The Idea of Absolute Music

by Carl Dahlhaus, Roger Lustig (Translation)

With a characteristically broad and provocative treatment, Dahlhaus examines a single music-aesthetical idea from various historical and philosophical viewpoints.

"Essential reading for anyone interested in the larger intellectual framework in which Romantic music found its place, a framework that to a remarkable degree has continued to shape our image of music."—Robert P. Morgan, Yale University

Carl Dahlhaus (1928-1989) is the author of a highly influential body of works on the foundations of music history and aesthetics.

Genres: Music, Philosophy

186 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1978

Reviews

[Luquitas]

Mucha bibliografía, mucho contenido. Si no sabes mucho es desbordante, si sabes, es repetitivo so I dont really get it, pero la idea general está chula. Quizá sería mejor un artículo comprimido.

[Ingrid]

This thorough historiography of the concept of “absolute music” summarizes the key arguments of various writers and philosophers on the subject and traces the development of the music aesthetics of the late Classical, Romantic, and early Modernist periods. Not for casual readers— the translation from the German is at times mind-numbingly dense.

[Unholy Meat Obelisk]

Very dense collection of essays on the topic of absolute music, that is, the idea that music be separated from extramusical elements and narratives. It explores the philosophical discourse around this issue across history.

As profoundly interesting this topic is, especially if you're a musician, the language used here (or at least the translation from German) can get extremely exhausting. It delves deep into metaphyisics as expressed by a variety of German philosophers like Hegel, Schopenhauer and Nietzsche, and you know those cats weren't exactly wordsmiths. Most of the book is spent quoting the ideas of such minds, but offers very little clarification on these reflections. Dahlhaus assumes we are already versed in aesthetics and metaphyisics, which makes this work a very dizzying piece of writing that I honestly struggled to finish, even though I have some decent understanding of art and philosophy.

In summary: great ideas, but quite unfriendly.