Philosophers who were composers?

Question

Who are some famous philosophers who also composed music?

I can think of one example: Boethius, one of the first music theorists / acousticians and author of Consolation of Philosophy; he composed:

Boethius: Songs of Consolation (YouTube playlist)
^(source)

@JosephWeissman Wow, I didn't know that. Apparently he composed some piano works, too. — Geremia, Apr 23 '19 at 22:41
@pipe This site can unfortunately be quite lax with soft questions. — curiousdannii, Apr 24 '19 at 12:52
@curiousdannii Yeah, it's puzzling because both OP and the people who gladly answer the question all have pretty high reputation leading me to believe that it's accepted. I have no idea how one would accept the "best" answer here. Or maybe it's just that people are too slow casting close votes. — pipe, Apr 24 '19 at 13:52
By the word 'composer' do you refer to an inventor of only music, or also to the words (songwriter)? I don't see that we have evidence that Boethius composed music. The music seems to have been added to his poems later. — Ram Tobolski, Apr 25 '19 at 07:26
@another_name Yep. A lot of questions are fun. Some will fit the Stack Exchange format. This one does not. — pipe, Apr 25 '19 at 08:13

score 8 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 23 '19 at 22:39

8

In addition to Nietzsche:

Rousseau wrote both the music and libretto for an opera - Le Devin du Village.

Rousseau - Le Devin du Village on YouTube

Adorno was a classically trained pianist, studied composition with Berg in Vienna, and wrote piano music and a number of string quartets.

A selection of Adorno string quartets on YouTube

answered Apr 23 '19 at 22:39

nwr

3,525
2
16
29

1

Did not know about Adorno! – Conifold Apr 23 '19 at 22:58
1

@Conifold He fell under the spell of Schoenberg to compose music very much of the time. I occasionally listen to Schoenberg, Berg, or Webern when I'm doing the dishes. Seriously. It works really well. – nwr Apr 23 '19 at 23:03
You might also add that Wagner was a composer who was a bit of a (racist) philosopher: https://philosophy.stackexchange.com/questions/62076/philosophers-who-were-composers – Ben Hocking Apr 24 '19 at 01:50
@BenHocking Wagner is an interesting suggestion, but perhaps more as a great composer who suffered a cranky dotage. – nwr Apr 24 '19 at 02:59
1

@Conifold: He tried to apply rational aesthetics via twelve-tone music. He even tried to be a critic of contemporary music. To be fair, I deem his music and aesthetic writings to be quite...erratic and special. – Philip Klöcking Apr 24 '19 at 12:19
how derogatorily do you mean that @PhilipKlöcking ? his music criticism i thought was fairly well regarded considering how trenchant he was about stravinsky. i had copies of his music, but am no musician – Apr 24 '19 at 17:50
i'm not even sure what people could be getting from adorno if they dispose of his aesthetics. a lot of nonsense about marx – Apr 24 '19 at 17:56

Frank Hubeny · Answer 2 · 2019-04-24T12:34:40.793

3

Gabriel Marcel according to Brendan Sweetman composed music:

He also developed a keen interest in classical music and composed a number of pieces.

However, I could not find a list of these compositions.

Thanks to @sand1 from comments: "La Biblitheque Nationale Francaise list has a section for him as Compositeur(54) data.bnf.fr/fr/11914394/gabriel_marcel"

Sweetman, B. "Gabriel Marcel". Retrieved April 23, 2019 from Britannica https://www.britannica.com/biography/Gabriel-Honore-Marcel

edited Apr 24 '19 at 12:34

answered Apr 24 '19 at 01:25

Frank Hubeny

19,397
7
30
93

1

La Biblitheque Nationale Francaise list has a section for him as Compositeur(54) https://data.bnf.fr/fr/11914394/gabriel_marcel/ – sand1 Apr 24 '19 at 12:14
@sand1 Thank you. I added that to the answer. – Frank Hubeny Apr 24 '19 at 12:35

Philosophers who were composers?

2 Answers2