Deconstructive variations : music and reason in western society

In this sequel to her last book, "Developing variations", Rose Rosengard Subotnik continues her work on musicology. Her concerns are both formal and sociological, linking music to social and cultural contexts and breaking down the barriers between music and life. This book expands on her promotion of humanistic criticism as a significant activity in music scholarship, and the portrayal of Western art music in relation to the social structures and cultural values of the society that created it. Subotnik brings a range of philosophical, artistic, and historical knowledge to the subject, and applies the insights of Kant, Adorno, Bakhtin and Derrida to major works of Mozart and Chopin. Each of these essays form an argument between two views: for and against the ideal of structural listening.

• Whose magic flute? - intimations of reality at the gates of the enlightenment
• how could Chopin's "A-Major Prelude" be deconstructed?
• towards a deconstruction of structural listening - a critique of Schoenberg, Adorno, and Stravinsky
• the closing of the American dream? - a musical perspective on Allan Bloom, Spike Lee, and doing the right thing.