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University of California Press

Musical Meaning

Toward a Critical History

by Lawrence Kramer (Author)
Price: $30.95 / £26.00
Publication Date: Dec 2001
Edition: 1st Edition
Title Details:
Rights: World
Pages: 344
ISBN: 9780520928329

Read an Excerpt

Musical Meaning

Toward a Critical History

Lawrence Kramer The problem of meaning stands at the forefront of recent thinking about music. Whether music has meaning, what kinds of meaning it may have, and for whom; the relationship of musical meaning to individual subjectivity, social life, and cultural context--these questions have inspired strong feelings and sharp debate. All of them undergo a fundamental transformation in Musical Meaning, which draws on a broad range of concepts and examples to rethink both how the questions are asked and how they are answered. The book starts from the premise that the problem of musical meaning is not just an intellectual puzzle, but a musical phenomenon in its own right. Focusing on the classical repertoire from Beethoven to Shostakovich, but also addressing jazz, popular music, and film and TV music, Musical Meaning uncovers the historical importance of asking about musical meaning, and above all of asking about it in and through music, in the lived experience of works, styles, and performances. The book celebrates meaning as a basic force in music history and an indispensable factor in how, where, and when music is heard. In the process, thinking about music begins to realize a potential rarely granted to it, that of becoming a vital means of thinking about general questions of meaning, subjectivity, and value.

©2001 Lawrence Kramer

About the Book

How have romantic narratives involving Beethoven's "Moonlight" Sonata affected how we hear this famous piece? How does John Coltrane's African American identity affect the way we hear him perform a relatively "white" pop standard like "My Favorite Things"? Why does music requiring great virtuosity have different cultural meanings than music that is not particularly virtuosic? From classical to jazz, pop and film music, Musical Meaning uncovers the historical importance of asking about meaning in the lived experience of musical works, styles, and performances. Kramer demonstrates that thinking about music can become a vital means of thinking about general questions of meaning, subjectivity, and value. Lawrence Kramer has been a pivotal figure in the development new resources for understanding music and this accessible and eloquently written book deepens the trajectory of his thinking, boldly arguing that humanistic, not just technical, meaning is a basic force in music history and an indispensable factor in how, where, and when music is heard. First published in 2001, Musical Meaning anticipates many of the musicological topics of today, including race, performance, embodiment, and media. In addition, Kramer explores music itself as a source of understanding via his composition Revenants, revised for this edition and available on the UC Press website.

About the Author

Lawrence Kramer is Professor of English and Music at Fordham University and the coeditor of 19th Century Music. He is author of six books, including After the Lovedeath: Sexual Violence and the Making of Culture (California 1997), Classical Music and Postmodern Knowledge (California 1995), and Music as Cultural Practice, 1800–1900 (California 1990).

Table of Contents

Contents
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Sounding Out: Musical Meaning and Modern Experience

1. Hermeneutics and Musical History: A Primer without Rules, an Exercise with Schubert
2. Hands On, Lights Off: The "Moonlight" Sonata and the Birth of Sex at the Piano
3. Beyond Words and Music: An Essay on Songfulness
4. Franz Liszt and the Virtuoso Public Sphere: Sight and Sound in the Rise of Mass Entertainment
5. Rethinking Schumann's Carnaval: Identity, Meaning, and the Social Order
6. Glottis Envy: The Marx Brothers' A Night at the Opera
7. Hercules's Hautboys: Mixed Media and Musical Meaning
8. The Voice of Persephone: Musical Meaning and Mixed Media
9. Powers of Blackness: Jazz and the Blues in Modern Concert Music
10. Long Ride in a Slow Machine: The Alienation Effect from Weill to Shostakovich
11. Chiaroscuro: Coltrane's American Songbook
12. Ghost Stories: Cultural Memory, Mourning, and the Myth of Originality

Notes
Index

Author's Note on the CD:
http://www.ucpress.edu/books/pages/9293/9293.cdabs.php

Reviews

"A major work of consistently striking originality and insight, produced by a mature scholar at the peak of his career. To his subject Kramer brings a distinctly impressive command of recent cultural and critical theory, and an equally impressive knowledge of a broad range of music literature, from Beethoven to Coltrane. Kramer reads music and musical practices with captivating, compelling insight. His work provides readers with an immeasurably better grasp of how and what music means, and also how music shapes people."—Richard Leppert, author of The Sight of Sound

Media

University of California Press · Revenants (Mastered)

"Revenants" referenced in the final chapter of Musical Meaning by Lawrence Kramer. Pianist: Jesse Goldberg