Publisher Description

Socially and politically grounded enterprises such as feminism, semiotics and deconstruction have effected a major transformation in the ways in which the arts and humanities are studied. This provocative volume of essays challenges the ideology that insists music occupies an autonomous sphere. By examining the ways in which music and society interact with and mediate one another within and across socio-cultural boundaries, these authors—musicologists, sociologists, cultural theorists—provide a sound argument.

Table of Contents

List of illustrations; Introduction; Acknowledgments; Foreword: the ideology of autonomous art Janet Wolff; 1. The blasphemy of talking politics Bach Year Susan McClary; 2. Music, domestic life and cultural chauvinism: images of British subjects at home in India Richard Leppert; 3. On grounding Chopin Rose Rosengard Subotnik; 4. Towards an aesthetic of popular music Simon Frith; 5. Music and male hegemony John Shepherd; 6. The sound of music in the era of its electronic reproducibility John Mowitt; Index.

Review

'Among the year's most stimulating reading material' The Observer 'This is an important book, crowded ... with new ideas and arguments that challenge many of our assumptions.' The Musical Times ' ... most rewarding ... As a collection of humanistic scholarship that amplifies the best sociological tradition ... it is highly recommended.' Contemporary Sociology

Review Quote

' ... most rewarding ... As a collection of humanistic scholarship that amplifies the best sociological tradition ... it is highly recommended.' Contemporary Sociology

Promotional "Headline"

A provocative volume of essays challenging the view that music occupies an autonomous aesthetic sphere.

Description for Bookstore

The writers here question a prevailing ideology that insists there is a division between music and society and examine the ways in which the two do in fact interact and mediate one another within and across socio-cultural boundaries.

Description for Library

The writers here question a prevailing ideology that insists there is a division between music and society and examine the ways in which the two do in fact interact and mediate one another within and across socio-cultural boundaries.

Details