A Language of Its Own

Ruth Katz

ISBN 10: 0226425975 / ISBN 13: 9780226425979

Published by University of Chicago Press, 2013

About this Item

pp. 242.

Seller Inventory # 2650542643

Bibliographic Details

• Title: A Language of Its Own
• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Publication Date: 2013
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0226425975
• ISBN 13: 9780226425979
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

The Western musical tradition has produced not only music, but also countless writings about music that remain in continuous—and enormously influential—dialogue with their subject. With sweeping scope and philosophical depth, A Language of Its Own traces the past millennium of this ongoing exchange.

Ruth Katz argues that the indispensible relationship between intellectual production and musical creation gave rise to the Western conception of music. This evolving and sometimes conflicted process, in turn, shaped the art form itself. As ideas entered music from the contexts in which it existed, its internal language developed in tandem with shifts in intellectual and social history. Katz explores how this infrastructure allowed music to explain itself from within, creating a self-referential and rational foundation that has begun to erode in recent years.

A magisterial exploration of a frequently overlooked intersection of Western art and philosophy, A Language of Its Own restores music to its rightful place in the history of ideas.  

About the Author

Ruth Katz is the Emanuel Alexandre Professor Emerita of Musicology at Hebrew University of Jerusalem.