An integration of the lives, philosophies, and music of the great composers, The Gift of Music is "a discussion of the cross-pollination of thought and the interaction of one composer and artist with another. This approach makes the composers come alive and places the reader in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries as observers... Whether readers are new to classical music, or graduates of a classical music program, they will find this book a good resource and an excellent overview of the development of musical thought." (Contemporary Christian)