The power and prestige of music in the modern world has given its practitioners extraordinary wealth and moral authority. This is taken for granted now and yet for much of Europe's history musicians have been mere servants. The rise of music and musicians in the West is the subject of Tim Blanning's fascinating new book, from poorly-paid balladeers to music-masters employed by fickle patrons, to the great composers of genius, to today's rock stars. How, he asks, did music progress from subordinate status to its present position of supremacy among the creative arts? Mozart was booted out of the service of the Archbishop of Salzburg 'with a kick to my arse', as he expressed it. Yet, less than a hundred years later, Europe's most powerful ruler - Emperor William I of Germany - paid homage to Wagner by travelling to Bayreuth to attend the debut of The Ring. Today Bono, who was touted as the next president of the World Bank in 2006, travels the world advising politicians - and they seem to listen.

The path to fame and independence began when new instruments allowed musicians to showcase their creativity, and music publishing allowed masterworks to be performed widely in concert halls erected to accommodate growing public interest. No longer merely an instrument to celebrate the greater glory of a reigning sovereign or Supreme Being, music was, by the nineteenth century, to be worshipped in its own right. In the twentieth century, new technological, social, and spatial forces combined to make music ever more popular and ubiquitous.

In a concluding chapter, Blanning considers music's alliances with nationalism, race and sex. Although not always in step, music, society, and politics, he shows, march in the same direction. The Triumph of Music is a marvellous work of cultural history, packed with surprising stories and insights.