I have just completed reading Tim Blanning’s Book, The Triumph of Music. I thought this was an excellent book with plenty of informed discussion about how music has developed in the last 300 years and it’s importance in society throughout that time.

Taking different aspects into account section by section, Blanning started by looking at the status of musicians from being the servants of the privileged classes, through the gradual gaining of freedom to the modern day elevated status of musicians. In other sections he looked at the place music has in the wider sphere of the arts world, the progression of venues that music is performed in, the technological advances made and finally it’s place in the political and social environments as time has changed through the ages.

The part music played in the revolutions of Europe in the nineteenth century was especially interesting, as was the importance of music to African Americans and their struggles during the twentieth century.

Blanning does an excellent job in explaining the importance of music through the ages to all the various aspects of life and what an important part music and musicians have had and continue to have in society. A society that has changed incredibly over those 300 or so years. Music has of course changed as well, but it’s triumph is the importance it has to all aspects of life throughout history. These days music is everywhere, as discussed at the very beginning of this course, but it has always played an important part in life from the very first time that our ancestors banged two stones together or blew into a reed or a bone flute.

All in all this was a fascinating read and well researched book with a good reference to other sources in the back.

I am now reading a book by music publisher Ernst Roth, The Business of Music, which was featured in an article in Musical Opinion (November/December 2011 – issue 1485) by John Amis. The book is long since out of print, but I managed to source a copy on the internet. Roth was born in Prague in 1896 and worked for Universal Edition before joining Boosey and Hawkes in London, where he rose to be Chairman. The first part of the book is about the technological advances during his time in music (the book was published in 1966, so it would be interesting to know what Roth would make of it all now), whilst the second half reflects on the musicians and composers Roth met during his time, including Richard Strauss, Stravinsky, Schoenberg, Berg, Webern, Prokofiev, Kodály, Bartók, Benjamin Britten, Boulez and Stockhausen. Quite an array of twentieth century composers.