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Themes in the Philosophy of Music
Stephen Davies
292 pages
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2pp line drawings
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234x156mm
978-0-19-924157-6
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Hardback
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02 January 2003
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This item is printed to order and supplied on a firm sale basis. Items which are printed to order are normally despatched and charged within 5-10 days.
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- The best shorter writings of a leading figure in current aesthetics
- Accessible to theorists of music and art as well as to aestheticians and philosophers
- Discusses many kinds of music and illuminates many aspects of music-making
- Features two new essays, previously unpublished
Representing Stephen Davies's best shorter writings, these essays outline developments within the philosophy of music over the last two decades, and summarize the state of play at the beginning of a new century. Including two new and previously unpublished pieces, they address both perennial questions and contemporary controversies, such as that over the 'authentic performance' movement, and the impact of modern technology on the presentation and reception of musical works. Rather than attempting to reduce musical works to a single type, Davies recognizes a great variety of kinds, and a complementary range of possibilities for their rendition.
Among the questions that Davies considers are these: How can expressiveness be in a musical work when music experiences nothing? Is music a language of the emotions? How do recorded pop songs and purely electronic pieces differ from works created for live performance? Is John Cage's silent piece, 4'33", music? To what extent is the performer free to create her own interpretation and to what extent is she constrained by the composer's score? Is training in musical technicalities a prerequisite for a full appreciation of musical works and performances? Is an awareness of the socio-historical setting in which a work is created relevant to its appreciation? How does the value of individual musical works go beyond the worth of an interest in music in general?
Stimulating and insightful both as individual discussions and as a coherent argument, these essays will be greatly enjoyed by philosophers, aestheticians, art theorists, and musicologists.
Readership: Students and scholars of philosophy, aesthetics, art theory, and musicology.
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Stephen Davies, University of Auckland, New Zealand
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"For those who are already familiar with the combination of argumentative power, conceptual clarity, and humane depth represented by Stephen Davies' writings on music, their high expectations will be handsomely fulfilled by this collection of essays composed between 1980 and 2002. For those who do not know of Davies' work, this collection offers a fine way to become familiar with his writing on the subject. The volume collects pieces ranging over and -- for the most part -- intricately through, issues of musical ontology, performance, expression, and appreciation. Throughout these inquiries Davies shows, as in his earlier work, that he is particularly adept at sorting out the structure of a debate, presenting positions on all sides and providing the
reader with a perspicuous overview of the state of play" - Garry L. Hagberg, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews "a collection of important and well-known essays by an nfluential philosopher of music . . . Davies is fascinating on his home turf, which is the analytic philosophy of the musical arts, and those who are tempted by or subscribe to this worldview should invest in this book immediately." - British Journal of Aesthetics
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Introduction
ONTOLOGY
1: John Cage's 4'33. Is it Music?
2: Ontologies of Musical Works
3: Transcription, Authenticity, and Performance
4: The Ontology of Musical Works and the Authenticity of their Performances
PERFORMANCE
5: Authenticity in Musical Performance
6: So, You Want to Sing with the Beatles? Too Late!
7: What is the Sound of One Piano Plummeting?
EXPRESSION
8: The Expression of Emotion in Music
9: Is Music a Language of the Emotions?
10: Contra the Hypothetical Persona in Music
11: Philosophical Perspectives on Music's Expressiveness
APPRECIATION
12: The Evaluation of Music
13: Musical Understandings and Musical Kinds
14: Attributing Significance to Unobvious Musical Relationships
15: The Multiple Interpretability of Musical Works
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The specification in this catalogue, including without limitation price, format, extent, number of illustrations, and month of publication, was as accurate as possible at the time the catalogue was compiled. Occasionally, due to the nature of some contractual restrictions, we are unable to ship a specific product to a particular territory. Jacket images are provisional and liable to change before publication.
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