This is an outstanding and authoritative box set for classical music enthusiasts, covering the complete history of music-making, sections of the orchestra, and the lives and works of the great composers. It examines a wide range of musical instruments, including strings, woodwind, brass, percussion, keyboards and the voice, as well as rare and non-Western instruments. It features in-depth biographies of over 100 famous composers, such as Vivaldi, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms and Shostakovich, encompassing all styles of composition from medieval times to the present day. It is fully illustrated with over 1150 photographs, fine art paintings and illuminations, including handwritten musical manuscripts, scenes from ballets and operas, concert halls, orchestras, musical instruments and composers' portraits. The two books in this beautiful box set provide a complete illustrated guide to the history of music, instruments of the orchestra and the most influential classical composers. Music answers the question, "What is music?" and "What is a musical instrument?", and contains a directory of strings, woodwind and brass, percussion and keyboards, as well as a section on the voice.
Composers covers the life and times and key works of over 100 great composers, from Bach to Tchaikovsky, and continues up to modern composers such as Carter, Boulez and Stockhausen. For all those who love classical music and want to find out more, The Music Box is an essential companion.