History of Music- Books

[jehangircama]

Does anyone know of some good music history books? which are the ones normally studied if one is doing a course in music? i'm looking for books which give a general overview as well as some that concentrate on particular periods- classical, baroque, romantic etc. Also, has anyone read Edwin Fischer's book on the 32 Beethoven piano sonatas? Is a copy available?
Thanks
JC

[richard black]

'Western Music: an introduction' by Ronald Stevenson. It's clearly the best because -

1. He's a pianist 
2. He's unusually broad-minded and has a happy knack of picking up stuff that other people don't in such books.
3. He's a friend of mine, so obviously I'm completely unbiased.

Sadly it's out of print. But, joking apart, it is a good read and worth picking up if a library or cheap second-hand copy comes your way.

[rachfan]

Donald J. Grout's "A History of Western Music", revised 2005, has been a mainstay in university musicology courses for decades.  Forney & Machlis' "The Enjoyment of Music" (revised 2007), covers all periods and styles too, but not nearly in the same depth as Grout.  It is aimed more at general music appreciation, that is to say it's more of a survey overview, but still presents sufficient detail to be quite informative.     

[jehangircama]

Thanks. Are they easily available?

[rachfan]

Yes, you can obtain them at www.amazon.com.

[minor9th]

Yes, you can obtain them at www.amazon.com.

I ordered Stevenson's book a few days ago...looking forward to it!