Author : Aaron Ridley
Publisher : Cornell University Press
ISBN 13 : 1501744771
Total Pages : 215 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (17 download)
Book Synopsis Music, Value and the Passions by : Aaron Ridley
Download or read book Music, Value and the Passions written by Aaron Ridley and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2019-05-15 with total page 215 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For a century there has been a divergence between what music theorists say music is about and what the ordinary listener actually experiences. Music theory has insisted on a separation of musical experience from the experience of emotions, from the passions. Yet a passionate experience of music is just what most ordinary listeners have. Charting a new course through the minefield of contemporary philosophy of music, Aaron Ridley provides a coherent defense of the ordinary listener's beliefs. Focusing on instrumental music in the classical Western canon, Ridley defends the commonsense position on music and attempts to return the experience of music to the ordinary listener. He argues that, through a sympathetic experience of certain musical gestures, the listener is able to grasp the passions of which the music is expressive. If the passions are properly understood, he contends, there is a place for passion in a philosophical understanding of music. Similarly, the expression of passion may properly be considered part of the value of the music we hear.