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Tra sensi e spirito investigates the origins of a sort of 'Copernican revolution' that took place in western culture when music acquired an undisputed primacy over the other arts, becoming the privileged medium of metaphysical knowledge, if not actually the very emblem of absolute Truth. Starting from the analysis of the principal oppositions (between melody and harmony, word and sound, voice and instruments) emerging from the aesthetic debate that developed in the latter half of the eighteenth century, first in France and later in Germany, Tra sensi e spirito brings to light the essential ambivalence of music, in which we can discern a dual nature: sensual-erotic and mystical-spiritual. Examining these two aspects, supremely exemplified in the works of Wilhelm Heinse and Wilhelm Heinrich Wackenroder and the characters created by them, the book brings out the figure of the 'problematic' artist in a modern sense, who experiences with profound unease the ambiguity of the "criminal innocence" of the musical phenomenon: a musical phenomenon that acts at once as a redeeming and a 'narcotic' force, engendering a loss of contact with reality. - Tra sensi e spirito indaga le origini di una sorta di 'rivoluzione copernicana' vissuta nella cultura occidentale quando la musica conquista un primato indiscusso sulle altre arti, divenendo il medium privilegiato della conoscenza metafisica, se non addirittura l'emblema stesso della Verità assoluta. A partire dall'analisi delle principali opposizioni (tra melodia e armonia, parola e suono, voce e strumenti) che emergono dal dibattito estetico sviluppatosi nel secondo '700 prima in Francia e poi in Germania, Tra sensi e spirito mette in luce l'ambivalenza di fondo della musica, nella quale si riscontra una doppia natura: sensuale-erotica e mistico-spirituale. Esaminando questi due aspetti, che trovano una rappresentazione esemplare nelle opere di Heinse e Wackenroder e nei personaggi da loro creati, il volume fa emergere la figura dell''artista problematico' in senso moderno, che vive con profondo disagio l'ambiguità, la «delittuosa innocenza» del fenomeno musicale; un fenomeno musicale che agisce contemporaneamente come forza redentrice e 'narcotico', facendo perdere contatto con la realtà.

Disciplinary definitions and 'boundaries' are cultural constructs, context-based and subject to conventions. Historical, technical, cultural, gender, social, political conditions are among the forces that shape the multidimensional space of such definitions. Rules and regulations often dismiss complexity, or have to reduce it. The division between 'hard science' and 'humanities' is one of the results, but more detailed examples can be found in the history and practice of individual disciplines, like musicology. Among scholars involved in 'humanities' in Europe and Northern America there has been a growing feeling that their disciplines be under attack, and that the only path to survival be the acceptation of 'hard science' as a model. The risk that such a strategy may bring to an impoverishment of scholarship, favoring an ill-defined and ineffective form of empiricism, must be considered, especially if one looks at the long-term plans of institutions like the European Research Council. In this paper, I will try to place the subject into the more ample framework of the changes in political and economical systems in the West from the 1970s (which brought to the current economical crisis), of the ongoing processes aiming to reduce or abolish public welfare, including public universities.

Shōka, the Japanese term for School Song, is an innovation of the early Meiji Period. Both, the term and the music genre, had become a necessity following the promulgation of the Education Law in 1872 which stipulated that music had to be an obligatory subject in elementary and secondary schools. Its implementation had to be postponed, however, because in traditional Japanese music there were no songs with easily singable melodies and understandable texts suitable for school children. Such songs had, therefore, to be commissioned, composed or authorized by a department of the Education Ministry, called "Music Investigation Committee" (Ongaku Torishirabe Gakari), created especially for this purpose. ; Shōka, the Japanese term for School Song, is an innovation of the early Meiji Period. Both, the term and the music genre, had become a necessity following the promulgation of the Education Law in 1872 which stipulated that music had to be an obligatory subject in elementary and secondary schools. Its implementation had to be postponed, however, because in traditional Japanese music there were no songs with easily singable melodies and understandable texts suitable for school children. Such songs had, therefore, to be commissioned, composed or authorized by a department of the Education Ministry, called "Music Investigation Committee" (Ongaku Torishirabe Gakari), created especially for this purpose.

Dopo il 1945, e fino almeno alla fine degli anni cinquanta, non nasce in Italia una «nuova» canzone. La popular music nazionale si sviluppa con esiti analoghi a quelli della produzione dell'era fascista, anche grazie alle continuità strutturali dell'industria musicale e dell'EIAR/RAI. La canzone non è percepita come una forma artistica (non nel senso in cui lo sono il cinema o la letteratura), e non gode dell'interesse degli intellettuali. Le estetiche neorealiste codificate nel cinema e nella letteratura hanno un ruolo decisivo nella progettazione di una «nuova» canzone che ambisca a farsi «arte». A partire dalla metà degli anni cinquanta, il discorso sul realismo si intreccia con quello sul «popolare», nel contesto del più ampio dibattito sulla cultura di massa, e rappresenta una delle basi ideologiche su cui è possibile ripensare l'intero campo della canzone, le sue fnalità, le sue ambizioni estetiche. Il saggio traccia i rapporti fra estetiche neorealiste e canzone in Italia, rivolgendo l'attenzione al dibattito critico fra gli anni cinquanta e la prima metà degli anni sessanta.