Themes in the Philosophy of Music [Hardcover]

Representing Stephen Davies's best shorter writings, these essays outline developments within the philosophy of music over the last two decades, and summarize the state of play at the beginning of a new century. Including two new and previously unpublished pieces, they address both perennial questions and contemporary controversies, such as that over the 'authentic performance' movement, and the impact of modern technology on the presentation and reception of musical works. Rather than attempting to reduce musical works to a single type, Davies recognizes a great variety of kinds, and a complementary range of possibilities for their rendition.

Introduction
ONTOLOGY
1. John Cage's4'33. Is it Music?
2. Ontologies of Musical Works
3. Transcription, Authenticity, and Performance
4. The Ontology of Musical Works and the Authenticity of their Performances
PERFORMANCE
5. Authenticity in Musical Performance
6. So, You Want to Sing with the Beatles? Too Late!
7. What is the Sound of One Piano Plummeting?
EXPRESSION
8. The Expression of Emotion in Music
9. Is Music a Language of the Emotions?
10. Contra the Hypothetical Persona in Music
11. Philosophical Perspectives on Music's Expressiveness
APPRECIATION
12. The Evaluation of Music
13. Musical Understandings and Musical Kinds
14. Attributing Significance to Unobvious Musical Relationships
15. The Multiple Interpretability of Musical Works

A collection of important and well-known essays by an influential philosopher of music... Davies is fascinating on his home turf, which is the analytic philosophy of the musical arts, and those who are tempted by or subscribe to this worldview should invest in this book immediately. --BritishJournal of Aesthetics1

Stephen Davies teaches philosophy at the University of Auckland. His primary research interest is inlC"