Hi Tom,

   I have two books I feel cover just about everything you're looking  
for and maybe a little bit more, however, composers are listed in  
both books alphabetically, not chronologically.

  " The Gramophone Guide To Classical Composers," by Lionel Salter.  
It has information covering 400 years of Classical Music and covers  
over 130 composers.

   A far more complete book is "The NPR Listener's Encyclopedia Of  
Classical Music," by Ted Libbey. This book contains 1,500 entries, a  
dedicated website with over 75 hours of selected music. Practically  
anyone with a connection to classical music and hair longer than a  
crew cut seems to have been included.  Even though this book is  
written by someone from NPR, it seems to have been written WITHOUT  
an  agenda!

   I picked them both up at Barnes and Nobel.

   happy reading, Ken
On Jul 5, 2008, at 9:06 AM, Tom Fine wrote:

> I figure this is as good as any group to ask ...
>
> I'm looking for a concise but complete book that details the  
> history of classical music. I'm not really interested in a guide to  
> recordings or one man's opinions of various works, but rather a  
> chronological history of the development of the music, from the  
> "early music" up well into the 20th century. Again, I'm not  
> interested in a critique or an agenda, but a history and chronology.
>
> Thanks in advance for any recommendations.
>
> -- Tom Fine