The first three volumes of Contemplating Music pinpointed the kinds of issues raised in the course of systematic philosophizing about music. Volume IV Community of Discourse attempts to bridge philosophical and sociological issues without presuming to provide a full panorama of the questions raised in sociological inquiries concerning music. The latter the compilers believe deserves separate treatment. Rather throughout Contemplating Music emphasis is placed on opposing intellectual strands seeking to make clear their relative primacy in different periods and their possible relationships with other ideas. This volume contains the writings of David Hume Max Weber J.W.N. Sullivan Paul Honigsheim Walter Benjamin Theodor W. Adorno W.A. Zhdanov John H. Mueller Leonard B. Meyer Edward A. Lippman and Stanley Cavell.

Ruth Katz:
Carl Dahlhaus: