Stephen Fry's Incomplete and Utter History of Classical Music

I felt as though I was being arched and punned and whimsied to death. An insult to any reader any age any amount of previous knowledge. Just awful.

Does what it says on the tin (2/2 people found this helpful)

The thing to understand about this book, apart from the fact that it isn't really written by Fry himself, is that it is indeed incomplete, as it says in the title. I approached this with high hopes after reading his excellent book on poetry, and found myself somewhat disappointed. If I had read it first I suspect I may not have been so underwhelmed. As it is, there are very few books available which offer a readable, albeit necessarily potted history of classical music, and when approaching the subject as a rank amateur, desperately in need of a way into the genre one takes what one can get. It isn't technical, it doesn't have all the answers, it doesn't cover everything and there are some terrible jokes in it, but it does offer a glimpse into and reasonable overview of the world of classical music without either being 12 billion pages long, or so technical you haven't a hope in hell. This, in my opinion, is a good thing.

Oh deary me... (13/16 people found this helpful)

I was so excited when I bought this book. I love classical music, I love Stephen Fry's wit and so I thought this happy union would have me wetting my pants with some Bach playing in the background.

As the title suggests, it is very very incomplete, but far from utter. I'm not a huge fan of Mozart, but I found it slightly unfair that he was given a total of around 6 pages of the book, whereas Fry's favourite composer, Wagner (given a larger font throughout he book - somewhat annoying) gets a whopping 30 pages. Which is not very respective of the two composer's works.

Fry's wit is in there, alright. But reading his wit just isn't the same as hearing it. I found it frustrating that I had to keep thinking how Fry would have said this or that line, to have even the faintest dribblings in my seat. Even then, Fry uses the same jokes over and over again. Tedium sets in after a while.

Perhaps the most annoying thing, though, is that this book is NOT a history of music. It is a very incomplete narrative of historical events interspersed with the odd musical reference. If I'm reading a book concerning the history of classical music, am I likely to care about the population of China in the 18th century? I think not.

In short, those who want to have a little chuckle would do better with either the Liar, Moab or the Tennis Star's Balls. Those who want a little background to music would be better off buying the Groves Encyclopoedia. It may cost a lot more than the Incomplete and Utter History, but you get what you pay for.

On the back cover, R Schumann gives "his" views on this book. "I threw it in the Rhine". I know the feeling, and will be quite happy to throw it in the Danube.

Light and frothy entertainment (5/7 people found this helpful)

This book made me laugh a good deal and thus helped to pass the time in a long transatlantic flight. No it is not in depth, and yes it tries too much to put composers in a historical context with superfluous details, but light and frothy Fry can delight the weary traveller.

The worst kind of puerile excrement (28/33 people found this helpful)

I will start by echoing what has been mentioned already by at least one reviewer: this book was not written by Stephen Fry - I'm amazed he has allowed his name to be associated with such an amateurish, school-paper-like piece of work.

Mr Fry's own books have on the whole been well researched and written with deftly chosen words and a real knack for narrative. This book, on the other hand, reads like it was written by the protagonist Adrian Healey from Fry's The Liar - i.e. a pretentious adolescent with the gift of the gab but no fathomable intellectual substance. Indeed the book's author, a Mr Tim Lihoreau, has presented a poor impersonation of a fifteen year old Stephen Fry.

Examples of where stylistically this book is likely to irritate literate adults would include the joke about "Georges Bizet, whom my computer spell-check wants to call George's bidet", the interminable number of ways the author draws attention the fact that Richard Wagner wrote works that are around the four hour mark - not to mention the habit he has of following the title of any Wagner piece with tags like "The Ring, or to give it its full kennel name, The Ring of Lady Benedictine-Trixibelle, the Third." - and references to Donizetti's "Lucia di Ilkley Moor". One could forgive humour this crass if it were sporadically dotted throughout the text and the reader were allowed occasional respite from it, yet almost every paragraph is bursting at the seams with gags - most of which wouldn't sound out of place in an episode of Dick and Dom in Da Bungalow.

There are some redeeming features - the content seems mostly accurate and therefore informative to anyone unacquainted with certain dates/events etc and the structure is sound, though as the structure is chronological it would be pretty hard even for Mr Lihoreau to louse that up.

These points notwithstanding, my recommendation would be: To anyone wishing to read something written by Stephen Fry - choose any of The Liar, The Hippopotamus, or Moab is My Washpot. To anyone wishing to read a rough guide to classical music - read The Rough Guide to Classical Music and its sister work The Rough Guide to Opera. What's most awful about the Incomplete & Utter History. . . is that it is likely to dissuade the kind of people Classic FM hopes to attract to classical music from listening to anything of the kind; for fear that such people may miss out my final suggestion would be to turn on BBC Radio 3.

Stephen Fry's Incomplete and Utter History of Classical Music

Stephen Fry, Tim Lihoreau

Reader Reviews:

unreadable (0/0 people found this helpful)

Does what it says on the tin (2/2 people found this helpful)

Oh deary me... (13/16 people found this helpful)

Light and frothy entertainment (5/7 people found this helpful)

The worst kind of puerile excrement (28/33 people found this helpful)

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