A History of Western Choral Music explores the various genres, key composers, and influential works essential to the development of the western choral tradition. The book is replete with excerpts, facsimiles of the original manuscripts, and charts summarizing the form of many works discussed; nearly every page includes a graphic or illustration. This gives the text more readability than other similar publications. A work of monumental scholarship, Alwes's publication is valuable as a textbook, as a quick reference, or as a continuous narrative detailing choral music's dramatic history.