Book Review: Ernst Kurth, Music psychology

Abstract

In his first monograph, based on his habilitation thesis, Ernst Kurth hinted at the prospect of defining music psychology (Kurth, 1913). He accomplished this approximately 18 years later when he published his final work, simply titled Musikpsychologie (Kurth, 1931). Opinions varied as to its success. While it was generally well received by music theorists, several contemporary psychologists viewed it less enthusiastically due to its lack of scientific rigor. According to them, Kurth himself does not appear convincing in his foreword to the book, which concludes with the following remarks: