In this beautiful and lavishly illustrated book, Millennium House brings you the definitive reference to Western classical music. Hundreds of color photographs, timelines, artwork, and maps along with the authoritative and engaging text by world experts take you on a musical journey through time, revealing how composers and performers, priests, princes and patrons, and the events of history have created the absolutely unique and extraordinary tradition of classical music. The journey begins with the music in monasteries and churches of the early Christian era. It then takes you through the past 1,000 years, era by era, from the glories of the Gregorian chant in the Middle Ages, to the a capella, masses, motets, and madrigals of the Renaissance; the birth of opera and beginnings of the modern orchestra in the Baroque era; the concertos, symphonies, sonatas, trios, and quartets of the Classical period; the rise of the virtuoso in the early Romantic period; the emotional depth of the music and the golden age of grand opera in the late Romantic era; right up to the experimentation and diverse musical styles of the twentieth century. Musica also includes a complete index and a glossary of more than 300 terms most used to talk about music.

Includes glossary of terms and index