Composing Philosophy: Amateurism and Aesthetics in Twentieth- and Twenty-First-Century Music

Monograph Project: Composing Philosophy: Amateurism and Aesthetics in Twentieth- and Twenty-First-Century MusicSince around 1900, composers of classical music have mined philosophical texts for compositional material: in other words, they have “composed philosophy.” Starting with musical adaptations of Friedrich Nietzsche’s works, compositions that set texts taken from philosophical works, use operatic librettos on philosophers’ lives, or include a philosophical program have become increasingly common.

Yet scholarship has produced a limited view of the practice, primarily due to the tendency in historical musicology to heavily privilege the works of canonical composers.

And problematically, in cases where major composers have themselves “composed philosophy,” such as in Gustav Mahler’s Symphony no. 3, from 1896 (in which he sets a text from Nietzsche’s _Also Sprach Zarathustra_) or in Steve Reich’s _Proverb_, from 1995 (in which he sets a phrase from Ludwig Wittgenstein), scholars have frequently also assumed that musical mastery, or even genius, translates to an expert understanding and therefore use of philosophical material.

My project offers a new view of “composing philosophy” as something done from the standpoint of philosophical amateurism—my term for engaging deeply with philosophy while being inexpert in it—irrespective of whether composers are students, canonical figures, or something in between.

By looking at the larger practice of “composing philosophy” through the lens of philosophical amateurism, we can gain insight into how this seemingly esoteric practice intersects with more popularizing concepts of philosophy, the ways in which music can complicate and transform how philosophical source material is heard or understood, and the reasons that the practice has become an increasingly common preoccupation for composers.