, Grout, et al. provide a solid introduction (as a music history course should) to the field, providing sufficient examination of the music itself and the background of the composers.
Below is an excerpt from my final paper for the course. For this I chose to compare the treatment of Beethoven in each of the seven texts.
"For the past semester, I have been reading from A History of Western Music by J. Peter Burkholder as my primary source for studying music history and therefore it has been very influential in my conception of music history and how it should be taught and studied. Burkholder devotes nearly an entire chapter to the composer, thus emphasizing his centrality in the development of music. The entire text is very well organized, being systematically broken down essentially into an outline; this carries through in the discussion on Beethoven. After a brief introduction, Burkholder discusses Beethoven according to the three periods of his life. He provides an account of the circumstances in each period and a description of a piece from each of the three periods (which are also in the accompanying anthology and recording set). This allows the reader to have an aural, visual, and descriptive comparison of the changes in Beethoven’s music. The model of Haydn and Mozart in the Pathetique Sonata, the heroism of the Eroica Symphony and the characteristic inwardness of the late period in Op. 131 are seen, heard and described in the chapter (and accompanying scores). Burkholder not only refers to both the track number of the accompanying CD set and the page in the anthology, guiding the reader to the music, but marks the references in a different colored ink. He includes several source readings, musical excerpts, timelines, pictures, diagrams, and other resources throughout the chapter for the greater comprehension of the reader. Together these elements provide strong evidence for the "centrality of Beethoven" discussed at the conclusion of the chapter."
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Full of underline despite being purchased "new".
The book is fine - the seller is pushing used merchandise as new.The pages are in good shape in that they aren't torn or dirty or wrinkled but the book is FULL of underlining.
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The book is in absolutely pristine condition and arrived very quickly.
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Cynthia Makris
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