BATTLE OF CHRONOS AND ORPHEUS: ESSAYS IN APPLIED MUSICAL SEMIOLOGY; TRANS. BY JONATHAN DUNSBY

"In this collection of previously unpublished essays Jean-Jaques Nattiez applies his theoretical foundations of musical semiology to anthropological, literary and musical subjects (as expounded by Levi-Strauss, Hanslick, and Brailoui; Baudelaire and Proust; Wagner, Gould and Boulez). The author treats problems of great interest to musicologists and music lovers alike - the nature of music in traditional societies, the concept of the musically Beautiful, and questions of fidelity and authenticity in performance practice." "Nattiez focuses on the status of time in the works considered. This approach allows him to take sides, in the ongoing debates which pit adherents of modernity against apologists of postmodernism."--Jacket.