The Vintage Guide to Classical Music: An Indispensable Guide for Understanding and Enjoying Classical MusicPaperback, 15 December 1992

This is the most readable and comprehensive guide to enjoying over five hundred years of classical music--from Gregorian chants, Johann Sebastian Bach, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to Johannes Brahms, Igor Stravinsky, John Cage, and beyond.
The Vintage Guide to Classical Music is a lively musical history and an insider's key to the personalities, epochs, and genres of the Western classical tradition: Among its features:
chronologically arranged essays on nearly 100 composers, from Guillaume de Machaut (ca. 1300-1377) to Aaron Copland (1900-1990), that combine biography with detailed analyses of the major works while assessing their role in the social, cultural, and political climate of their times
informative sidebars that clarify broader topics such as melody, polyphony, atonality, and the impact of the early-music movement
a glossary of musical terms, from capella to woodwinds
a step-by-step guide to building a great classical music library