Music and the Origins of Language: Theories from the French Enlightenment (New Perspectives in Music History and Criticism, Series Number 2) - Softcover

Thomas, Downing A.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0521028620 ISBN 13: 9780521028622

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2006

Synopsis

The search for the origins of language was one of the most pressing philosophical issues of the eighteenth century. It has escaped notice, however, that music figured prominently in that search. This study analyzes reflections on music and music theory as they appear within the logical and narrative structure of texts by, for example, Rousseau, Diderot, Rameau and Condillac, and considers the ways in which music facilitates links between language and meaning, between conceptions of an original society and an ideal social order.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

This new series explores the conceptual frameworks that shape or have shaped the ways in which we understand music and its history, and seeks to elaborate structures of explanation, interpretation, commentary, and criticism which make music intelligible and which provide a basis for argument about judgments of value.

Review:

'Thomas distills these and far more recondite arguments with admirable clarity, and, what is more, he persuades the non-philosophically inclined reader of the relevance of his investigation.' Musical Times

'... it provides an invaluable chronicle of some fascinating developments in the idea of a musical language within neo-classical theories of representation.' British Journal of Aesthetics

About this edition

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0521028620
• ISBN 13: 9780521028622
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 208