No work of art, however original, is created in isolation from the life and culture of its time and place. Politically and artistically, Berlioz lived in interesting times. The year of Symphonie fantastique, 1830, was a year of revolution and a key year in the development of French romanticism. In addition to reviewing the artistic scene, this chapter considers aspects of Berlioz’s musical education and earlier work. This is set in relief by comparing his ‘Fantastic’ symphony with the Reformation Symphony by Felix Mendelssohn, which was composed about the same time. Differences in their the two composers’ musical upbringing and religious views are reflected in the two symphonies, including their use of traditional musical material.

Chapter 7 concerns to kalon and music. According to Aristotle, virtue of character and happiness are examples of to kalon, and the good person, who acts and feels correctly, does so for the sake of to kalon. While to kalon clearly means “the beautiful” in certain other contexts, there is a major debate in Aristotelian scholarship about whether to kalon has an aesthetic aspect in Aristotle’s ethics. I briefly discuss some aesthetic ideas in Aristotle’s Metaphysics, biological works, and Poetics, showing how they carry over into his ethics. I then raise some objections to the structural view of to kalon in Aristotle’s ethics. Next I discuss the ethical dimension to music – the importance of music for moral education, including a discussion of fear and sympathy and a reprise of the Philoctetes. This is followed by a discussion of the musical dimension to ethics, with music providing the best metaphor for describing the interdependence of the good person’s thought and feelings. Finally, I address the question what it means for the good person to act for the sake of to kalon, and I provide some reflections on music, contemplation, and the happy life.

Three figures stand out as formative influences on the young Richard Strauss: his father, Franz, a hornist of conservative tastes; Hans von Bülow, a former Liszt pupil and recovering Wagnerian who was frequently at loggerheads with Franz; and Alexander von Ritter, another Liszt student who retained his passion for the music of the future when Bülow abjured it. From his father Strauss acquired a deep and abiding love of the music of classical and early romantic eras. From Bülow, to whom he was an assistant for a few months in 1885, he learned much about the art and craft of conducting. From Ritter, Strauss received a passionate induction into the progressive ideas of Liszt, Wagner, and Schopenhauer, which led to the composition of his early tone poems and his first opera, Guntram. Even though Strauss would eventually distance himself creatively from their advice, each contributed significantly to his artistic development.