The Aesthetics of Music

This is a fantastic, very intelligently written book by a brilliant man. Yes, it is true that it focuses on the Western musical tradition, and some of the reviewers here call this bigotry. Yes, there is nothing about Middle Eastern, African or Asian music. A European philosopher defends the value and the high achievements of the European musical art. For a highly educated European, music is a synonym of Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, etc. Multiculturalism is a wonderfully enriching movement in the US academic circles, but it occasionally slips into absurdity. The greatness of Bach, Mozart and Beethoven should not be undermined by people whose aesthetic sense is governed by their political ideology.

A truly marvelous in depth analysis.

In perfect shape and came fast

When the book arrived I found it was a print-on-demand replica. I find this unacceptable. I would not have paid full price if this had been clear. Booksellers and publishers pretend that the quality of print-on-demand books are the same as traditionally printed and bound books, but it's not true. It is a cheap and inferior product, deceptively marketed as the genuine article.

Having read other Scruton titles I was initially rather discouraged when I realised that this was going to be a much tougher job of work than I had been looking for. I was hoping for a gentle introduction to aesthetics, a general survey or bluffer's guide, but instead I found it to be an earnest work of philosophy, including carefully developed arguments and theories of his own, in a field that would seem to have few, if any final answers. What I had also not anticipated was that Scruton's musical erudition would be on a par with his philosophical acuity, as the numerous examples and the penetrating analyses that accompany them, which he uses to illustrate his arguments attest. To be honest, I think I understood about 60% of the book, but have had my ears opened to new levels of musical understanding that have made the struggle eminently worthwhile. I have every intention of reading this book again one day, but want first to brush up on a bit more harmonic theory before I do, in order to get even more out of it the next time around. Mercifully, each chapter tends to examine a different aspect of the musical puzzle, so even when one chapter left me puzzled or confused, I could retain some hope of maybe better understanding the next. In fact, this is a rare example of a book that gets (a little bit) easier as it progresses.Aside from pointing the way to a level of aesthetic apprehension I had not even glimpsed before, there are several aspects of music which Scruton has caused me to reconsider, there being two broad areas I can articulate with relative ease. Firstly, at the basic metaphysical level, my respect for the ineffability of our experience of music has been refreshed. That our cognitive faculties endow us with the capacity to find such depths of meaning and communicative intent in patterns of sound turns out to be one of those human intangibles that, like language or consciousness, becomes more mysterious the more closely we examine it.Secondly, in more 'practical' aesthetic terms, I have been obliged to radically reappraise my concepts regarding tonality and atonality. I have a renewed understanding of what they are, what they each bring to the table, and what is lacking in the latter that must be made up for in 'less musical' ways, like extreme dynamics or timbre, if it is to be able to project form and structure. I had always held what I see now as a naive view, that tonality was there to be transcended. That one could train oneself through `sufficient' listening to 'comprehend' ever more extreme departures from the world of tonality. I'm still considering Scruton's arguments, but their implication is that atonality can only ever really be a style or fashion, and that where it works best, or even at all, it has to rely on ways of hearing that were initially acquired by our common experiences of tonality. This has had a direct impact on my listening in that I have a new respect and admiration for composers of the late romantic era, particularly Brahms and Tchaikovsky, that I have always ignored until now, in favour of more modernistic composers. It has also helped me to put my finger on the growing suspicion that, while I have always had a bit more of a taste for dissonance than is typical, I only really enjoy dissonance when it is rooted, even if to a minimal degree, in some kind of tonality. I have accepted at last that pure atonality does nothing for me. It turns out I'm not quite as modern as I thought, but then I'm OK with that.This is a demanding but profoundly rewarding book if you have the musical background required to engage with it.

That some readers (and reviewers) will object to Scruton's cultural critique is to be expected; after all, he doesn't shrink from the cultural, political, ideological and moral implications of his carefully-argued aesthetic. Though you don't have to agree, you'll find his arguments engrossing and his knowledge of music formidable. The journey through his encyclopedic knowledge alone is worth the read. The basic idea that music powerfully both reflects and influences the soul and thus society is certainly not new (it's part of ancient wisdom). Scruton's contribution is to look at the processes, reasons and effects in the light of modern philosophy. Mercifully, he writes in an accessible prose. Though not essential to following his argument, a basic knowledge of music theory and ability to parse musical notation will add considerably to the enjoyment of this important book.

I'll give this book three stars because there is no denying the depth and rigor of Scruton's scholarship. But as with most writers on musical aesthetics, Scruton is un-reflective of the fact that this book is not so much an "aesthetics of music" as it is an "aesthetics of European art music" - certainly it is not "The Aesthetics of Music." Unfortunately, if one is interested in musical aesthetics and, following this interest, searches Amazon or any library database, this book pops up at or near the top of the list, its title implying that one need look no further. Say goodbye to jazz, blues, salsa, highlife, Afrobeat, taarab, taiko, maqam, Carnatic.... None of these forms of music are addressed, and none of them operate according to the aesthetic principles of European music.

Scruton is weakest when attempting to dismiss huge swathes of contemporary music by judging it according to the very different norms of very different music, sealed off from the difficulties of encountering pluralistic societies, of the past. It's hard not to conclude that Scruton is simply not very perceptive about music generally if he can get popular music so very wrong, or worse, is racist in his dismissal of ways of being musical that derive from non-white cultures.

Having read other Scruton titles I was initially rather discouraged when I realised that this was going to be a much tougher job of work than I had been looking for. I was hoping for a gentle introduction to aesthetics, a general survey or bluffer's guide, but instead I found it to be an earnest work of philosophy, including carefully developed arguments and theories of his own, in a field that would seem to have few, if any final answers. What I had also not anticipated was that Scruton's musical erudition would be on a par with his philosophical acuity, as the numerous examples and the penetrating analyses that accompany them, which he uses to illustrate his arguments attest. To be honest, I think I understood about 60% of the book, but have had my ears opened to new levels of musical understanding that have made the struggle eminently worthwhile. I have every intention of reading this book again one day, but want first to brush up on a bit more harmonic theory before I do, in order to get even more out of it the next time around. Mercifully, each chapter tends to examine a different aspect of the musical puzzle, so even when one chapter left me puzzled or confused, I could retain some hope of maybe better understanding the next. In fact, this is a rare example of a book that gets (a little bit) easier as it progresses.Aside from pointing the way to a level of aesthetic apprehension I had not even glimpsed before, there are several aspects of music which Scruton has caused me to reconsider, there being two broad areas I can articulate with relative ease. Firstly, at the basic metaphysical level, my respect for the ineffability of our experience of music has been refreshed. That our cognitive faculties endow us with the capacity to find such depths of meaning and communicative intent in patterns of sound turns out to be one of those human intangibles that, like language or consciousness, becomes more mysterious the more closely we examine it.Secondly, in more 'practical' aesthetic terms, I have been obliged to radically reappraise my concepts regarding tonality and atonality. I have a renewed understanding of what they are, what they each bring to the table, and what is lacking in the latter that must be made up for in 'less musical' ways, like extreme dynamics or timbre, if it is to be able to project form and structure. I had always held what I see now as a naive view, that tonality was there to be transcended. That one could train oneself through `sufficient' listening to 'comprehend' ever more extreme departures from the world of tonality. I'm still considering Scruton's arguments, but their implication is that atonality can only ever really be a style or fashion, and that where it works best, or even at all, it has to rely on ways of hearing that were initially acquired by our common experiences of tonality. This has had a direct impact on my listening in that I have a new respect and admiration for composers of the late romantic era, particularly Brahms and Tchaikovsky, that I have always ignored until now, in favour of more modernistic composers. It has also helped me to put my finger on the growing suspicion that, while I have always had a bit more of a taste for dissonance than is typical, I only really enjoy dissonance when it is rooted, even if to a minimal degree, in some kind of tonality. I have accepted at last that pure atonality does nothing for me. It turns out I'm not quite as modern as I thought, but then I'm OK with that.This is a demanding but profoundly rewarding book if you have the musical background required to engage with it.

Prior to reading "Aesthetics of Music," I'd almost given up on philosophy of music as so much off-the-mark blather. And then I found Roger Scruton - finally someone worth attending to. "Aesthetics" isn't a small work. And the reading is slow going. But it's not overdone either. It's heavy when it ought to be heavy. Scruton hasn't patience for philosophical palaver - and, God knows, there's a lot of palavering philosophers of art. So we come to trust him with our reading-time. We read attentively, receptively. And it's a well-placed trust too. Scruton is a writer of both breadth and depth - a polymath. (How uncommon a thing nowadays!) And this selfsame deep-and-wide intelligence proves enormously beneficial and relevant. The whole book is very fine, but I found the chapters on tonality especially insightful and engrossing. If you're like me, you read Schoenberg and Adorno and Krenek (and so on). And though you admired their brilliance, you knew something was awry vis-à-vis their philosophies of art, but you couldn't altogether refute them. Well, Scruton puts forward a sound "refutatio" (as well as a sound "confirmatio"), validating our musico-philosophical intuitions. "Aesthetics" is to be read and reread.Before buying the book, wary readers can get a feel for Scruton by listening to his Stanton Lectures, available free online at the University of Cambridge website.

Sir Roger Scruton is a renowned philosopher with a deep ploughing knowledge of music theory, history and aesthetics. The understanding of the aesthetics of music is ruled by the followers of Theodor Adorno and the Frankfurter School of philosophy, Scruton represents an alternative to Marxism. For those not into music theory, I will instead recommend his "Music as Art".

Roger Scruton is obviouslya philsopher in how he writes and clearly argues and catergaries and structures us through each chapter whether it is tonality or other fundamentals of what music is with great examples from all the great composers he also has a real passion for music. The last chapter itself on the Culture and Sociology of Muisc was alsi written with great insight. This is abook that would suit philosophers who like classical music or music students who need to get a bit more philosophical about music itself. I real delight, very well written, erudite and also I would have to agreee with other reviewers very clearly written as you would expect from a philosopher and someone who knows their music. I researched along while to see which one book I would buy on the subject and a few other choices on this is stiill the best overall book on the subject. I not only learnt alot from this book I also really enjoyed reading it as well. I`d be surprised if this doesn`t get 5 stars all round. It does exactly what the title says. if gives you a tour through the Aesthetics of Music. A Psychologist would gleam stuff from the studies and theories mentioned, a musician able to read the the examples of music given and a philsopher aware of the metof he uses but there is not enough of this to put anyone off. You can enjoy this book if you cannot read a note or have no real interest in the psychology or have no understanding of philosophy. Hence why it is so well written. I real tour de force through classical music using Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Wagner and everyone as and when necessary and touching briefly on the 20th C scene in music. Highly recommended work.

Good