Try free for 30 days

Preview

1 credit a month to buy any audiobook in our entire collection.
Access to thousands of additional audiobooks and Originals from the Plus Catalogue.
Member-only deals & discounts.
Auto-renews at $16.45/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Five Straight Lines

By: Andrew Gant
Narrated by: Saul Reichlin
Try Premium Plus free

$16.45 per month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $33.99

Buy Now for $33.99

Pay using voucher balance (if applicable) then card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions Of Use and Privacy Notice and authorise Audible to charge your designated credit card or another available credit card on file.

Publisher's Summary

This audiobook takes the listener on a grand musical tour from its origins in prehistory to the 21st century. It describes its roles in culture and religion in ancient China and the Middle East and how it developed in the Mediterranean world of classical Greece and Rome. Andrew Gant considers the evolution of music in medieval Europe and looks at what led to the astonishing revolution of musical forms and genres that took place in the Renaissance, first in Italy and then across the rest of Europe. He examines the ideas, composers and patrons behind the advent of the baroque and its evolution into the music of the classical and romantic periods. At the same time, he explores developments in musical style and changes in forms, techniques and instrumentation, not only in music for the court and church but as sung in pubs, theatres, the streets and at home. The final chapters describe the modernist revolutions personified by Stravinsky, Schoenberg, Bartok and Messiaen. They show how, with the advent of mass media, different forms of music - from pop, blues and musicals to classical, opera and jazz - along with music from places such as South America, Africa and the Far East, all began to influence each other in a series of percussive but productive collisions.

The account ranges widely across time and space. It is authoritative, scholarly and consistently enjoyable. It presents a series of coherent arguments, spiced with unexpected detail and anecdote. This an audiobook, in short, for everyone interested in music.

©2021 Andrew Gant (P)2021 W F Howes

What listeners say about Five Straight Lines

Average Customer Ratings

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.