This volume brings together DeNora's work published between 1986 and
2007. It includes thirteen essays, some of which have had a major impact
on the field. The chapters trace the development of her work from its
early concern with musical meaning, historical ethnography and the
'everyday' perspective, to its current focus on music in action. Topics
covered include Adorno on Schoenberg and Stravinsky, a theory of music
as a space and place for interpretive work, research methods for
historical musicology, and the first key statement of her theory of
music as an active ingredient in social life. These building blocks are
then employed to investigate music and embodied experience, sexuality
and gender differentiation, and music's role as a technology of health.
The essays are set in a multi-disciplinary context with an
autobiographical introduction.