Sounding Off: Eleven Essays in the Philosophy of Music

Sounding Off brings together a selection of essays on philosophy of music written by Peter Kivy–the leading expert on the subject. Part I contains two essays on the nature of musical genius. In Part II, three essays take up the subject of authenticity in performance, and explores ‘the authenticity of interpretation’. Part III contains four essays concerning musical representation and musical meaning. Finally, Part IV consists of three essays on the ‘pure musical parameters’: ‘music alone’ or ‘absolute music’–music as the pure, formal structure of (sometimes) expressive sound. Eight of the eleven essays are previously unpublished, and the book includes two appendices which provide Kivy’s responses to criticism.