Music as Thought

Listening to the Symphony in the Age of Beethoven

Nonfiction, Entertainment, Music, Music Styles, Classical & Opera, Classical
Cover of the book Music as Thought by Mark Evan Bonds, Princeton University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Mark Evan Bonds ISBN: 9781400827398
Publisher: Princeton University Press Publication: January 10, 2009
Imprint: Princeton University Press Language: English
Author: Mark Evan Bonds
ISBN: 9781400827398
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Publication: January 10, 2009
Imprint: Princeton University Press
Language: English

Before the nineteenth century, instrumental music was considered inferior to vocal music. Kant described wordless music as "more pleasure than culture," and Rousseau dismissed it for its inability to convey concepts. But by the early 1800s, a dramatic shift was under way. Purely instrumental music was now being hailed as a means to knowledge and embraced precisely because of its independence from the limits of language. What had once been perceived as entertainment was heard increasingly as a vehicle of thought. Listening had become a way of knowing.

Music as Thought traces the roots of this fundamental shift in attitudes toward listening in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Focusing on responses to the symphony in the age of Beethoven, Mark Evan Bonds draws on contemporary accounts and a range of sources--philosophical, literary, political, and musical--to reveal how this music was experienced by those who heard it first.

Music as Thought is a fascinating reinterpretation of the causes and effects of a revolution in listening.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Before the nineteenth century, instrumental music was considered inferior to vocal music. Kant described wordless music as "more pleasure than culture," and Rousseau dismissed it for its inability to convey concepts. But by the early 1800s, a dramatic shift was under way. Purely instrumental music was now being hailed as a means to knowledge and embraced precisely because of its independence from the limits of language. What had once been perceived as entertainment was heard increasingly as a vehicle of thought. Listening had become a way of knowing.

Music as Thought traces the roots of this fundamental shift in attitudes toward listening in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Focusing on responses to the symphony in the age of Beethoven, Mark Evan Bonds draws on contemporary accounts and a range of sources--philosophical, literary, political, and musical--to reveal how this music was experienced by those who heard it first.

Music as Thought is a fascinating reinterpretation of the causes and effects of a revolution in listening.

More books from Princeton University Press

Cover of the book The Failed Welfare Revolution by Mark Evan Bonds
Cover of the book The Rise of Russia and the Fall of the Soviet Empire by Mark Evan Bonds
Cover of the book Eco-evolutionary Dynamics by Mark Evan Bonds
Cover of the book Mammals of North America by Mark Evan Bonds
Cover of the book The Good in the Right by Mark Evan Bonds
Cover of the book Following the Wild Bees by Mark Evan Bonds
Cover of the book Dreams by Mark Evan Bonds
Cover of the book Knocking on the Door by Mark Evan Bonds
Cover of the book The Five Habits of Highly Effective Honeybees (and What We Can Learn from Them) by Mark Evan Bonds
Cover of the book Modeling Infectious Diseases in Humans and Animals by Mark Evan Bonds
Cover of the book Protestants Abroad by Mark Evan Bonds
Cover of the book Birds of Peru by Mark Evan Bonds
Cover of the book The Therapy of Desire by Mark Evan Bonds
Cover of the book Thucydides by Mark Evan Bonds
Cover of the book Mitzvah Girls by Mark Evan Bonds
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy