Bach, Beethoven, and the Boys

Music History as It Ought to Be Taught

By: David W. Barber

Narrated by: Jean-Michel George

David W. Barber has delighted readers/listeners around the world with Accidentals on Purpose, When the Fat Lady Sings, and other internationally best-selling books of musical humor. His best-selling Bach, Beethoven and the Boys chronicles the lives of the great (and not-so-great) composers as you've never read them before--exploring their sex lives, exposing their foibles and expanding on our understanding of these all-too-human creatures. Filled with information, interesting facts, and trivia, this hilarious history covers music from Gregorian chant to the mess we're in now. From Bach's laundry lists to Beethoven's bowel problems, from Gesualdo's kinky fetishes to Cage's mushroom madness, Barber tells tales out of school that ought to be put back there (think how much more fun it would be if they taught this stuff).

Audiobook ISBN: 978-1-998904-19-8

©1986, 2018 David W. Barber (P)2025 David W. Barber

MARVELOUS

I highly recommend this to any student of music that has endured a 3:00pm music history class.

funny and whimsical

very enjoyable and quick audiobook. only 3 hours or so. nice for funny history lesson

The Most Fun You’ll Have Learning Something

A delightfully irreverent take on classical music 🎶 it is quite funny and definitely a great way to spend time. The narrator is a perfect fit for the material.

Joke book, not for learning

Disappointing but not terrible. This would be a fun book to have on the shelf and pull down for fun anecdotes, but I didn't really learn anything from it. What it had was entertaining and interesting but it was so short that it didn't get into any of the good stuff.
Frustrated by the lack of female composers mentioned. Also there was a lot of opera slander (which I can get as a joke but seriously the opera chapter felt like it was just making fun of opera the whole time)

This book felt like a musician wrote a book saying, “see guys, musicians are so silly and dumb but I can make jokes about it so I'm cool”. The humor was good, but there was very little substance behind it.

I would read other book by this author, but not when I'm trying to actually learn anything.

Wanted: More audiobooks from the author

Fun listen owed in large part to narrator JM George's patrician nobility accent which adds a Pythonesque quality. Would purchase Mr. Barber's other works as audiobooks with this form of narration.