The Eighth Edition of A History of Western Music is a vivid, accessible, and richly contextual view of music in Western culture.\\Building on his monumental revision of the Seventh Edition, Peter Burkholder has refined an inspired narrative for a new generation of students, placing people at the center of the story. The narrative of A History of Western Music naturally focuses on the musical works, styles, genres, and ideas that have proven most influential, enduring, and significant—but it also encompasses a wide range of music, from religious to secular, from serious to humorous, from art music to popular music, and from Europe to the Americas. With a six-part structure emphasizing the music’s reception and continued influence, Burkholder’s narrative establishes a social and historical context for each repertoire to reveal its legacy and its significance today.

Guide to recordings -- The ancient and medieval worlds. Music in antiquity -- The Christian Church in the first millennium -- Roman liturgy and chant -- Song and dance music in the Middle Ages -- Polyphony through the thirteenth century -- French and Italian music in the fourteenth century -- The Renaissance. Music and the Renaissance -- England and Burgundy in the fifteenth century -- Franco-Flemish composers, 1450-1520 -- Sacred music in the era of the Reformation -- Madrigal and secular song in the sixteenth century -- The rise of instrumental music -- The Seventeenth century. New styles in the seventeenth century -- The invention of opera -- Music for chamber and church in the early seventeenth century -- France, England, Spain and the New World in the seventeenth century -- Italy and Germany in the late seventeenth century -- The eighteenth century. The early eighteenth century in Italy and France -- German composers of the late Baroque -- Musical taste and style in the Enlightenment -- Opera and vocal music in the early classic period -- Instrumental music : sonata, symphony, and concerto at midcentury -- Classical music in the late eighteenth century -- Nineteenth century. Revolution and change -- The Romantic generation : song and piano music -- Romanticism in classic forms : orchestral, chamber, and choral music -- Romantic opera and musical theater to midcentury -- Opera and musical theater in the later nineteenth century -- Late Romanticism in Germany and Austria -- Diverging traditions in the later nineteenth century -- The twentieth century and after. The early twentieth century -- Modernism and the classical tradition -- Between the World Wars : jazz and popular music -- Between the World Wars : the classical tradition -- Postwar crosscurrents -- Music since 1970 -- Glossary -- For further reading.