Questions about Music

Harvard University Press has partnered with De Gruyter to make available for sale worldwide virtually all in-copyright HUP books that had become unavailable since their original publication. The 2,800 titles in the “e-ditions” program can be purchased individually as PDF eBooks or as hardcover reprint (“print-on-demand”) editions via the “Available from De Gruyter” link above. They are also available to institutions in ten separate subject-area packages that reflect the entire spectrum of the Press’s catalog. More about the E-ditions Program »

In this fine small book noted composer Roger Sessions writes about music, lucidly and always interestingly, from the point of view of both the composer and the practicing artist. He discusses such matters as the alleged gap between the modern composer and the public, what the composer expects of his listeners, the difficulty of talking or writing about the nonverbal arts, the function of the performer, the beginning of a musical work in a composer’s mind and the development of the initial idea, the factors determining which music eventually prevails, and some of the criteria by which music should be judged. Although every musician will be particularly interested in what Roger Sessions has to say, no technical knowledge of music is required and any reader can profit from and enjoy Sessions’ illuminating discussion.