Since the premiere of John Cage's infamous 'silent' work 4'33", scholars have been fascinated by the question of what noise is, how it differs from music, and whether it can ever be beautiful. Drawing on ideas from musicology and philosophy, this lecture will explore these questions, examining our changing understandings of noise and taste in relation to the shifting socio-political landscape of the 20th century. Ultimately it will seek to question how we experience music in the present day, and discuss whether artistic beauty still has a place at all.

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/what-is-noise-beauty-and-taste-in-20th-century-music

Gresham College has been giving free public lectures since 1597. This tradition continues today with all of our five or so public lectures a week being made available for free download from our website. There are currently over 2,000 lectures free to access or download from the website.

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