Once musicians such as Mozart were little more than court servants; now they are multimillionaire superstars wielding more power than politicians. How did this extraordinary change come about? Tim Blanning's brilliantly enjoyable book examines how everything from the cult of the romantic to technology and travel all fed the inexorable rise of music in the West, making it the most dominant and ubiquitous of the art forms. Encompassing balladeers, the great composers, jazz legends and rock gods, this is an enthralling story of power, patronage, creativity and genius.

This collection of sixteen new essays, all commissioned from cultural and musical historians, was inspired by the themes and approaches of Professor Cyril Ehrlich's pathbreaking work on British social history in music. This volume discusses issues such as the music marketplace, piano culture, musicians' work patterns, music institutions, concert history, and national and urban identities - all with a clear focus on art music traditions. The cultural importance of serious music, from Belfast to Calcutta, has long been assumed for the period but rarely demonstrated. Here the issue is interwoven with the social and economic realities confronting music and musicians in Britain across the 19th century.