"In this deeply felt and well-researched meditation, Kalkavage finds the special bond that exists between the world and the power of music." --Booklist "Many people write about themeaning of music, but few can do it as well as Peter Kalkavage does in thismarvelous, winsome, and often hauntingly beautiful book. We all know that thelanguage of music overflows with meaning, profound meaning, both in the way itgives an expressive shape to the flow of our inner life, and in the way itmodels the transcendent grandeur of the cosmos, and even gives us a glimpse ofthe eternal. But the language of music resists translation into words.Kalkavage is equal to the challenge, however, and takes us on a deep dive intothe philosophical dimensions of music, through a series of connected essays thatdemonstrate again and again the ways in which music is intimately connected tothe most important questions we wrestle with, about the nature of time, space,and the human condition. It is a book of great learning, but one also brimmingover with enthusiasm and love for its subject, a combination that readers willfind irresistible." --Dr. Wilfred M.

McClay, Professor of History, Hillsdale College "This book is a compilation of treasures from Peter Kalkavage, one ofthe most perceptive music theoreticians and practitioners. He is deeplygrounded in first principles, knows the Greek classics and, most importantly,knows modernity in light of them. The relationship between music and the worldwas one of the most important to the ancient Greeks. Have we lost the enrichingidea that the universe is musically constituted, as they thought? This bookdelves deeply into what music is and what it does. Is it its own world, or isit the world? Kalkavage lays before the reader various answers, ancientand modern. This is a profound work thatneeds to be read and then meditated upon." --Robert R. Reilly, author of Surprised by Beauty:A Listener's Guide to the Recovery of Modern Music "Music is the language of the cosmos and of the human soul, andinevitably reflects--and inculcates--a vision of reality as a whole.

The ancientsand medievals honored it as one of the seven liberal arts, keys for opening thedoors to wisdom. Peter Kalkavage patiently and beautifully unfolds neglectedbut profound truths about this mysterious art, as he shares with readers thefruit of decades of teaching the Great Books and leading students into themysteries of tones, rhythms, and harmonies. Illustrating his themes withaptly-chosen composers and works, Kalkavage treats his subject with aneloquence and authority that make Music and the Idea of a World a sheerjoy to read." --Dr. Peter A. Kwasniewski, author of Good Music, Sacred Music, andSilence "In this lovely book, Peter Kalkavage has given us some flowers andfruit from the seed sown by Plato in his Timaeus , cultivated bycomposers like Bach and Wagner, and wondered at by thinkers who attended toCosmos and Soul. The prose is lucid and sensitive to roots, the details ofanalysis, for such a short book, surprisingly accessible to intelligentreaders, and the whole book food for heart and mind. Read it.

It will nourishyou." --Dr. Richard Ferrier, Thomas Aquinas College.