Arthur Jacobs (1) (1922–1996)

This might've been the 1st music bk I read. I actually remember the 1st one as being a music THEORY bk published by Penguin & NOT a music HISTORY one but this is the closest one that I can find in my library so either it was this one or I don't have the one I actually read anymore. At any rate, much of my basic music knowledge came from reading this (or the other?) bk so it's important to me. Always did have a soft spot for Penguin. They've published alotof great stuff & they had a warehouse a coupla thousand feet away from where I grew up so Penguin bks were plentiful. Too bad they moved away when they merged w/ Viking!… (mehr)

Rating this book is meaningless, since it's out of date, probably out of print and on a topic that nobody cares about anymore, but I would like to bear witness to Arthur Jacobs. All I know about him is that he wrote this book and some other books, but this is such a measured, broad-minded but not uncritical, and well-informed book that I assume he was more or less an ideal human being. The composers he picks as new and exciting are almost all still considered important (though he gives Shostakovich short shrift); he writes about the relationship between pop and art music more effectively than any culture warrior yearning to destroy the barrier between high and low culture; and he seems to find any sound made by anyone or anything interesting.

Also, his biography at the start reads: "Married, with two sons, he enjoys swimming, skiing, walking, puns, theatre-going, and music," AND HE DIDN'T EVEN MAKE ANY PUNS IN THE BOOK. This is the mark of a saint: to enjoy puns without forcing them on other people.

Well done, Arthur Jacobs, wherever you are. You didn't teach me much I didn't already know about music history, but you might have made me a better person.… (mehr)