This is the first book to offer a complete introduction to the recorder. Eight contributors from four different countries write on topics such as the recorder and its music through the centuries, the recorder as orchestral instrument, the professional recorder player through history and today, and the phenomenon of the recorder revival. The Companion also contains basic reference material previously unavailable in one volume. A special feature is the rich collection of illustrations that provide a history of the instrument. The Cambridge Companion to the Recorder will be of interest to performers and students as well as to music enthusiasts.