The Genealogy of Beauty in Music
Music is a cornerstone of a classical liberal arts education. This Summer term, our pursuit of the good, the true, and the beautiful will therefore take us to the capital of classical music, Vienna.
That music is so intimately related to the quest for truth in the liberal arts, may no longer appear self-evident or even plausible. After all, music today may be seen as the ultimate act of subjectivity. In modernity, our tastes and passions are more variably shaped and satisfied by our individual listening than at any prior point in human history. Class or caste distinct standards for beauty in music appear to have dissolved. In the western world, what tends to emerge from this dissolution is not an enlivening potpourri of musical inclinations, however, but rather, the puzzling malaise of artistic homogeneity.
Amidst this malaise, can human beings still discern truth in music? And might that capacity for truth be definitive of music itself? If there is truth in music, must it also have objective formal and aesthetic standards that run beyond pure taste, and can these standards transcend genres?
This special collaboration between the Pascal Institute and the University of Austin seeks to point students toward an answer to these fundamental questions. Under the guidance of Ben Crocker, students will listen to important works of music, from Bach to the Great American Songbook, and reflect on their meaning by discussing texts from the great philosophers. The program will include seminars led by Dr. Jordi Wiersma (President of the Pascal Institute) and Gerard Versluis (Dean of the Pascal Institute).
Please note: Scholarships are available for talented candidates.