A great book to follow Scholes' The Complete Book of the Great Musicians, which familiarizes the reader with the boyhood experiences of composers as well as a few of their major works. With that background the student is now ready to learn about the positions which the most important composers occupy in the historical development of the art. Parry shows the relations of the composers to one another, how they followed in each other's footsteps, often sparking one another's musical interests through personal contact. For each of the eleven composers he makes clear the social, personal, and historical conditions under which they became the acknowledged masters of various branches and phases of musical art. Much emphasis is placed on the immediate external influences and traits of character which had so much to do with the style of their works, and the lines of art which they pursued.