Duet
'A sensational book. Chan roves across her vast subject with confidence and grace, thrilling the reader with one eye-opening insight after another. I will never see art, and hear music, in quite the same way again' James Fox, author of Craftland
'Extraordinary... Duet is an impressive book.... confidently blends scholarship, advocacy and love' Leah Broad, Literary Review
An ancient shaman raises a conch shell to her lips in a painted cave. A scholar in a Shaolin monastery bends over a manuscript and invents a musical scale. A 21st-century pop star takes her seat at a candyfloss-pink piano.
Music is interwoven into the fabric of our lives. We listen to it. Some of us play it. And from the earliest traces of human existence, we have attempted to capture it – through the instruments we decorate, the spaces we perform in, and in kaleidoscopic paintings, medieval illuminated manuscripts and haute couture.
In this startlingly original and beautifully illustrated history of music, classically trained musician, art historian and BBC Next Generation Thinker Dr Eleanor Chan takes us on an unforgettable journey through sound and vision that will forever change the way we see music.
Book details
- Format
- Hardback
- ISBN
- 9780715655719
- Published
- 18 September 2025
- Pages
- 352
- Duration
- Dimensions
- 156 x 234 mm
- Genre
- History
- Imprint
- Duckworth
Reviews
'Extraordinary... Duet is an impressive book. Chan's writing is playful, but she is serious about why both art and music matter. Beneath the fizzing surface are powerful arguments about the nature of music and its importance as a form of communication... It is refreshing to read a book that so confidently blends scholarship, advocacy and love'
'From an 18,000-year-old ornate conch shell to the costume Beyoncé wore to the 2017 Grammys, Eleanor Chan’s highly original thesis examines the connection between music and art throughout history. She reveals how the visual and the audible have always been inextricably linked'
'Scholarly, moving and with an epic scope, Chan's work shows why music is at the core of what it means to be human'
'With grace and passion, Ms. Chan makes the case for music as a catalyst for submerged emotions so intense, so combustible, they can generate more art. It's a fascinating way to see songs, airs and symphonies: full of lost moments and feelings, waiting to stir within us and leap before our eyes'
'A mind-expanding exploration of music as a history of human interactions with the world... Erudite, beautifully written and bursting with ideas, Chan’s Duet opens our ears and eyes to the deep, creative entanglements of music and the visual arts'
'Frankly joyous... A dizzy ride, but a thought-provoking, breathlessly enjoyable one'
'A swooping, capacious and beautiful history of how we see music, of the intrinsic connection of eye and ear. The scope is breathtaking: no genre, context, or artefact seems out of bounds for Chan’s brilliant and insightful analysis... Duet is a testament to the musicality and artistry of the human experience and, frankly, I wish there were more books like this'
'I really enjoyed Duet: An Artful History of Music and having a chance to explore the very human desire to decorate time... The book is a gem'
'With erudition and elegance, classically trained musician and art historian Chan explores how music is viscerally linked to visual art. This illuminating and impassioned deep dive holds many treasures'
