Why music? Why does it speak to us so deeply? Why do we argue about it so much? And what makes it truly great?

Examining the lives and works of the greatest composers and artists – from Beethoven to The Beatles, Wagner to Winehouse – Norman Lebrecht takes an expansive journey through the history of music in search of answers.

From farmers playing Mozart to soothe cows on Austrian dairy farms to the global churn of pop, streaming and algorithmic sound, Lebrecht looks to our varied, and often contradictory, understandings of music’s purpose, from the therapeutic to the corrupting. Told with characteristic wit and irreverence, Why Music? offers a fresh take on many of our most beloved songs and musicians through 101 short chapters.