[fluteman]

Hello everyone,

Is there a book that covers all the classical music authors, their works and their best recordings? Something like Classical Music: The 50 Greatest Composers and Their 1, 000 Greatest Works by Phil G. Goulding but more extensive.

And for those of you interested in Wagner and Philosophy, I recommend the following books:

• Wagner And Philosophy by Bryan Magee
• The Philosophies of Richard Wagner by Julian Young

There actually is a surprisingly good reference book with all of that information and more for composers great and minor, old and (up to the date it was compiled) new, called Greene's Biographical Encyclopedia of Composers. Of course, the more celebrated composers have much longer and more detailed entries. It is no substitute for Grove's, but the author does a good job of accurately providing the most pertinent information in a single volume.

 

[fluteman]

Worlds of Music: An Introduction to the Music of the World's Peoples 6th Edition, Jeff Todd Titon, gen. ed., often used as a college textbook, is a good introduction to the subject of non-western classical music, in other words the other side of the coin of most of what is discussed here. IMO it helps put the whole subject of western classical music in its cultural context. It is readable with lots of neat photos and illustrations.