An idealized image of European concert-goers has long prevailed in historical overviews of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This act of listening was considered to be an invisible and amorphous phenomenon, a naturally given mode of perception. This narrative influenced the conditions of listening from the selection of repertoire to the construction of concert halls and programmes. However, as listening moved from the concert hall to the opera house, street music, and jazz venues, new and visceral listening traditions evolved. In turn, the art of listening was shaped by phenomena of the modern era including media innovation and commercialization. This Handbook asks whether, how, and why practices of music listening changed as the audience moved from pleasure gardens and concert venues in the eighteenth century to living rooms in the twentieth century, and mobile devices in the twenty-first. Through these questions, chapters enable a differently conceived history of listening and offer an agenda for future research.

本書は「音楽を聴く」という極めて内省的な行為がいかに歴史的に構築されてきたかを解き明かす、知の冒険譚です。単なる通史の枠を超え、静謐なホールから騒乱の街角、そして現代の孤独なイヤホンの中へと移ろう聴衆の「耳」の変遷を辿ることで、音を通じた人間の存在論に迫るその洞察力には圧倒されます。 メディアの進化が、本来無定形なはずの知覚をいかに変容させたか。本書が提示する重厚な「聴取の精神史」を読み解けば、日常の響きが時代精神の結晶であることに気づかされるはずです。音楽を愛するすべての魂に捧げられた、音と人の交感の深淵に触れる至高の解説書と言えるでしょう。