Peter Kivy is Professor of Philosophy at Rutgers University. His previous books include Music Alone: Philosophical Reflections on the Purely Musical Experience, also from Cornell.
Authenticities is an important book, and anyone interested in
philosophy of music should read it. Anyone can profit from it as a
model of careful and informed conceptual analysis.
*The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism*
The consistent theme running through Kivy's book is the need for
interpretation as the personal authenticity and authority of the
performer against the ideology both of the composer as genius and
of the puritanical devotion to the authority of the text of the
early music devotees.... This is a most valuable book, one which
constantly surprises and delights through its philosophical
insights and informed musical understanding.
*British Journal of Aesthetics*
In his latest book on the aesthetics of music, Peter Kivy presents
an argument not for authenticity but for authenticities of
performance, including authenticities of intention, sound,
practice, and the authenticity of personal interpretation in
performance.... As usual, Kivy's work is beautifully written, well
argued, and provocative.
*Notes*
Kivy has provided a sorely needed framework for all future
discussion of the authenticity matter. This is his best book, a
major contribution to performance studies and to musical
aesthetics; likely it will be studied and cited for
generations.
*Choice*
Kivy's book is written in its author's characteristic engaging
manner and is full of valuable insights into the hermeneutics and
aesthetics of performing music of the past.
*Philosophical Review*
Written in lively prose, with a keen sense of reality, this volume
ought to be of interest not only to philosophers and musicologists,
but to all serious lovers of music.
*Times Literary Supplement*
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