Music, Nature and Divine Knowledge in England, 1650-1750 9781783277674

Category

Music reviews & criticism

Store

Wordery

Brand

Boydell & brewer ltd

Music, Nature and Divine Knowledge in England, 1650-1750 : The Boydell Press : 9781783277674 : 178327767X : 16 May 2023 : During a period of tumultuous change in English political, religious and cultural life, music signified the unspeakable presence of the divine in the world for many. What was the role of music in the early modern subject's sensory experience of divinity? While the English intellectuals Peter Sterry (1613-72), Richard Roach (1662-1730), William Stukeley (1687-1765) and David Hartley (1705-57), have not been remembered for their 'musicking', this book explores how the musical reflections of these individuals expressed alternative and often uncustomary conceptions of God, the world, and the human psyche. Music is always potentially present in their discourse, emerging as a crucial form of mediation between states: exoteric and esoteric, material and spiritual, outer and inner, public and private, rational and mystical. Dixon shows how Sterry, Roach, Stukeley and Hart

95 GBP