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Music as Thought

Listening to the Symphony in the Age of Beethoven
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( 32 ratings, 3 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Before the nineteenth century, instrumental music was viewed as inferior to vocal music, described by Kant as "more pleasure than culture" and dismissed by Rousseau for its lack of conceptual expression. However, by the early 1800s, a significant change occurred: purely instrumental music was celebrated as a means to knowledge, valued for its freedom from language. Music as Thought explores this shift, focusing on responses to Beethoven-era symphonies and drawing from diverse philosophical, literary, political, and musical sources. Mark Evan Bonds offers a compelling reinterpretation of this revolutionary transformation in how music was experienced and understood.
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Format: Paperback / softback
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

This book is ideal for readers interested in music history, philosophy of music, and cultural shifts in musical appreciation during the early nineteenth century. Scholars, students, and general readers fascinated by Beethoven, symphonic music, and the intellectual context of musical listening will find this work particularly compelling.

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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 em

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

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 sourcesβ€”philosophical, literary, political, and musicalβ€”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.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Alex Ross, The New Yorker calls it "a fascinating new book." Patricia Howard, Currents praises it as "a cogent and well-illustrated account" that clarifies complex ideas and convincingly argues for a 'revolution in listening.' John Stine, Music Research Forum appreciates Bonds' clear and accessible presentation of philosophical discussions, making the book illuminating for readers regardless of prior exposure to the era's musical thought.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780691168050

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 28 July 2015

Country: United States

Imprint: Princeton University Press

Audience: Tertiary education, Professional and scholarly

DIMENSIONS

Width: 152.0mm

Height: 235.0mm

Weight: 28g

Pages: 208

About the Author

Mark Evan Bonds is Professor of Musicology at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. His previous books include Wordless Rhetoric: Musical Form and the Metaphor of the Oration and After Beethoven: Imperatives of Originality in the Symphony. He is a former editor in chief of Beethoven Forum.

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