The Enjoyment of Music continues to teach students how to listen and connect to any kind of music. After more than fifty years of successfully preparing students for a lifetime of informed listening, the twelfth edition raises the bar with an expanded repertory of appealing music, an exciting new listening and assessment pedagogy and the richest and most user-friendly online resources available to students today.

For nearly 70 years, The Enjoyment of Music has led the way in preparing students for a lifetime of listening to great music and understanding its cultural and historical context. The Fourteenth Edition expands on this foundation with new chapters and features that add many voices to its already rich repertoire.

Allegro traces the checkered career of concert violinist Danny Sachs. We see his steady progress as a promising young student, adored and encouraged by many. He and Ruth, a talented young pianist who becomes his accompanist, fall in love. Danny wins the International Violin Competition in Moscow and makes a brilliant debut in Carnegie Hall. His career is off to a soaring start. Amid the glamour and stress of his success, Danny becomes increasingly discontent. He leaves Ruth and begins a dangerous affair with the wife of his wealthy patron, delving deeper into the world of cocaine. He falls desperately in love with Natalya, a renowned ballerina, only to be thwarted. His drug abuse worsens and his erratic behavior lands him in jail. His career seems ruined. Slowly and painfully, through rehabilitation, he recovers from his addiction and his troubled past. He finds his way back to his concert career and back to Ruth, seeing her in a new light.