THE STREAM OF MUSIC

History of music in terms of its greats, with a just balance of the personalities and lives of composers and their contributions to the overall. Bach, little known as a man, neglected for almost a century, but today venerated above all for his extraordinary combination of emotion and technique; the orderly, good natured Haydn, and the evolution of homophonic music; Mozart and the height of instrumental classicism; Heathoven, immense in scope, revolutionary in spirit; Schubert, the melodist; Schumann, arch romanticist; Wagner and the new orchestral epoch; Brahms, last of the titans. Then the Russians (Rimski-Korsakov, Moussorgsky, Tschaikovsky); Debussy and the break with heroic traditions; and the modern trend with Strauss, Stravinsky, Sibellus. Others --briefly -- making a good, rounded picture of musical men and works, conventional as to interpretation, orthodox in handling. But good background book.