Stephen Fry. Classical music. He's a fan. How you'll feel about this book is how you feel about Stephen Fry on talk/chat shows. Here he's initially amusing, then mildly irritating, very irritating, finally exasperating. Don't expect too much history, he does advertise it as "incomplete". Do expect an abundance of groanworthy humor.

I bought this at a charity shop in York whilst on vacation/holiday in the UK. Occasionally one will find previous reader's comments in the margins of a used book. Not so here. However, there is a single comment towards the end in elegant script: "Not bad, Fry 7/10, PS you owe me an essay on Keats." Friend? Professor? Publisher? ( )

Stephen Fry walks his reader through classical music, from a cave painting in France to John Williams' Harry Potter score.
I really appreciated this one for the timeline aspect; I've never been good at remembering who came when in this field, and generally I just assume that Beethoven, Brahms, Bach, Chopin, Rachmaninoff et al. were all kicking around in the 1750s (DON'T JUDGE ME!). So, yeah, this was a good read for me. My only tiny little quibble - because I love Stephen Fry with all my heart and in general think that he can do no wrong - is that I can't quite figure out how to handle the tone. It's flippant and jokey all the way through and after about 1/3 of the book that started to wear a bit and I felt bad that it was starting to wear a bit because, again, I love Stephen Fry. So much. I suspect that it would be easier to take in an audio version, especially, of course, if Fry read it himself. ( )

I feel like I've just finished a flipping marathon.

If, like me, you enjoy slightly more than a smattering of classical music but are utterly ignorant of who came first and who wrote what where and when, this is an extraordinarily entertaining and sometimes silly (it's Fry) way to go about educating yourself. But be warned: Fry packs an absolute boatload of information into the 304 pages he has to work with. I had been enjoying this book at night, right before going to sleep, but once I entered the era of Beethoven and Mozart, I actually started having trouble sleeping afterwards; my mind just kept reeling through all the information and I was 'continuing to read' after I was asleep (if you think Fry is silly, you should hear the nonsense I was 'reading' in my sleep). I finally just threw myself into the final third all day today so I could finish the bloody thing and get a decent night's sleep.

I'd have gone the whole 5 star hog but this is a very UK-centric book; lots and lots of very British cultural references, quite a few of which I'm certain went right over my head in spite of having a husband weaned on the Australian BBC feed, so if you wouldn't consider yourself moderately versed in UK popular culture and/or cockney slang (thank god for MT) then you might find the writing irritating at times. All in all though, in spite of the more-screwed-up-than-usual sleeping patterns, I thoroughly enjoyed the read and the education. ( )

As a brief history of classical music this book is okay, it does give you a bit of information without being too heavy and it is a relatively easy read. The big problem, and I love Stephen Fry so this hurts, is that the 'humour' is terrible. It is painful and embarrassing to the point of not wanting to read it. So poor and such a shame. If you wish to have an introduction to classical music then by all means go ahead and read this, but don't expect to be amused by the puerile comedic efforts. ( )

As a reader with a limited knowledge of Classical Composers and Music I found this both entertaining and informative. It gives a broad overview of the development of music from the begining to the near present, including short biographies of some great composers. A worthwhile read. ( )