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MU3522 Aesthetics of Music Essay - Due 8 May 2020 Write An Essay of Between 2000-2500 Words On Any ONE of The Following
MU3522 Aesthetics of Music Essay - Due 8 May 2020 Write An Essay of Between 2000-2500 Words On Any ONE of The Following
(1) To what extent is Kant successful in his treatment of the judgement of beauty in
relation to artworks? Discuss in relation to Kant, his critics and music.
(2) To what extent does music open up the possibility of the sublime? Discuss with
reference to both philosophy and music.
(4) ‘Musical aesthetics up to now has for the most part laboured under a serious
methodological error, in that it occupies itself, not so much with careful investigation
of that which is beautiful in music, but rather with giving an account of the feelings
which take possession of us when we hear it’ (Hanslick, 1891, p.1). Discuss and
evaluate Hanslick’s perspective.
(5) With reference to musical and philosophical sources, evaluate Marx’s thesis that
the evolution of the arts is determined by material, social and economic conditions.
(6) ‘Auschwitz demonstrated irrefutably that culture has failed. That this could
happen in the midst of the traditions of philosophy, of art, and of the enlightening
sciences says more than that these traditions and their spirit lacked the power to take
hold of men and work a change in them…. All post-Auschwitz culture … is garbage’
(Adorno, Negative Dialectics, p. 366). Discuss and evaluate Adorno’s stark
assessment of the failure of culture and philosophy.
(7) Music is ‘the highest of all arts’. It is the most general [art]. Every art has
musical principles and when it is completed it becomes itself music. This is true even
of philosophy’ (Friedrich Schlegel, 1798; Grove p.614). Discuss and evaluate
Schlegel's statement, making a case for or against his high view of music.
(8) Music ‘speaks a language which we do not recognize in our everyday life’ (W.H.
Wachenroder, 1797, 1910 edn, p.167). Discuss and evaluate Wachenroder's assertion
regarding music as a language.
(9) Discuss and evaluate Hanslick’s view that music is ‘an automonous art’ consisting
of purely sounding forms.
(10) To what extent does Schiller’s emphasis on ‘the moral functions of beauty’
weaken art’s other functions (the work of art as it is in itself [ontology] and the work
of art as an organon of truth (epistemology)? Discuss with reference to specific
examples.
(11) The aesthetic does not make us free, moral and truthful, but enables us to receive
and respond (Schiller). Discuss with particular reference to music and philosophy.
(12) ‘I consider that music is, by its very nature, essentially powerless to express
anything at all, whether a feeling, an attitude of mind, or psychological mood, a
phenomenon of nature, etc… Expression has never been an inherent property of
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music. That is by no means the purpose of its existence’ (Igor Stravinsky, An
Autobiography, 1935, Calder and Boyars ed., 1975, p.53). Evaluate Stravinsky's
statement on expression in music in relation to philosophical ideas on expression and
musical works (not necessarily by Stravinsky).
(13) ‘Edward Steuermann once expressed .... that music, at least great music, whose
concept extends from Bach via Beethoven to Schoenberg, is a transient character,
bound up with the bourgeois era and fated to be forgotten’ (Adorno 2002, p.137).
Discuss and evaluate Steuermann’s belief.
(14) Discuss, analyse and evaluate the unique importance of music in Schopenhauer’s
philosophy.
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• It is understood that most members of the class are students of music and not
philosophers. Nevertheless, it is important for you to show that you are appropriately
well-read in an area of Music Aesthetics and that you have the skills necessary to
articulate convincing arguments leading to compelling conclusions. Similar
understanding is also appropriate for non-BMus students taking the course.
• It will be helpful for you to consult the CGS criteria for written work in the BMus
handbook (on MyAberdeen). You should also consider the following learning
outcomes which are taken from the course guide (also on MyAberdeen).
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Essay length
The essay should be between 2000 and 2500 words in length. Essays either 10%
below the lower word count or 10% above the higher word count will automatically
lose one mark.