From the Erotic to the Demonic On Critical Musicology [Paperback]

From the Erotic to the Demonicdemonstrates how different musical styles construct ideas of class, sexuality, and ethnic identity. This book will serve as a model for musicologists who want to take a postmodern approach to their inquiries. The clear and lively arguments are supported by ninety musical examples taken from such diverse sources as opera, symphonic music, jazz, and nineteenth- and twentieth-century popular songs. Derek Scott offers new insights on a range of high and low musical styles, and the cultures that produced them.

One of Scott's most noble achievements in this book is the recuperation of musical repertories that have been ignored or marginalized, perhaps suppressed by ideological forces such as the canon. In covering such a wide range of different musics and raising some fundamental issues about music and its interpretation, Derek Scott makes a valuable contribution to our understanding of the interrelationships between style and ideology and, through his projection of a critical musicology, provides a timely, stimulating, and thought-provoking response to the endless discourse surrounding music and musicology. Music and Letters

Scott is committed to social semiotics advanced by Richard Leppert, Susan McClary, and Lawrence Kramer and puts forth a series of exemplary essays articulated in a rich, engaging, and provocative interdisciplinary style. ... It sifts through a broad panoramic musical repertory in a refreshingly involving style, making this book a strong addition to musicology as well as the interdisciplinary fields of history, sociology, women's studies, and political science. It opens new doors to the examination of important topics concerning race, gender, and sexuality, and it is therefore highly recommended. --Notes

Derek Scott is Chair of Music and Associate Director of the Institute for Social Research, University of Salford, UK