A Complete History of Music is W. J. Baltzell’s concise survey of the art’s development, written for schools, clubs, and private readers. It traces the story of Western music from its ancient and medieval roots through the great periods of the Baroque, Classical, and Romantic eras.
Baltzell organises the history around composers, forms, and national schools, offering a clear and orderly account suited to general study. The book aims to give students and amateurs a coherent framework for understanding how music evolved. As an accessible single-volume introduction from the era of widespread musical education, it remains a serviceable overview of the broad outlines of music history.