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Description
Aesthetics and Music is a fresh and often provocative exploration of the key concepts and arguments in musical aesthetics. Anyone interested in what contemporary philosophy has to say about music as an art form will find this thought-provoking and highly enjoyable book required reading.
From Pythagoras, Plato and Pop to Kant, Nietzsche and Jazz, this introduction draws on the rich heritage of the subject and provides distinctive new ways of thinking about music as an art form, covering:
- The experience of listening
- Rhythm and musical movement
- What modernism has meant for musical aesthetics
- The relation of music to other 'sound arts'
Now updated and illustrated throughout, this 2nd edition features guides to further reading, discussion questions and additional material on the sound of music as well as new chapters on the aesthetics of perfection and the aesthetics of recording.
Table of Contents
Introduction
1. Aesthetics and Music in Ancient Greece
2. The Concept of Music
3. The Aesthetics of Form, the Aesthetics of Expression, and 'Absolute Music': Aesthetics of Music in the Late-18th and 19th Centuries
4. The Sound of Music
5. Rhythm and Time
6. Adorno and Modernism: Music as Autonomous and 'Social Fact'
7. Improvisation and Composition
8. The Aesthetics of Recording
9. Music and Dance
Annotated Bibliography
Index
Product details
| Published | 22 Feb 2026 |
|---|---|
| Format | Ebook (PDF) |
| Edition | 2nd |
| Extent | 288 |
| ISBN | 9781350094345 |
| Imprint | Bloomsbury Academic |
| Series | Bloomsbury Aesthetics |
| Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing |
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