A History of the World in 50 Pieces

Music transports us and defines us. As a form of expression, it has been passed down through oral tradition, musical notation and recordings in a chain of connection that spans the globe, across the millennia. A History of the World in 50 Pieces follows that chain, collating 50 examples of classical music that reflect our changing politics, social structures and technological development, and how composers, musicians and listeners have shaped those currents of history. From folk songs to national anthems, Beethoven to Florence Price, fifteenth-century French opera to 1970s experimental piano works, Tom Service offers a fresh take on pieces everyone knows and many more they might not. With each short, sharp analysis, he expands the typical canon and tests the boundaries of what we understand to be ‘classical music’ – or even music at all, such as the sounds of the earth’s rotation as recorded by sound artist Jez Riley French. An official BBC Radio 3 publication, A History of the World in 50 Pieces is a book for anyone curious about the power of music and how it shapes us and connects us.