The World of Baroque & Classical Musical Instruments (1979)

Second-Hand (Hardcover)

Excellent condition

Jeremy Montagu, one of the first British conductors to perform baroque and classical music in the authentic styles of the period has written this survey of the musical instruments known to and used by the great composers of those periods, such as Monteverdi, Dowland, Purcell, Bach, Handel, Mozart, Haydn and the young Beethoven.

The first section describes the instruments which survived from the High Renaissance, the subject of his successful book The World of Medieval & Renaissance Musical Instruments, into the Early Baroque.

The second details the changes which took place in many instruments as the Baroque reached its summit with the music of Bach and Handel and describes all the instruments used by those masters and their contemporaries.

The third section describes the enormous changes in all instruments as the new classical style of Mozart, Haydn and their contemporaries developed, and culminates with the orchestra known to Beethoven at the beginning of his career, the orchestra that became our symphony orchestra.

Every important instrument mentioned in the book is illustrated. There are over one hundred illustrations, many in colour, of instruments from collections all over Europe and America.