You're There and You're Not There: Musical Borrowing and Cavell's “Way”

Examples of borrowing strategies in both musical and philosophical texts are outlined. Cavell's position on quotation as `being the other to one's self' is explored. Three cases of musical versus philosophical modes of borrowing are surveyed: Cavell borrowing Thoreau versus Ignaz Friedman borrowing Bach in Gavotte (1948); Cavell borrowing Emerson versus Berio borrowing Mahler in Sinfonia (1960); and Cavell borrowing Derrida reading Austin versus Richard Beaudoin borrowing Martha Argerich reading Chopin in Étude d'un prélude IV—Black Wires (2009). Cavell's theories of the voice are applied to the understanding of musical borrowing.