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Deep Refrains: Music, Philosophy, and the Ineffable
We often say that music is ineffable, that it does not refer to anything outside of itself. But if music, in all its sensuous flux, does not mean anything in particular, might it still have a special kind of philosophical significance?
In Deep Refrains , Michael Gallope draws together the writings of Arthur Schopenhauer, Friedrich Nietzsche, Ernst Bloch, Theodor Adorno, Vladimir Jankélévitch, Gilles Deleuze, and Félix Guattari in order to revisit the age-old question of music’s ineffability from a modern perspective. For these nineteenth- and twentieth-century European philosophers, music’s ineffability is a complex phenomenon that engenders an intellectually productive sense of perplexity. Through careful examination of their historical contexts and philosophical orientations, close attention to their use of language, and new interpretations of musical compositions that proved influential for their work, Deep Refrains forges the first panoptic view of their writings on music. Gallope concludes that music’s ineffability is neither a conservative phenomenon nor a pious call to silence. Instead, these philosophers ask us to think through the ways in which music’s stunning force might address, in an ethical fashion, intricate philosophical questions specific to the modern world.
In Deep Refrains , Michael Gallope draws together the writings of Arthur Schopenhauer, Friedrich Nietzsche, Ernst Bloch, Theodor Adorno, Vladimir Jankélévitch, Gilles Deleuze, and Félix Guattari in order to revisit the age-old question of music’s ineffability from a modern perspective. For these nineteenth- and twentieth-century European philosophers, music’s ineffability is a complex phenomenon that engenders an intellectually productive sense of perplexity. Through careful examination of their historical contexts and philosophical orientations, close attention to their use of language, and new interpretations of musical compositions that proved influential for their work, Deep Refrains forges the first panoptic view of their writings on music. Gallope concludes that music’s ineffability is neither a conservative phenomenon nor a pious call to silence. Instead, these philosophers ask us to think through the ways in which music’s stunning force might address, in an ethical fashion, intricate philosophical questions specific to the modern world.
336 pages, Paperback
Published November 14, 2017
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 12, 2018
Really enjoyed this book. I have attempted to understand Adorno many times with little success (and the thought of Jankelevitch, Deleuze and Guattari is utterly overwhelming). This book does a great job of breaking down their thoughts on music really elegantly and convincingly. On top of that, helpful and fun treatments of Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, and Wittgenstein. I also think one of the most difficult tasks of scholars can be balancing description/interpretation of texts and productive synthesis/new thesis, and Gallope nails that balance. Best of all, at the end of it, I felt there was still great room for further discussions of the relationship between music and language and of how music significates.
January 20, 2024
I have read 1/2 of the first half of the introduction- coolness!!!
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews