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The Philosopher's Touch

Sartre, Nietzsche, and Barthes at the Piano
by François Noudelmann
The Philosopher's Touch: Sartre, Nietzsche, and Barthes at the Piano. Columbia Univ. (European Perspectives). Jan. 2012. c.160p. tr. from French by Brian J. Reilly. bibliog. ISBN 9780231153942. $26.50. MUSIC
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In this slender volume, Noudelmann (philosophy, Université Paris VIII) describes the role of the piano in the lives of three great philosophers of the 19th and 20th centuries. Jean-Paul Sartre was a talented amateur pianist who enjoyed sight-reading the music of Chopin and publicly embraced the music of Schoenberg and the avant-garde of the post-World War II era. Friedrich Nietzsche was a passionate improviser at the keyboard and played for two hours every day without fail, even during his final years of solitary madness. Like Sartre, he found solace in the music of Chopin and praised him in his writings. Roland Barthes was an amateur musicologist and pianist and wrote copiously about the physicality and sensuality of piano playing. His preferred composer was the Romantic Robert Schumann.
VERDICT Noudelmann writes perceptively and persuasively about the meaning of music in the lives of these iconic figures and its impact on their philosophical outlooks. Readers who enjoy exploring the role of music within the larger context of cultural studies will find this a remarkable and revealing book.
Reviewed by Larry Lipkis, Moravian Coll., Bethlehem, PA , Dec 01, 2011
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