Book Cover
E-book
Author Thomas, Downing A.

Title Music and the origins of language : theories from the French Enlightenment / Downing A. Thomas
Published Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 1995

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Description 1 online resource (xi, 195 pages)
Series New perspectives in music history and criticism
New perspectives in music history and criticism.
Contents Introduction -- Music and language -- Origins -- Music theory and the genealogy of knowledge in Condillac's Essai sur l'origine des connaissances humaines -- Music and original loss in Rousseau's Essai sur l'origine des langues -- Sensible sounds: music and theories of the passions -- Conclusion
Summary The search for the origins of language was one of the most pressing philosophical issues of the eighteenth century. What has often escaped notice, however, is the fact that music figures prominently in this search. This study analyses instances of thinking or reasoning about music and music theory as they appear within the logical and narrative structure of contemporary texts, including writings by Rousseau, Diderot, Rameau and Condillac. These can only be properly understood as part of an interdisciplinary project, as situated within a field of larger cultural issues and concerns. The author is interested in the ways in which music functions within this discursive framework to facilitate links between language and meaning, and between conceptions of an original society and an ideal social order
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 177-185) and index
Notes English
Print version record
Subject Language and languages -- Origin.
Music and language.
LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES -- General.
Intellectual life
Language and languages -- Origin
Music and language
Sprachursprung
Musiktheorie
SUBJECT France -- Intellectual life -- 18th century. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85051440
Subject France
Frankreich
Genre/Form Electronic books
History
Form Electronic book
ISBN 9780511582608
0511582609
9780521028622
0521028620
0511002629
9780511002625