Early Music: A Very Short Introduction

From Gregorian chant to Bach's Brandenburg Concerti, the music of the Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque periods is both beautiful and intriguing, expanding our horizons as it nourishes our souls. In this Very Short Introduction, Thomas Forrest Kelly provides not only a compact overview of the music itself, but also a lively look at the many attempts over the last two centuries to revive it. Kelly shows that the early-music revival has long been grounded in the idea of spontaneity, of excitement, and of recapturing experiences otherwise lost to us--either the rediscovery of little-known repertories or the recovery of lost performing styles, with the conviction that, with the right performance, the music will come to life anew. Blending musical and social history, he shows how the Early Music movement in the 1960s took on political overtones, fueled by a rebellion against received wisdom and enforced conformity. Kelly also discusses ongoing debates about authenticity, the desirability of period instruments, and the relationship of mainstream opera companies and symphony orchestras to music that they often ignore, or play in modern fashion.

• Capturing Music: The Story of Notation
• Music: A Very Short Introduction
• The Norton Anthology of Western Music (Seventh Edition) (Vol. 1)
• Folk Music: A Very Short Introduction
• Oxford Anthology of Western Music: Volume One: The Earliest Notations to the Early Eighteenth Century
• Oxford Recorded Anthology of Western Music: Volume One: The Earliest Notations to the Early Eighteenth Century 2 CDs
• The Orchestra: A Very Short Introduction
• Measure for Measure: A Musical History of Science
• World Music: A Very Short Introduction
• Ethnomusicology: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions)