This book presents a broad historical panorama of Europe and the Western world through music, which has long been a means for people to shape their cultures. Gernot Gruber narrates the history of music from its beginnings in prehistoric times to the recent present, characterized by a globalized popular and classical music scene. He describes, sometimes in detail and sometimes broadly, how closely music is intertwined with religion and ritual, power and politics, as well as everyday life and coping with existence. Thus, this cultural history offers something different from the familiar histories of music: it starts from the contexts that, as a history of ideas, social, and political history, underpin music. It vividly illustrates the tension between general life and the unique existence of music as an art form. The common thread is the question of what is European in music, the relationship between plurality and identity, and where this history leads us in the present: Is current European identity dissolving - or does the innovative engagement with the globally disseminated canon of European music not offer a chance for stability?.