Historical Dictionary of Music of the Classical Period

This contribution to a series covering a range of literary and arts subjects focuses on a precise period of time – 1728 to 1800 – and tries to cover as wide a range as possible of music of that era which it calls classical, omitting the work of Haydn, Mozart and the younger Beethoven, as this is deemed to be well‐documented elsewhere.

The author has taken on a massive task. It is never easy to define a musical style by a definite time‐frame, and strict definitions of classical music make this particularly difficult as so many composers move between this...