This reader collects some of the most important essays on the relationship between culture and music. The topic has received enormous attention over the last few decades, transforming musicology throughout much of the Western world. The essays examine the connections between music and such diverse areas as language, the body, class, production, and consumption. Among the contributors are Jacques Attali, John Blacking, Michel Foucault, Lydia Goehr, Lawrence Kramer, Portia Maultsby, Rose Rosengard-Subotnik, Theodor Adorno, and Ero Tarasti. The collection provides an ideal introduction for students of music, sociology and cultural studies and for anyone interested in contemporary musicology.