The US American musicologist, composer, philosopher, inventor, and political activist Charles Seeger (1886–1979) is a key figure in the development of twentieth-century musicology. "Speech about Music" is an in-depth study of his philosophical theory of musicology – his meta-musicology. Seeger developed this body of theory in numerous publications over the course of more than sixty years, yet he never realized his dream of creating a comprehensive "Principia Musicologica".

Detailed historical reconstruction and comparative analysis of Seeger's meta-musicology makes "Speech about Music" an important contribution to the study of the history of musicology. By approaching Seeger's theory as an arsenal of ideas in the discussion of twenty-first century meta-musicological issues, the book is also a critical examination of the pertinence of Seeger's ideas.