A thrilling new biography of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky - composer of some of the world's most popular orchestral and theatrical music. Tchaikovsky is famous for all the wrong reasons. Portrayed as a hopeless romantic, a suffering melancholic, or a m...

Born into a family of musicians - his mother a music-hall singer, his father a pianist in silent cinemas - Anthony Burgess became interested in music at an early age. A composer long before he became a writer, he gained a wide knowledge of the classi...

A rich and fascinating account of one of music history's most ancient, varied, and distinctive instruments. From its origins in animal horn instruments in classical antiquity to the emergence of the modern horn in the seventeenth century, the horn...

What happens to a composer when persecution and exile means their true music no longer has an audience? In the 1930s, composers and musicians began to flee Hitler's Germany to make new lives across the globe. The process of exile was complex: altho...

Acclaimed cultural critic Greil Marcus tells the story of Bob Dylan through the lens of seven penetrating songs. Across seven decades, Bob Dylan has been the first singer of American song. As a writer and performer, he has rewritten the national so...

From one of our most innovative singers, a vibrant history of song stretching from Hildegard von Bingen and Benjamin Britten to Bjork. "Songs can be intensely personal (whether you hear them or sing them) and none of us would choose the same twelve...

An insightful biography of the great composer, revealing Schubert's complex and fascinating private life alongside his musical genius. Brilliant, short-lived, incredibly prolific - Schubert is one of the most intriguing figures in music history. Wh...

A lively, engaging guide to music around the world, from prehistory to the present. Human beings have always made music. Music can move us and tell stories of faith, struggle, or love. It is common to all cultures across the world. But how has it c...

The fascinating story of a hugely popular instrument, detailing its rich and varied history from the Middle Ages to the present. The recorder is perhaps best known today for its educational role. Although it is frequently regarded as a stepping-ston...

An astonishingly versatile instrument, the piano allows just two hands to play music of great complexity and subtlety. For more than two hundred years, it has brought solo and collaborative music into homes and concert halls and has inspired composer...