The ''Oxford History of Western Music'' is a narrative history from the "earliest notations" (taken to be around the eighth century) to the late twentieth century. It was written by the American musicologist

Richard Taruskin Richard Filler Taruskin (April 2, 1945 – July 1, 2022) was an American musicologist and music critic who was among the leading and most prominent music historians of his generation. The breadth of his scrutiny into source material as well as ...

. Published by

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print book ...

in 2005, it is a six-volume work on the various significant periods of Western music and their characteristic qualities, events and composition styles. A paperback edition in five volumes followed in 2009.

had previously published narrative histories of music, although Taruskin's was the first sole author work, spanning over 4000 pages.

Volumes

There are six volumes in the original hardback edition. The set won the 2005 R. R. Hawkins Award (

Association of American Publishers The Association of American Publishers (AAP) is the national trade association of the American book publishing industry. AAP lobbies for book, journal, and education publishers in the United States. AAP members include most of the major commercia ...

) for Best Scholarly Work. The first volume was particularly well received. It has been described as weaving "facts and impressions from histories, visual art and architecture" as an introduction to

early music Early music generally comprises Medieval music (500–1400) and Renaissance music (1400–1600), but can also include Baroque music (1600–1750). Originating in Europe, early music is a broad musical era for the beginning of Western classi ...

. The updated five volume paperback set (without a separate volume for the indexes and bibliography) came out in 2009. It was this version - with 1.25 million words, 500 images, and 1,800 musical examples - that was used for the online edition (2010). A one-volume printed College Edition co-authored by Christopher H Gibbs followed in 2012. A second edition of this version was issued in 2018. Richard Taruskin died in July 2022.

Reviews

"Taruskin’s Oxford History of Western Music is monstrous. Few of the adjectives that define the term—extraordinary, amazing, prodigious, marvelous—seem out of place when trying to talk about it." "In conclusion, Oxford History of Western Music stands as a remarkable archievement both as a history of music and a critique of the field of music history." "Taruskin's account is plausible and well argued."

Predecessors

''Oxford History of Music''

The ''Oxford History of Music'' was first published in six volumes under the general editorship of Sir Henry Hadow between 1901 and 1905. The first two, written by H. E. Woolridge (who had been appointed

Slade Professor of Fine Art The Slade Professorship of Fine Art is the oldest professorship of art and art history at the universities of Cambridge, Oxford and University College, London. History The chairs were founded concurrently in 1869 by a bequest from the art collect ...

at Oxford in 1895), were entitled ''The Polyphonic Period'' and began with the

music of ancient Greece Music was almost universally present in ancient Greek society, from marriages, funerals, and religious ceremonies to theatre, folk music, and the ballad-like reciting of epic poetry. It thus played an integral role in the lives of ancient Gr ...

. These volumes dated quite quickly. The third, on seventeenth century music, was written by

Sir Hubert Parry Sir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry, 1st Baronet (27 February 18487 October 1918) was an English composer, teacher and historian of music. Born in Richmond Hill in Bournemouth, Parry's first major works appeared in 1880. As a composer he is be ...

. J. A. Fuller Maitland wrote volume four on the age of Bach and Handel, Hadow himself wrote the fifth (''The Viennese Period'') and

Edward Dannreuther Edward George Dannreuther (4 November 1844, Strasbourg – 12 February 1905, Hastings) was a German pianist and writer on music, resident from 1863 in England. His father had crossed the Atlantic, moving to Cincinnati, and there established a pi ...

covered the Romantic period in the sixth. From the late 1920s other volumes were reprinted as they stood, but Sir

Percy Buck Sir Percy Carter Buck (25 March 1871 – 3 October 1947) was an English music educator, writer, organist, and composer. Early life and education Percy Buck was born in West Ham, London, and studied at Merchant Taylors' School, the Guildhall ...

, who was also involved with the OUP's ''Tudor Church Music'', revised the first two volumes (1929 and 1932), and edited a new introductory volume of general essays (1929), including a contribution on musical notation from

Sylvia Townsend Warner Sylvia Nora Townsend Warner (6 December 1893 – 1 May 1978) was an English novelist, poet and musicologist, known for works such as ''Lolly Willowes'', '' The Corner That Held Them'', and '' Kingdoms of Elfin''. Life Sylvia Townsend Warner w ...

. In 1940 H C Colles added a seventh volume, ''Symphony and Drama, 1850–1900''.

''New Oxford History of Music''

The ''New Oxford History of Music'', initially produced under the general editorship of Sir Jack Westrup, began to appear in 1954 and was finally completed (with Volume IX) in 1990. It spanned ten volumes.OUP: ''New Oxford History of Music''
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References

External links

Oxford History of Western Music Official website
(oxfordwesternmusic.com)
Browsing facility
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oxford History Of Western Music Oxford University Press books Music history 2005 non-fiction books