Thank you, Ken and Bob. All very interesting recommendations. 

-- Tom Fine

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ken Fritz" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, July 05, 2008 9:39 AM
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] classical music overview/history


> 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
>