...Stephen Decatur Smith This article offers a comparative reading of Theodor Adorno's and Stanley Cavell's philosophies of music. It does not attempt a survey or summary of their respective approaches but rather focuses on one moment in a text by Cavell—namely, his reading and critique, in an essay...

...Amy Bauer Stanley Cavell's 1965 article “Music Discomposed” argues that modernist works have become codependent on the philosophical justification surrounding their production and consumption. The writings and compositions of two contemporary composers, György Ligeti and Helmut Lachenmann, echo...

...Franklin Cox Cavell's influential mid-1960s critique of the “new music” of the postwar era poses significant challenges for contemporary composers who value this music. As with postmodernist critics, he has ably identified shortcomings in justifications for recent modernist music. With the benefit...

...Michael Gallope This article attempts to elucidate the main characteristics of Stanley Cavell's philosophy of music by comparing it to the work of French philosopher Gilles Deleuze. The analysis begins from the simple observation that both philosophers affirmed and supported the broad outlines...

...Richard Beaudoin 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...

...Brian Kane Stanley Cavell's thinking on music may appear an odd theme for a special issue of the Journal of Music Theory . According to Cavell, “although I have written very little explicitly about music... something I have demanded from philosophy has been an understanding precisely of what I had...

...Dmitri Tymoczko Part personal reminiscence and part scholarly disquisition, this article discusses some ways in which Stanley Cavell's work has shaped my own thinking and composing. I begin by suggesting that Cavell's overarching goal is to “redeem” traditional philosophy (and secondarily, avant...

...Eric Drott In his classic essay “Music Discomposed,” Stanley Cavell draws attention to the threat of fraudulence that pervades contemporary art music. With the erosion of convention, not only is the ability of listeners to comprehend new music called into question, so too is their ability...

...Lawrence Kramer Stanley Cavell's 1967 essay “Music Discomposed” claims that twentieth-century musical modernism incorporates the constant possibility of “fraudulence,” thus provoking the Philistine objection: why can't we write like Mozart any more? For Cavell the question is preeminently a matter...