ESB098 Selected Chapters from Aesthetics and Philosophy of Music

Faculty of Arts
Spring 2025
Extent and Intensity
1/1/0. 4 credit(s). Type of Completion: k (colloquium).
Teacher(s)
Mgr. Dalimil Ševčík (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
prof. PhDr. Petr Osolsobě, Ph.D.
Department of Aesthetics – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: doc. Mgr. Rostislav Niederle, Ph.D.
Supplier department: Department of Aesthetics – Faculty of Arts
Prerequisites
The subject does not require/presuppose prior familiarity with the history/theory of music or practical experience in musical interpretation, nevertheless both of these may be an advantage. The subject is primarily offered to students of Aesthetics as an optional seminar, but students of other fields are also welcome.
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
The capacity limit for the course is 20 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/20, only registered: 0/20, only registered with preference (fields directly associated with the programme): 0/20
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
there are 12 fields of study the course is directly associated with, display
Course objectives
The aim of the course is to make students familiar with the basic concepts of the aesthetics of music, as they were developing in the history of European thought. The lectures and seminars are therefore focused on the important concepts of European aesthetics of music and (in parallel) on the history of European classical music. However, partial attention may also be paid to the non-European concepts or to the music outside the mentioned area.
Learning outcomes
After completing the course, the student will be able to:
- orient in the basic concepts of the aesthetics of music of the European tradition;
- work independently with sources in this field;
- prepare a paper on a selected topic from this field;
- apply acquired knowledge in the field of art criticism.
Syllabus
  • - Introductory seminar: basic concepts of musical aesthetics, elementary concepts of music theory, division of topics of papers
  • - Pythagoreans: harmonia mundi and the position of music in ancient culture
  • - Plato and Aristotle: music and society, music and the soul
  • - Augustine: scientia bene modulandi
  • - Boethius: musica mundana, musica humana, musica instrumentalis
  • - On the relationship between music and text: prima pratica and seconda pratica
  • - The brilliance and misery of musical semantics: symbol, quotation, program
  • - Moderna: tone, sound or noise?
  • - Popular music, its roots and aesthetic specifics
  • - Final seminar: summarization, recapitulation, feedback, evaluation of papers
Literature
    recommended literature
  • ARISTOTELÉS. Poetika : řecko-česky. Edited by Milan Mráz. 1. vyd. Praha: Oikoymenh, 2008, 289 s. ISBN 9788072981311. info
  • ARISTOTELÉS. Politika. Translated by Antonín Kříž. 2. vyd. Praha: Rezek, 1998, 499 s. ISBN 8086027104. info
  • AUGUSTINUS, Aurelius. De musica libri sex. In: MIGNE, Jacques Paul, ed. Patrologiae cursus completus, sv. 32, č. 1. Paříž: 1841, s. 1081-1194.
  • BOETHIUS, Anicius Manlius Torquatus Severinus. De institutione musica. Lipsko: B. G. Teubneri, 1867.
  • EGGEBRECHT, Hans Heinrich. Hudba a krásno. Translated by Jarmila Gabrielová. Vyd. 1. Praha: NLN, 2001, 219 s. ISBN 80-7106-479-3. info
  • FUKAČ, Jiří. Hudební estetika jako konkretizace obecné estetiky a muzikologická disciplína (Music aesthetics as concretization of the general aesthetics and a discipline of musicology). 2nd ed. Brno: Masarykova univerzita, 2001, 168 pp. ISBN 80-210-2575-1. info
  • HANSLICK, Eduard. O hudebním krásnu : příspěvek k revizi hudební estetiky. Translated by Jaroslav Střítecký. 1. vyd. Praha: Editio Supraphon, 1973, 137 s. info
  • HUIZINGA, Johan. Homo ludens: o původu kultury ve hře. Přeložil Jaroslav Vácha. Praha: Mladá fronta, 1971.
  • KOLMAN, Vojtěch. O čem se nedá mluvit, o tom se musí zpívat : od formy zobrazení k formám života. Vydání první. Praha: Filosofia, 2017, 296 stran. ISBN 9788070074985. info
  • LABAT, Élisabeth-Paule. The Song That I Am: On the Mystery of Music. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2014.
  • OSTRÝ, František. Jakub Jan Ryba a hudební estetika a teorie (Jakub Jan Ryba and musical aesthetics and theory). In Kantorský odkaz. Škola a hudba (nejen) v době Jakuba Jana Ryby (1765-1815). 2015. info
  • PLATÓN. Kleitofón ; Ústava ; Timaios ; Kritias. Edited by Platón, Translated by František Novotný. Vyd. 1. Praha: Oikoymenh, 2003, 524 s. ISBN 807298067X. info
  • PSEUDO-PLÚTARCHOS. O hudbě : řecko-české vydání. Edited by Marcela Slavíková - Sylva Fischerová. První vydání. Praha: Oikoymenh, 2015, 241 stran. ISBN 9788072985050. info
  • RACEK, Jan. Hudební estetika v Descartesově Compediu musicae : příspěvek k dějinám barokních hudebních traktátů. V Praze: Hudební matice Umělecké besedy, 1945, 36 s. info
  • SCRUTON, Roger. The aesthetics of music. 1st pub. in pbk. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999, xx, 530. ISBN 019816727X. info
  • SCRUTON, Roger. Understanding music : philosophy and interpretation. 1st pub. London: Continuum, 2009, 244 s. ISBN 9781847065063. info
  • VIČAR, Jan and Roman DYKAST. Hudební estetika. 2. vyd. Praha: Akademie múzických umění v Praze, Hudební fakulta, 2002, 183 s. ISBN 8085883864. info
Teaching methods
Methods of seminar work.
Assessment methods
Regular attendance (min. 70%) plus preparation and presentation of a paper on a pre-selected and approved topic according to the student's preferences.
Language of instruction
Czech
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2024.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Spring 2025, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/spring2025/ESB098