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Oxford History of Western Music: 5-vol. set

by Richard Taruskin (Author)
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 40 ratings
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The Oxford History of Western Music is a magisterial survey of the traditions of Western music by one of the most prominent and provocative musicologists of our time. This text illuminates, through a representative sampling of masterworks, those themes, styles, and currents that give shape and direction to each musical age. Taking a critical perspective, this text sets the details of music, the chronological sweep of figures, works, and musical ideas, within the larger context of world affairs and cultural history. Written by an authoritative, opinionated, and controversial figure in musicology, The Oxford History of Western Music provides a critical aesthetic position with respect to individual works, a context in which each composition may be evaluated and remembered. Taruskin combines an emphasis on structure and form with a discussion of relevant theoretical concepts in each age, to illustrate how the music itself works, and how contemporaries heard and understood it. It also describes how the c
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  1. ISBN-10
    0195386302
  2. ISBN-13
    978-0195386301
  3. Publisher
    Oxford University Press
  4. Publication date
    July 27, 2009
  5. Language
    English
  6. Dimensions
    6 x 14 x 10 inches
  7. Print length
    3856 pages
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Most of the news in classical music takes place on stage or on disc. But at the moment, one of the biggest stories (in more ways than one) is taking place on the printed page." --The New York Times

"Erudite, engaging, and suffused throughout with a mixture of brilliance and delirium...staggering, brilliant, opinionated."--Washington Post

"Readers will profit from his sharp analysis and unabashed opinions... Taruskin has succeeded in writing a stimulating overview of Western society, setting a standard that will not be surpassed for a very long time..." --Library Journal

"Taruskin's chef-d'oeuvre, however, is a feast of contrarian ideas, with enough spice to sting the palate of anyone with a stake in telling the old stories in the old way. It aims for nothing less than the revaluation of practically everything you thought you knew about classical music....Taruskin's magnum opus is a must-read, and in its way, a real page-turner of detective non-fiction. It's a cinch to become the most discussed music title of the year, if not of the decade."-- The Globe & Mail

"The book is nothing short of spectacular" - New Music Box

"There's plenty to keep you amused and enlightened - it's very good reading." - American Record Guide

"Rather than assemble an overview, Taruskin has written a critical, subjective history in which he examines the influence of key figures, works, and musical ideas against the backdrop of world affairs and cultural history."-Berkeleyan

"Musicians, students, historians, and other readers wishing a detailed narrative about the career, patronage, musical influences, reception, and creative production of western composers, as well as the development of musical styles will find this a fascinating and satisfying resource." --Reference and Research Library Book News

"An amazing achievement. For a single musicologist, even one of the stature of Taruskin, to have produced a detailed, accurate, informative and well-illustrated history is nothing short of amazing."--Classical Net Review

About the Author

Richard Taruskin is professor of musicology at the University of California, Berkeley. In addition to this work, Taruskin is also the author of such books as Music in the Western World: A History in Documents (1985), Text & Act (OUP, 1995), and Stravinsky and the Russian Traditions (1996). He is a frequent contributor to the New York Times, New Republic, and many other scholarly journals.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Oxford University Press (July 27, 2009)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 3856 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0195386302
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0195386301
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 18.05 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 14 x 10 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 40 ratings

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4.6 out of 5 stars
40 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book an excellent resource for music history, presenting music within the context of history. They enjoy the writing style, which is clear and engaging. The books are described as one of the most ambitious musicological undertakings in recent memory.

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5 customers mention "Music history"5 positive0 negative

Customers find the book provides a comprehensive overview of music history in the context of history. They appreciate the author's insights and theoretical analysis that balance historical context and theory seamlessly. The book is larger and more detailed than the one they used in college, providing an excellent resource for music historians.

"...written in the manner of a lecture: there is lots of talking and musical examples, just as you would get if you sat down in one of Taruskin's classes..." Read more

"Music history with a distinctive point of view, as is true of everything Taruskin writes...." Read more

"...He presents music within the context of history itself...." Read more

"very inclusive. Great for studying all the different eras in music. Much larger and more detailed than the one we used in college." Read more

3 customers mention "Writing style"3 positive0 negative

Customers enjoy the writing style. They say it's written in the manner of a lecture, with lots of talking and clear arguments.

"...The books seem to be written in the manner of a lecture: there is lots of talking and musical examples, just as you would get if you sat down in one..." Read more

"...It's also a delight to read; charmingly written and clearly argued...." Read more

"...He presents music within the context of history itself. I enjoyed the writing style and decided to pick up the rest of the books as one complete..." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • woodzyguy
    5.0 out of 5 stars Extraordinary work
    Reviewed in the United States on June 18, 2012
    Verified Purchase
    Mr. Taruskin's work in this book series is awesome. This series is one of the most ambitious musicological undertakings in recent memory. His insights are outstanding, and he has a flair for theoretical analysis that balances between historical context and theory near-seamlessly.

    I always find bad reviews more helpful than good ones, so instead of gushing over how good these books are, let me give you some other points that might help you decide if you want to fork over the cash.

    - These are not traditional textbooks in the way of Grout or Stolba. There are no diagrams, pictures, timelines, margin notes, et al. What the book does have is text, and lots of it, and many, many musical examples.
    - The books seem to be written in the manner of a lecture: there is lots of talking and musical examples, just as you would get if you sat down in one of Taruskin's classes. Also, the chapters are all nearly the same length regardless of subject matter, which is another reason why I think they are similar to the experience of sitting in one of Taruskin's lectures.
    - Taruskin's style can be kind of like this: "Sit down and I'll tell you a story." As a result, you won't find a chapter called "Mendelssohn" and another called "Webern". He weaves in and out of these composers as he likes, so besides the general index, you may find it time-consuming to find a specific topic in the set if you are doing research.
    - There are no indices in the individual volumes; only the last book has the indices.

    On the whole though, an awesome set of books, and the price is definitely worth it.
    11 people found this helpful
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  • Greg Vitercik
    5.0 out of 5 stars Extraordinary work.
    Reviewed in the United States on September 12, 2009
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    Music history with a distinctive point of view, as is true of everything Taruskin writes. It's a work in the magisterial tradition, exhibiting a humanity and a command of material that goes far beyond anything I've ever encountered.

    It's also a delight to read; charmingly written and clearly argued. If you love music and love thinking about music, you should have this on your shelf.
    19 people found this helpful
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  • Justin D. Krueger
    5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Buy for any Serious Music Student
    Reviewed in the United States on June 4, 2010
    Verified Purchase
    I initially purchased only the volume on early music for a history seminar in my graduate program and was thoroughly impressed into the detail that Taruskin provides. He presents music within the context of history itself. I enjoyed the writing style and decided to pick up the rest of the books as one complete set.
    6 people found this helpful
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  • Dorothy
    5.0 out of 5 stars music history
    Reviewed in the United States on March 2, 2013
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    very inclusive. Great for studying all the different eras in music. Much larger and more detailed than the one we used in college.
    3 people found this helpful
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  • Kj01313
    5.0 out of 5 stars Must have for a music historian
    Reviewed in the United States on October 6, 2012
    Verified Purchase
    Taruskin makes reading about gregorian chants and opera easy. Im only on book 2 of 5, but so far so good.
    3 people found this helpful
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  • a malariologist
    5.0 out of 5 stars illuminating analysis
    Reviewed in the United States on April 12, 2010
    I have been enthralled with Taruskin's work over the past four months. Anyone interested in the history of literate music in western culture will find the book fascinating, with a few conditions: you'll need some experience listening to the music, you need to be able to read music, and you'll need access to a keyboard to understand the author's analysis of harmony (among other things, this work is a history of harmonic practice). Professional musicians and musicologists will understand more of the technical subleties than me--sometimes Taruskin asks us to follow his argument `score in hand'--which unfortunately, as some poet said, I have not got! I have nearly five decades of experience listening to music dating from around 1700 to the present, a limited ability to play the piano, and one course in harmony from 35 years ago. I'm probably at the bottom end of the range of the author's target audience in terms of technical ability, but I still enjoyed the book.

    Since the last volume ends with the notion of ending in the middle of things, I took that as permission to begin reading with the pivotal volume on the 19th century. This turned out to be good decision, as I was familiar with nearly all of the works discussed, and as person who dearly loves Beethoven, Brahms and instrumental music, my personal musical world-view was firmly in the author's critical crosshairs. Thus challenged, but persuaded by his arguments and the force of his example (his analysis of the careers and music of the contemporaries Wagner and Verdi is fabulous), I then read with pleasure volume 2 (with an excellent analysis of the relationship of Bach's world view to his music), then 4 (with an illuminating analysis of the harmonic practice of Debussy, Stravinsky and Bartok), then 5 (I think Taruskin agrees with me that John Adams' music is boring, but for once is too polite to say so), and finally the first volume. As I was not familiar with any of the works in the first volume, this one was a struggle, but much worth it, as I've now added quite a few wonderful pieces to my CD collection.

    I bought these volumes after reading Taruskin's essays in the "Danger of Music". In that book, the author is argumentative, prone to score points on this opponents rather than enlighten his readers, and occasionally even gossipy. In this history, by contrast, he is resolutely judicious, fair, and illuminating in the best academic tradition. He'd likely maintain that he's just being a critic in the former work, but I like his professorial historian persona better. In his history, Taruskin brings the music of the past to life in its context, but he remains conscious of his 21st century vantage point. He treats composers like the humans they are, no matter how exceptional their music gifts. With his ironic self-awareness, the author is purposefully not Romantic in his outlook. He's even funny now and again. If you are willing to break away from the traditional Germanic view of `pure' music that I grew up with--mostly through reading the backs of record covers--you will learn much from this work and even listen with fresh ears. The book is well written, with only a few runaway sentences requiring a second reading. I noticed a mere handful of typographical errors.
    26 people found this helpful
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  • Lover of Learning
    1.0 out of 5 stars Another Sleeper from Taruskin
    Reviewed in the United States on January 8, 2020
    If you never want to do anything new or make a genuine contribution to new music, spend all your time reading this. Taruskin was my music history professor in college and he bullied me into dropping his class because I wasn't interested enough in the structure of the Roman Catholic mass in the Middle Ages. (True story, really.) We didn't really have recourse to being bullied by pompous professors back in the "80s, so I dropped it, and never took another music class at Columbia again.
    2 people found this helpful
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  • Norm Rioux PhD
    5.0 out of 5 stars I highly recommend it for anyone interested in a very well written ...
    Reviewed in the United States on April 21, 2015
    Just finished reading the Oxford History of Music, a five volume series covering music in antiquity through the late twentieth century! Authored by Richard Taruskin, it is a monumental achievement and long overdue. I highly recommend it for anyone interested in a very well written and organized history of art music, with some attention paid to folk, pop, avant garde, electronic and computer music. I wish I had had the availability of something like this for my musicological studies back in the late sixties and early seventies. It is a gold mine of information, copiously annotated and includes numerous musical examples, many of which are insightfully analyzed. Thank you Richard Taruskin!
    2 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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  • Ton van Oosterhout
    3.0 out of 5 stars Taruskin in Oxford History of Western Music
    Reviewed in Germany on December 3, 2016
    Verified Purchase
    Apologies for writing in English, my German is not sufficient. Taruskin has written an enormous work on Western Music. It covers the whole literate tradition, beginning in the middle ages, right until the early 21st century. The ambit of his knowledge of Western, mainly European, art music is enormous. He has written down a lot of it in this set of books.
    Yet I am not convinced, and give the set three stars. These stars are for Taruskins great knowledge of his subject, and his mostly lively writing style. I cannot give him more, because I have some serious reservations about these books.
    First, Taruskin starts off his book with an essay on what a History of Music should contain. He rather stridently positions himself as a historian who will show the 'why' instead of the mere 'what'. Having read through all this text, I don't think Taruskin delivers on his promise. The actual 'why' content of the books is surprisingly meagre, much too shallow for such an whale of a book.
    Second, throughout the books it appears that the main 'subtext' is to be read as: the reaching of tonality, its development and extension as the main musical meaning provider, and its temporal destruction by 12-tone music composers. Again, a very shallow theme which by and large does away with things as melody, timbre, ensemble and orchestral sound architecture; even reception history gets very short shrift.
    Third, the technical level of the expositions of tonality in a number of chosen works is much too high for the occasional reader, even when he is somewhat familiar with music history. I cannot believe the citations in the book that laud the lucid writing about technical detail; it is really much too difficult. And there is far too much of it too, pages upon pages of music text which should have been given to, well, history.
    Fourth, only a very limited number of composers are discussed, the very highlights, and sometimes much text is given to unimportant lightweights like Rossini. The juxtaposition of composers of opera (good) and symphony (bad), and of composers Italian etc (good) and German (bad) is childish and, frankly, rather ridiculous.
    So, in short. I am not even sure that I should have spent so much of my time to read this ultimately unsatisfactory book. The generally interested reader is better advised to find works on music history that cover a specific period, that are written in a more balanced way, and that also provide some on all those other qualities of music besides just tonality.
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  • Lyon James
    5.0 out of 5 stars Une somme marquée par l'imagination
    Reviewed in France on September 13, 2013
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    L'oeuvre du musicologue américain Richard Taruskin est unique en son genre. Ce chercheur non-conformiste trace une Histoire de la musique occidentale du point de vue de sa forme écrite, savante, avec un sens inédit de la dramaturgie et de l'érudition. En cela, sa quête intellectuelle féconde une forme rare en ce domaine : toutes les disciplines sont évoquées et s'interpénètrent entre elles. Une véritable compréhension en jaillit à condition que le lecteur se débarrasse de tous les partis pris et autres conventions académiques. Ces cinq volumes se lisent, à la fois, comme un excellent roman et en tant que source de savoir inépuisable.
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  • Tan Ser Leat
    5.0 out of 5 stars Unputdownable !
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 17, 2011
    Verified Purchase
    A superb overview of the development of Western music from the age of Leonin and Perotin to the present day.

    Enormously comprehensive and erudite coverage of its subject by an author who is a justly famed musicologist.

    Taruskin's approach is wholly objective and devoid of any prejudice whatever.
    A superb set of volumes and wonderful value for money.

    Tan Ser Leat
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  • wevard
    5.0 out of 5 stars Just what I wanted
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 12, 2013
    Verified Purchase
    The books were in perfect condition upon arrival. It'll take me years to read them but from the first page I knew it the level of information I was looking for and in a narrative form. Recommended to all who wish to learn a lot about history of western music, with analysis and direct references to people and our world now a days.
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  • Martina
    5.0 out of 5 stars A great set of books
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 11, 2021
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    What an amazing set of books, highly recommended for music history students
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