Musical Understandings : And Other Essays on the Philosophy of Music

Musical Understandings presents an engaging collection of essays on the philosophy of music, written by Stephen Davies—one of the most distinguished philosophers in the field. He explores a range of topics in the philosophy of music, including how music expresses emotion and what is distinctive to the listener's response to this expressiveness; the modes of perception and understanding that can be expected of skilled listeners, performers, analysts, and composers and the various manners in which these understandings can be manifest; the manner in which musical works exist and their relation to their instances or performances; and musical profundity. As well as reviewing the work of philosophers of music, a number of the chapters both draw on and critically reflect on current work by psychologists concerning music. The collection includes new material, a number of adapted articles which allow for a more comprehensive, unified treatment of the issues at stake, and work published in English for the first time. Contents Introduction 1. Artistic Expression and the Hard Case of Pure Music 2. Music and Metaphor 3. Cross-cultural Musical Expressiveness: Theory and the Empirical Program 4. Emotional Contagion from Music to Listener 5. Once Again, This Time with Feeling 6. Musical Meaning in a Broader Perspective 7. Musical Understandings 8. The Experience of Music 9. Cosı`’s Canon Quartet 10. Perceiving Melodies 11. Musical Colors and Timbral Sonicism 12. Versions of Musical Works and Literary Translations 13. Profundity in Instrumental Music References Index 'Musical Understandings' presents an engaging collection of essays by Stephen Davies on the philosophy of music. He explores a range of topics, including how music expresses emotion, modes of perception, and musical profundity. The volume includes original material, newly revised articles, and work published in English for the first time