The Philosopher and Music: A Historical Survey

294 Pages·1954·6.085 MB·English

by  Julius Portnoy

the
philosopher
and music
A Historical Survey
By Julius Portnoy
THE PHILOSOPHER
AND MUSIC
A HISTORICAL SURVEY
By JULIUS PORTNOY
Here at last is à much needed book
in the aestheties of music which is
probably the first of its kind in the
English language. It will fill a definite
gap in the musical and philosophical
literature of American life. The
author, an accomplished musician and
teacher of philosophy, is well equip-
ped musically and scholastically to
write on the various philosophies of
music which have existed in the
Western world from the time of
Plato to the present. Dr. Portnoy
aptly demonstrates to what extent
the philosophers have affected the
course of music in Western civiliza-
tion. He emphasizes the fact that
philosophers have throughout his-
tory been pre-occupied with the ethi-
cal implications of music, the psycho-
logical effect which music can have
upon mind and body, the proper re-
lationship of words to music and a
traditional distrust of musical inno-
vations.
These four philosophic considera-
tions were originally formulated in
the writings of Plato, became an
artistic actually in the music of the
Christian Church, and in our own
day constitute an aesthetic reality
in the musical philosophy of the So-
viet Union. The musical views of the
philosophers have been appropriated
by both theologians and statesmen in
order to evaluate the role and effect
which musie should have in the
church and state.
Continued on back flap
$4.50

The Philosopher and Music
A HISTORICAL OUTLINE
By JULIUS PORTNOY
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF PHILOSOPHY
BROOKLYN COLLEGE
IHE HUMANITIES PRESS
NEW YORK - 1954
Copyrigbt 1954 by Tbe Humanjties Press, Inc.
Printed in tbe United States of America
TO ALFHILD

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I WISH to thank Professor Curt Sachs of New York University
and Professor Thomas Munro, Editor of The Journal of Aes-
tbetics and Art Criticism, for having read the manuscript. I shall
always be grateful to both these scholars for their suggestions
in the preparation of this work. To my wife, Alfhild Vold
Portnoy, I owe a debt of gratitude for helping me in the or-
ganization and editing of this book.
I also wish to thank the following publishers for granting me
permission to quote from their respective publications. George
Allen and Unwin Ltd., Nietzsche’s Genealogy of Morals; Basil
Blackwell, The Pre-Socratic Philosophers, by Kathleen Freeman;
The Catholic Education Press, Motu Proprio; The Clarendon
Press, Oxford, T'be Harmonics of Aristoxenus, by H. S. Macran;
Columbia University Press, The Philosophy of Marsilio F icino,
by Paul Oskar Kristeller; Faber and Faber Ltd. Plotimus’
Enneads, translated by Stephen Mackenna; Hafner Publishing
Co. Inc., St. Augustine's City of God, translated by Marcus
Dods; Art of Poetry, Albert S. Cook edition; Harvard Univer-
sity Press, Aristotle, On tbe Heavens; Poetics of Music, by Igor
Stravinsky; The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, Nicho-
las of Cusa on the Meaning of Music, by Kathi Meyer-Baer;
Similarities of Musical Concepts in Ancient and Medieval Phi-
losopby, by Julius Portnoy; Platonic Echoes in Soviet Musical
Criticism, by Julius Portnoy; Loeb Classical Library, Plutarch’s
Lives, translated by Bernadotte Perrin; De Oratore, translated
by H. Rackham; Quintilian, translated by FI. E. Butler; Longi-
nus, On tbe Sublime, translated by W. H. Fyfe; St. Augustine,
Confessions, translated by William Watts; Macmillan and Co.
vili ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Ltd., Kant's Critique of Judgement, translated by J. FI. Bernard;
Tbe Musical Quarterly, Music in the Philosophy of Boethius,
by Leo S. Schrade; Luther on Music, by Walter Buszin; The
Modern Library, The Wisdom of Confucius, translated by Lin
Yutang; The Philosophy of Schopenhauer; The Philosophy of
Nietzsche; W. W. Norton and Co. Inc., The Rise of Music in
the Ancient World East and West, by Curt Sachs; The Music
of Israel, by Peter Gradenwitz; Source Readings in Music His-
tory, by Oliver Strunk; Music in the Baroque Era, by Manfred
F. Bukofzer; Music in the Romantic Era, by Alfred Einstein;
Oxford University Press, Oxford History of Music; Philosophies
of Beauty, by E. F. Carritt; Oxford University Press Inc. (New
York), The Basic Works of Aristotle, edited by Richard
McKeon; The Dialogues of Plato, translated by B. Jowett;
Philosophical Library, Style and Idea, by Arnold Schonberg;
William Reeves, Historical Facts for the Arabian Musical Infiu-
ence, by Henry George Farmer; Charles Scribner's Sons, Art
and Scbolasticism, by Jacques Maritain.