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Lynn posts a very nice and comprehensive resource for anyone starting out on an auto-didactical exploration of classical music. She includes a list of good resources and some advice for dealing with fervent advice from others:

We serious classical music lovers are a bunch of fanatics; we’re lunatics; we’re scary. We can’t help it; the music we love is like a religion with us and we defend it and argue about it amoung ourselves with all the fervor of religious fundamentalists. When we discover a potential convert our worst fear is that he will get away – that, like most people, he will hear only a dozen or so pieces and decide that classical music is just not his thing, without ever hearing the dozens more that he might have liked…

However, a new listener has to start somewhere. Anyone who thinks he might be interested in classical music has already heard at least parts of some of the most well-known pieces, therefore it stands to reason that his interest is based on these and he will not be immediately turned off by hearing similar music. On the other hand, if you are trying to convert someone who thinks that all classical music is nothing but prissy-sounding 18th century muzak, then more Mozart, or even more Rossini, is probably not going to do the trick. I’ll get back to that kind of listener at a later date. Right now, I want to talk to that first group – those who want to explore classical music.