Great Books About Music and Musicians 

Below you will find a selection of highly-regarded books about music and musicians. These books make great gifts for the music lovers and music students in your life. The selections are categorized to speed your search. Any purchase you make from these links helps to defray the costs of maintaining the dictionary. Thanks.

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Beginners Book

• The Essential Canon of Classical Music
  Author(s): David Dubal
• Classical Music Top 40/ Learn How to Listen to and Enjoy the 40 Most Popular and Important Pieces of Classical Music
  Author(s): Anthony J. Rudel, Billy Joel (preface)

Biography

• The New Bach Reader
  Author(s): Hans T. David, Christoph Wolff, Arthur Mendel, Christoph Wolff, editors
• The New Grove Handel
  Author(s): Winton Dean, Anthony Hicks
• Franz Schubert's Letters and other Writings
  Author(s): Otto E. Deutsch, Editor
• Handel: A Documentary Biography
  Author(s): Otto E. Deutsch
• Mozart: His Character, His Work
  Author(s): Alfred Einstein, Arthur Mendel (Translator), Nathan Broder (Translator)
• The New Grove Mozart
  Author(s): Cliff Eisen, Stanley Sadie
• The New Grove Haydn
  Author(s): Georg Feder, James Webster
• Haydn: A Creative Life in Music
  Author(s): Karl Geiringer, Irene Geiringer (Contributor)
• Johann Sebastian Bach: His Work and Influence on the Music of Germany, 1685-1750
  Author(s): Karl Geiringer
• Gustav Mahler-Vienna-The Years of Challenge (1897-1904)
  Author(s): Henry-Louis De La Grange
• Samuel Barber: The Composer and His Music
  Author(s): Barbara B. Heyman
• Life of Mozart
  Author(s): Otto Jahn
• W.A. Mozart
  Author(s): Otto Jahn
• The New Grove Beethoven
  Author(s): Joseph Kerman, Alan Tyson (Praface)
• Domenico Scarlatti
  Author(s): Ralph Kirkpatrick
• 1791: Mozart's Last Year
  Author(s): H.C. Robbins Landon (Preface), M. C. Landon
• Haydn: Haydn at Eszterhaza 1766-1790 (Haydn Chronicle and Works)
  Author(s): H.C. Robbins Landon
• Haydn: Haydn in England 1791-1795 (Haydn Chronicle and Works)
  Author(s): H.C. Robbins Landon
• Haydn: The Early Years 1732-1765 (Haydn Chronicle and Works)
  Author(s): H.C. Robbins Landon
• Haydn: The Late Years 1801-1809 (Haydn Chronicle and Works)
  Author(s): H.C. Robbins Landon
• Haydn: The Years of "The Creation" 1796-1800 (Haydn Chronicle and Works)
  Author(s): H.C. Robbins Landon
• The Mozart Compendium: A Guide to Mozart's Life and Music
  Author(s): H.C. Robbins Landon, Editor
• Life of Chopin
  Author(s): Franz Liszt
• The New Grove Schubert
  Author(s): Maurice J.E. with Eric Sams, Eric Brown
• The New Grove Wagner
  Author(s): Barry Millington
• The Mahler Companion
  Author(s): Donald Mitchell, Andrew Nicholson, Editors
• The Life of Richard Wagner
  Author(s): Ernest Newmann
• The Wagner Operas
  Author(s): Ernest Newmann
• Frederick Chopin as a Man and Musician
  Author(s): Frederick Niecks
• Verdi: A Biography
  Author(s): Mary Jane Phillips-Matz, Andrew Porter
• The New Grove North European Baroque Masters
  Author(s): Joshua Rifkin, Stanley Sadie
• The Perfect Wagnerite
  Author(s): George Bernard Shaw
• Beethoven
  Author(s): Maynard Solomon
• Mozart: A Life
  Author(s): Maynard Solomon
• Johann Sebastian Bach: His Work and Influence on the Music of Germany, 1685-1750
  Author(s): Phillip Spitta
• Igor Stravinsky: An Autobiography
  Author(s): Igor Stravinsky
• Johannes Brahms: A Biography
  Author(s): Jan Swafford
• Thayer's Life of Beethoven, Part I
  Author(s): Alexander Wheelock Thayer, Elliot Forbes (Editor)
• Franz Liszt: The Weimar Years, 1848-1861
  Author(s): Alan Walker
• The New Grove Stravinsky
  Author(s): Stephen Walsh
• The New Grove Bach Family
  Author(s): Christoph Wollf, Eugene Helm, Ernest Warburton

CD Buying Guides

• The Gramophone Classical Good CD Guide 2002
  Author(s):
• The NPR Guide to Building a Classical CD Collection: The 350 Essential Works
  Author(s): Theodore Libbey, Ted Libbey, Mstislav Rostropovich
• The Penguin Guide to Compact Discs
  Author(s): Ivan March, Edward Greenfield, Robert Layton

Companion Guides for Music Study

• The Symphony: A Listener's Guide
  Author(s): Michael Steinberg
• The Beethoven Quartet Companion
  Author(s): Robert Winter and Robert Martin, Editors

Fiction with musical themes

• Cry to Heaven
  Author(s): Anne Rice
• An Equal Music
  Author(s): Vikram Seth

Holiday Gems Books

• Deck the Halls with Buddy Holly, and other misheard Christmas Lyrics
  Author(s): Gavin Edwards

Humorous Books

• A Musician's Dictionary
  Author(s): David W. Barber
• Bach, Beethoven and the Boys: Music History As It Ought to Be Taught
  Author(s): David W. Barber
• If It Ain't Baroque...More Music History As It Ought to Be Taught
  Author(s): David W. Barber
• WHEN THE FAT LADY SINGS: Opera History As It Ought To Be Taught
  Author(s): David W. Barber
• Lexicon of Musical Invective: Critical Assaults on Composers Since Beethoven's Time
  Author(s): Peter Schickele, Nicolas Slonimsky
• The Definitive Biography of P.D.Q. Bach, 1807-1742?
  Author(s): Peter Schickele

Letters

• Beethoven's Letters
  Author(s): Ludwig Van Beethoven, J.S. Shedlock (Translator), A. Eaglefield-Hull (Editor)
• Johannes Brahms: The Herzogenberg Correspondence
  Author(s): Max Kalbeck (Editor), Johannes Brahms
• Letters of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
  Author(s): Johann Chrysostom Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, M.M. Bozman (Translator), Hans Mersman (Editor)
• Mozart's Letters, Mozart's Life: Selected Letters
  Author(s): Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Robert Spaethling (Translator)

Music History Texts

• Concise Oxford History of Music
  Author(s): Gerald Abraham
• A History of Western Music
  Author(s): Donald Jay Grout
• Music in Western Civilization
  Author(s): Paul Lang
• The Classical Style: Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven
  Author(s): Charles Rosen
• The Romantic Generation
  Author(s): Charles Rosen

Music Research

• A Handbook of Music and Music Literature in Sets and Series – This work is similar to Heyer's Historical Sets and contains information about general sets, sets devoted to one composer, music literature monographs and facsimiles, and music periodicals and yearbooks
  Author(s): Sydney Charles
• Music Reference and Research Materials: An Annotated Bibliography
  Author(s): Vincent Duckles
• Historical Sets, Collected Editions, and Monuments of Music: A guide to their contents
  Author(s): Anna Harriet Heyer

Musician memoirs and other writings

• Evenings with the Orchestra
  Author(s): Hector Berlioz
• The Piano Shop on the Left Bank: Discovering a Forgotten Passion in a Paris Atelier
  Author(s): Thaddeus Carhart
• Indivisible by Four
  Author(s): Arnold Steinhardt
• Art and Politics
  Author(s): Richard Wagner
• Jesus of Nazareth and Other Writings
  Author(s): Richard Wagner

Opera Lovers Books

• WHEN THE FAT LADY SINGS: Opera History As It Ought To Be Taught
  Author(s): David W. Barber
• A Night at the Opera: An Irreverent Guide to the Plots, the Singers, the Composers, the Recordings
  Author(s): Denis Forman
• The New Grove Masters of Italian Opera: Rossini, Donizetti, Bellini, Verdi, Puccini
  Author(s): Phillip Gossett, Ashbrook William, Julian Budden, Friedrich Lippmann, Stanley Sadie
• Ticket to the Opera: Discovering and Exploring 100 Famous Works, History, Lore and Singers With Recommended Recordings
  Author(s): Phil G. Goulding
• The Wagner Operas
  Author(s): Ernest Newmann
• The New Grove Book of Operas
  Author(s): Stanley Sadie

Piano Lovers Books

• The Piano Shop on the Left Bank: Discovering a Forgotten Passion in a Paris Atelier
  Author(s): Thaddeus Carhart

Reference Books

• Historical Anthology of Music
  Author(s): Archibald T. Davison & Willi Apel
• Anthology for Musical Analysis
  Author(s): Burkhart
• The New Grove Masters of Italian Opera: Rossini, Donizetti, Bellini, Verdi, Puccini
  Author(s): Phillip Gossett, Ashbrook William, Julian Budden, Friedrich Lippmann, Stanley Sadie
• The NPR Classical Music Companion: Terms and Concepts from A to Z
  Author(s): Miles Hoffman
• The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz
  Author(s): Barry Kernfeld
• Masterpieces of Music before 1750: An Anthology of Musical Examples from Gregorian Chant to J.S. Bach
  Author(s): Carl Parrish, Editor; John F. Ohl, Contributor
• The Harvard Biographical Dictionay of Music
  Author(s): Don Michael Randel, Editor
• The New Harvard Dictionary of Music
  Author(s): Don Michael Randel, Editor
• The New Grove Book of Operas
  Author(s): Stanley Sadie
• Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians
  Author(s): Nicolas Slonimsky, Laura Diane Kuhn, Editors
• Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Twentieth-Century Classical Musicians
  Author(s): Nicolas Slonimsky, Editor
• The Portable Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians
  Author(s): Nicolas Slonimsky, Editor
• The NPR Curious Listener's Guide to Classical Music
  Author(s): Tim Smith, Michael Tilson Thomas
• Norton Scores
  Author(s): Various
• Anthology of Twentieth Century Music (includes Bartok, Berg, Carter, Ives, Schoenberg, and Webern)
  Author(s): Mary H. Wennerstrom

Surveys of American Music

• America's Music: from the Pilgrims to the present
  Author(s): Gilbert Chase
• Music in the United States: a Historical Introduction
  Author(s): H. Wiley Hitchcock, Kyle Gann
• American Music: A Panorama
  Author(s): Daniel Kingman

Thematic Catalogs

• Melodic Index to Haydn's Instrumental Music
  Author(s): Bryant, Hoboken
• The Schubert Thematic Catalogue
  Author(s): Otto E. Deutsch
• Thematic Locator for Mozart's Works, as listed in Kochel's Chronologisch Thematisches Verzeichnis
  Author(s): George Gould

Treatises/ Peformance Essays

• Study of Orchestration, Third Edition
  Author(s): Samuel Adler
• Essay on the True Art of Playing Keyboard Instruments
  Author(s): C.P.E. Bach
• Treatise on Instrumentation
  Author(s): Hector Berlioz, Richard Strauss
• The Unanswered Question: Six Talks at Harvard
  Author(s): Leonard Bernstein
• Music and Imagination
  Author(s): Aaron Copland
• Interpretation of Music
  Author(s): Thurston Dart
• The Interpretation of Music of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries
  Author(s): Arnold Dolmetsch
• A Performer's Guide to Baroque Music
  Author(s): Robert Donington
• Study of Counterpoint
  Author(s): Johann Joseph Fux
• The Study of Fugue
  Author(s): Alfred Mann
• A Treatise on the Fundamental Principles of Violin Playing (Early Music Series, 6)
  Author(s): Leopold Mozart
• On Playing the Flute
  Author(s): Johann Quantz
• Treatise on Harmony
  Author(s): Jean Philippe Rameau
• Principles of Orchestration
  Author(s): Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov
• Letter on violin playing - Lettera per I suonatori di violino
  Author(s): Giuseppe Tartini
• Wagner on Conducting
  Author(s): Richard Wagner
• Performance Practice: A Bibliography
  Author(s): Mary Vinquist & Neal Zaslaw