Music as Message: An Introduction to Musical Semantics

by Constantin Floros, Ernest Bernhardt-Kabisch (Translator)

Overview

Music is often defined as art for the ear, as the language of feeling, of the heart, as sound play, or as the science of composition. But music also conveys intellectual and emotional experiences, literary, religious, philosophical, social and political ideas. Countless composers encrypt contents in their music that can be deciphered by a variety of methods. This book is designed as an introduction to the basic questions of musical semantics and discusses Beethoven’s committed art, the core ideas of the «Ring of the Nibelung» and of the «Symphony of a Thousand», Wagner’s idea of a religion of art, the relation of music and poetry, the musico-literary conceptions of composers, the large field of program music and the history of the impact of Gustav Mahler.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783631660331
Publisher:	Peter Lang GmbH, Internationaler Verlag der Wissenschaften
Publication date:	02/27/2016
Pages:	339
Product dimensions:	5.83(w) x 8.27(h) x (d)

About the Author

Constantin Floros is professor emeritus of Musicology at the University of Hamburg. Among his monographs are volumes on the origin of Gregorian neumes, Gustav Mahler, Anton Bruckner, Johannes Brahms, Ludwig van Beethoven, Alban Berg and György Ligeti.
Ernest Bernhardt-Kabisch is professor emeritus of English and Comparative Literature at Indiana University. He has translated several books by Constantin Floros.

Table of Contents

Contents: The Concept of the Message in Music – Public and private Messages in Music – Richard Wagner’s Ring of the Nibelung – Wagner’s Idea of a Religion of Art – The Symphony of a Thousand – Basics of Program Music – 19^th-Century Composer types – Music and Poetry – Berlioz’ Concept of the «Instrumental Drama» – Liszt’s Concept of the «Musical Epic» – Richard Strauss – Secret Program Music – On Gustav Mahler’s Wirkungsgeschichte – Music Must Become Language: On Hans Werner Henze – The Presence of All Eras: Messages through the Ages.

Preface

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Editorial Reviews

About the German edition: «The book is written in Floros’ accustomed precise and exact style and is equipped with an exemplary scholarly apparatus. An indispensable handbook not only for musical semanticists but for anyone needing to be informed about current advances in the determination of the nature of music.» (International Review for the Aesthetics and Sociology of Music)

From the Publisher