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The Musical Image: A Theory of Content (Contributions to the Study of Music and Dance)
The Musical Image A Theory of Content - Contributions to the Study of Music and Dance Author:Laurence Berman Operating from the conviction that to discover what is individual in a musical work is first to know what it shares with other works, The Musical Image offers an archetypal approach to musical expressiveness. It posits that the fundamental patterns of thought, or archetypes, unifying Western culture permeate musical imagery quite as much as they... more » do the other arts. Musical imagery is modified over time and place into style reflective of the Zeitgeist,--or complex of beliefs, values, and ideals of a community. The book opens with a theoretical model of archetypal dichotomies (such as comic/tragic, romantic/ironic, mythic/humanistic), which becomes the critical basis for identifying a repertoire of "expressive modes" extending from the Middle Ages to the present. It seeks the common ground in the Western musical heritage and offers a conceptual framework for understanding musical experiences.« less