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Zusatztext Kivy's writing style happily shares many of the characteristics of good literature - wit, elegance, clarity, clear narrative development and readability. In short, his book, apart from anything else, is a good read. To the aesthetician, it is also of great philosophical interest, amd places the current debates on musical expression within a historical context. Informationen zum Autor Peter Kivy is Professor of Philosophy at Rutgers University, New Jersey. His field of specialization is aesthetics and the philosophy of art. Klappentext Peter Kivy presents a fascinating critical examination of the two rival ways of understanding instrumental music. He argues against 'literary' interpretation in terms of representational or narrative content, and defends musical formalism. Along the way he discusses interpretations of a range of works in the canon of absolute music. Zusammenfassung Antithetical Arts constitutes a defence of musical formalism against those who would put literary interpretations on the absolute music canon. In Part I, the historical origins of both the literary interpretation of absolute music and musical formalism are laid out. In Part II, specific attempts to put literary interpretations on various works of the absolute music canon are examined and criticized. Finally, in Part III, the question is raised as to what the human significance of absolute music is, if it does not lie in its representational or narrative content. The answer is that, as yet, philosophy has no answer, and that the question should be considered an important one for philosophers of art to consider, and to try to answer without appeal to representational or narrative content. Inhaltsverzeichnis Preface PART I: THE FOUNDING OF FORMALISM 1: First the Music, and then the Words 2: Designs à la Grecque 3: Body and Soul PART II: THE FORTUNES OF FORMALISM 4: Mood and Music 5: Persona Non Grata 6: Action and Agency 7: Shostakovich's Secret? PART III: THE FATE OF FORMALISM 8: The Failure of Formalism and the Failure of its Foes 9: Attention, Ritual, and the Additive Strategy 10: Musical Morality 11: Empty Pleasure to the Ear BIBLIOGRAPHY ...
