Full Description
Eduard Hanslick's On the Musically Beautiful (Vom Musikalisch-Schönen, 1854), written and published before the author turned 30, is a watershed document in the history of aesthetics, and of thought about music generally.
The notion of "absolute music," which lies at the heart of the treatise, is now more than ever at the center of discussions about music, particularly that of the Classic and Romantic eras. Rothfarb and Landerer's translation includes three introductory essays offering fresh perspectives on Hanslick, and on the origins, publications, and translation history of his treatise, as well as its central concepts and philosophical underpinnings. The volume also includes thorough annotations, a readers' guide, a glossary of important terms and concepts, and an appendix, which comprises the original opening of Chapter 1, substantially rewritten in subsequent editions, as well as the original ending of the treatise that was excised by Hanslick in later editions. The book's ideas, cogently and often wittily expressed, are mandatory reading for anyone interested in eighteenth and nineteenth-century music and its cultural and intellectual background.
Contents
Translators' Preface
Introductory Essays
1. Origins, Publication, and Translation History of the Treatise
Christoph Landerer, Alexander Wilfing, Lee Rothfarb
2. Introduction to Hanslick's Central Concepts
Christoph Landerer, Lee Rothfarb
3. Philosophical Background
Christoph Landerer, Lee Rothfarb
Readers' Guide: Alternative Routes Through the Treatise
Lee Rothfarb, Christoph Landerer
On the Musically Beautiful, 10th edition
Preface
Chapter 1, The Aesthetics of Feeling
Chapter 2, The "Representation of Feelings" is not the Content of Music
Chapter 3, The Musically Beautiful
Chapter 4, Analysis of the Subjective Impression of Music
Chapter 5, Aesthetic Compared to Pathological Perception of Music
Chapter 6, The Relation of Music to Nature
Chapter 7, The Concepts "Content" and "Form" in Music
Appendix: Chapter 1, 1st edition (excerpt)
Chapter 7, 1st edition, conclusion
Contextualizing Commentary
Selected Sources for Further Reading
