The Power of Song in Bach’s “St. Matthew Passion”
“For the singer, words acquire a very special plenitude and depth of meaning. Something that remains silent in words merely spoken begins to flow, to vibrate; the…
Hegel’s Romance of Reason
The spirit helps me, suddenly I see counsel And confidently write: In the beginning was the Deed! —Goethe, Faust The Phenomenology of Spirit is the great philosophic…
The Neglected Muse: Why Music is an Essential Liberal Art
Music transcends the classroom, the concert stage, and professional recordings. It pervades life. Mankind has long used music in all sorts of ways, to celebrate, to lament,…
Music and the Idea of a World: Part III (Coda)
Another World of Longing I end my musical-cosmological reflection with a piece of music that depicts the world as a certain kind of music, polyphony. It is…
Music and the Idea of a World: Part II
From Divine Circles to the Wheel of Ixion: Music in a World of Woe The first and main volume of The World as Will and Representation is…
Music and the Idea of a World: Part I
“Music, too, is nature.” —Victor Zuckerkandl, Sound and Symbol This lecture explores the differences between two perspectives on music: one ancient, one modern. The texts I…
Music in the Modern Age
Surprised by Beauty: A Listener’s Guide to the Recovery of Modern Music. Robert R. Reilly, Washington, DC: Morley Books, 2002. In his generous and beautifully written…
Schopenhauer’s Will and Wagner’s Eros
They who were two and divided now became one and united.” —Gottfried von Strassburg, Tristan and Isolde I come before you this evening not as a…
Winged Words: Reading and Discussing Great Books
St. John’s College and the Great Books Program here at Mercer University have much in common. Both programs revolve around a set of great works of Western…