THE DISCOURSE OF MUSICOLOGY (original) (raw)

Review: The Routledge Companion to Philosophy and Music

Current Musicology, 2012

At least since Plato the problematic of philosophizing about music, or even conceiving a kind of musical philosophy, has conditioned our discourses. The Routledge Companion to Philosophy and Music shares in this problematic but raises its stakes, encouraging us to renew our attempts to think music philosophically. It accomplishes its primary goal admirably: it could very well accompany discussions of music and philosophy for some time to come. The articles it contains are for the most part emphatically if not explicitly written from the perspective of analytic philosophy, which suggests certain disciplinary alignments: music theory and cognition seem to align easily with analytic philosophy, whereas ethnomusicology and historical musicology seem to align with continental philosophy. One of the strengths of the Companion is its ability to appeal to readers from seemingly every music–academic discipline. The Companion thus provides a new standard of philosophical conversation toward which musicians can aspire.

The Oxford Handbook of Western Music and Philosophy

2020

This Handbook offers an overview of the thriving interdisciplinary field of Western music and philosophy. It seeks to represent this area in all its fullness, including a diverse array of perspectives from music studies (notably historical musicology, music theory, and ethnomusicology), philosophy (incorporating both analytic and continental approaches), and a range of cognate disciplines (such as critical theory and intellectual history). The Handbook includes, but does not confine itself to, consideration of key questions in aesthetics and the philosophy of music. Each essay provides an introduction to its topic, an assessment of past scholarship, and a research-driven argument for the future of the research area in question. Taken together, these essays provide a current snapshot of this field and outline an abundance of ways in which it might develop in the future.

Finding Musicology in nineteenth-century Britain: contexts and conflicts

2018

Music has long been a degree subject in British universities. Yet its academic form and status changed dramatically during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This chapter examines the introduction of history and analysis within music programs, the development of ‘musical science’ outside the university and ongoing debates about the ways in which academic musical studies should relate to musical practice, between the early nineteenth century and the middle of the twentieth. These changes are related to concerns about the status of musicians, as well as the perceived paucity of talent within British composition. It is clear that, while music long held a place at many university institutions, the position of musicology as a core discipline was not settled until the mid-twentieth century.

Shifting Paradigms: Aesthetics, Rhetoric, and Musicology in the Eighteenth and Twentieth Centuries

2021

Concepts borrowed from classical rhetoric have been frequently applied to the analysis and performance of eighteenth-century music since the 1970’s. Part of the justification for this scholarly and musical practice is the evidence of ‘musical rhetoric’ found in period theory. A more controversial premise is the high cultural status and the ubiquitous presence of rhetoric during this period. This contradicts an established consensus that during the Enlightenment rhetoric was in decline, surrendering much of its authority to aesthetics. This essay offers a broader perspective on this controversy, examining both the evolution of the disciplinary borders between rhetoric and aesthetics, and the interdisciplinary reappraisal of rhetoric in the late twentieth century.