Being True to Works of Music explores the varieties of authenticity involved in our practice of performing works of Western classical music. Its key argument is that the familiar 'authenticity debate' about the performance of such works has tended to focus on a side issue. While much has been written about the desirability (or otherwise) of historical authenticity -- roughly, performing works as they would have been performed, under ideal conditions, in the era in which they were composed -- the most fundamental norm governing our practice of work performance is, in fact, another kind of kind of truthfulness to the work altogether. This is interpretive authenticity: being faithful to the performed work by virtue of evincing a profound, far-reaching, or sophisticated understanding of it. As such, performers are justified, on occasion, in sacrificing some score compliance for the sake of making their performance more interpretively authentic. Written in a clear, engaging style with discussion of musical examples throughout, this book will be of great interest to both philosophers of music and musicologists.

About the Author
Julian Dodd is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Manchester. He has published too books, An Identity Theory of Truth (Palgrave, 2000) and Works of Music: An Essay in Ontology (Oxford University Press, 2007). His recent work has been predominantly in the philosophy of music but he maintains an interest in the philosophy of language, metaphysics, and Wittgenstein.

Reviews
Dodd does an excellent job laying out the parameters of the debate. Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty; professionals. * P. Jenkins, Marywood University, CHOICE *
Being True to Works of Music is a brilliantly written monograph on musical authenticity that, definitely, constitutes an inescapable point of reference in the literature...The book offers a great opportunity to rethink central aspects on musical ontology, appreciation, and meaning. * Nemesio Garcia-Carril Puy, The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism *



Book Information
ISBN 9780198859482
Author Julian Dodd
Format Hardback
Page Count 208
Imprint Oxford University Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Weight(grams) 450g
Dimensions(mm) 240mm * 161mm * 17mm