The Aesthetics of Music / Edition 1

by Roger Scruton

Overview

What is music, what is its value, and what does it mean? In this stimulating volume, Roger Scruton offers a comprehensive account of the nature and significance of music from the perspective of modern philosophy. The study begins with the metaphysics of sound. Scruton 7istinguishes sound from tone; analyzes rhythm, melody, and harmony; and explores the various dimensions of musical organization and musical meaning. Taking on various fashionable theories in the philosophy and theory of music, he presents a compelling case for the moral significance of music, its place in our culture, and the need for taste and discrimination in performing and listening to it. Laying down principles for musical analysis and criticism, this bold work concludes with a theory of culture—and a devastating demolition of modern popular music.

"A provocative new study."—The Guardian

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780198167273
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	07/29/1999
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	560
Sales rank:	716,593
Product dimensions:	9.21(w) x 6.15(h) x 1.18(d)

About the Author

Roger Scruton is a leading authority on aestheics, and has also published books on others aspects of philosophy, politics, literature, architecture, and modern culture. Currently a freelance writer and composer, he was previously a Professor of Philosophy at Boston University.

Table of Contents

PrefaceList of Music ExamplesNote to the Reader1. Sound2. Tone3. Imagination and Metaphor4. Ontology5. Representation6. Expression7. Language8. Understanding9. Tonality10. Form11. Content12. Value13. Analysis14. Performance15. CultureBibliographyAcknowledgementsIndex

Editorial Reviews

"This is a rich and rewarding study, and I doubt whether anyone could have done it better...Above all, though, he has produced a work of philosophy at its most expansive, light-years removed from the logic-chopping of a generation ago...Scruton, in this ambitious work, has given us a masterly insight into the architecture of tonality and why its "useless space" matters as a home of the human spirit."—The Times

"...provocative new study..."—The Guardian

From the Publisher