The Madman's Orchestra

(Hardback)

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From the bestselling author andformer BBCQIElf comes a fascinating and beautifully illustrated journey through the entire history of music. In The Madmans Orchestra, join Edward Brooke-Hitching as he lifts the curtain on the strangest episodes from the entire history of music, taking us on a backstage tour of surprising and eccentric stories.

From the musical secrets of prehistoric monuments to the future of compositions by artificial intelligence, The Madmans Orchestrauncovers the most curious tales, madcap musicians, and unusual instruments lost in time and answers questions including:

• What does the song of a black hole sound like
• Which composition requires four helicopters and a string quartet with strong stomachs to play it correctly
• How exactly would the cat piano sound, and would it be any more pleasing to the ear than the hog harmonium

Discover musical hoaxes, compositions relayed by ghosts, the code-writing of musical cryptography, the pop songs smuggled past Soviet censors using X-rays, the beauty of Renaissance eye music, compositions by the Devil, the supernatural instruments played by witches, and the experimental female scientist who created the visible voice.

Fascinating, funny, and at times barely believable, The Madmans Orchestrais a unique exploration of the history of music that will strike a chord with fans of beautiful books and bizarre history, and delight with a rich depth and variety of research that ultimately celebrates the boundless creativity of our musical imagination.

Author Bio

Edward Brooke-Hitching is the author of the critically acclaimed and bestselling booksThePhantom Atlas (2016),The Golden Atlas (2018),The Sky Atlas (2019), The Madman's Library (2020) and The Devil's Atlas (2021), all of which have been translated into numerous languages; he is also the author ofFox Tossing, Octopus Wrestling and Other Forgotten Sports (2015).He isa writer for the BBC series QI.Afellow of the Royal Geographical Society and an incurable cartophile, he lives surrounded by dusty heaps of old maps and books in Berkshire.