Is Music Joy

Bartlett Lecture Series Daniel Chua, a University of Hong Kong music scholar who studies the intersection between music, philosophy, and theology. Chua notes that joy might seem an unlikely paradigm for music theory. Today, joy is not fundamental to music theory; if anything, much philosophical thought on music veers towards the tragic. Yet, he notes, joy was fundamental to music theories from different parts of the ancient world, and it might have informed early Christian thought on music. His lecture considers the relationship between music and joy, and in what sense a theology of joy might help recover joy as a music theoretical paradigm today. Dr. Daniel K. L. Chua is the Mr. and Mrs. Hung HingYing Professor in the Arts and Chair Professor of Music at the University of Hong Kong. He received his B. A. and in musicology from Cambridge University. Before joining Hong Kong University to head the School of Humanities, he was a Fellow and the Director of Studies at St. Johns College