Pleasure and Meaning in the Classical Symphony (Musical Meaning and Interpretation)

Classical music permeates modern life whether in the grocery store, on public radio, on hold on the telephone, or in traditional orchestral settings. In her provocative and groundbreaking study, Melanie Lowe explores why the public instrumental music of late-18th-century Europe has remained accessible, entertaining, and distinctly pleasurable to such a variety of listeners for nearly 250 years.
Pleasure and Meaning in the Classical Symphony is the first work of its kind to examine how concert-going listeners of the late 18th century might have responded to this “new” repertoire, and in what ways it was intelligible to audiences from different eras, cultures, and social settings. More broadly, she also considers the effect of western European art music on today’s listeners and its meaning in contemporary American culture.