What is the history of classical music?

Answer 1

That's a very broad question, spanning hundreds of years of history! For the complete newbie first stepping into the classical music realm, How to Listen to Great Music: A Guide to its History, Culture, and Heart by Robert Greenberg is a quick and dirty introduction that may be all you're looking for.

For a more in-depth look, you may want to check out A History of Western Music, one of the older editions (the new editions got rather dry), by Donald J. Grout and Claude V. Palisca for a deeper overview with specific examples from many notable composers. There are also lots of youtube channels that cover topics like this; I'm not familiar with many as of yet, but if you're specifically interested in piano history, I love "pianoTV." Hope this helps!