Are Musical Works Discovered?

Cox, Renee

doi:10.2307/429898

Cited by 18 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…6 Representative examples of this view would be Dodd (2000 and, Kivy (1993), andWolterstorff (1980). 7 For instance, Cox (1985) argues that musical works are mental entities; Predelli (1995 and argues that musical works are sets of performances; and Caplan andMatheson (2004 and2006) argue for musical perdurantism. 8 This methodological point was made explicit by Davies (2004, Ch.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Ontology of Musical Works and the Role of Intuitions: An Experimental Study

Bartel

2017

European J of Philosophy

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Philosophers of music often appeal to intuition to defend ontological theories of musical works. This practice is worrisome as it is rather unclear just how widely shared are the intuitions that philosophers appeal to. In this paper, I will first offer a brief overview of the debate over the ontology of musical works. I will argue that this debate is driven by a conflict between two seemingly plausible intuitions—the repeatability intuition and the creatability intuition—both of which may be defended on the grounds that they are reflective of our actual musical practices. The problem facing philosophers within this debate is that there is no clear way to determine which of the two conflicting intuitions is more reflective of our musical practices. Finally, I offer discussion of an experimental study that was designed to test participants' intuitions regarding the repeatability of musical works. The evidence presented there suggests that the participants broadly accept the repeatability of musical works, but in a much narrower way than philosophers would likely accept.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Ontology of Musical Works and the Role of Intuitions: An Experimental Study

Bartel

2017

European J of Philosophy

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“…And if it exists prior to the time of its composition, then the composer must discover, rather than create, the work. Thus, if the musical work is characterised as a thin sound-structure (and anything which reproduces that sound-structure is an instance of the work, if not a performance of it), then the work might be instanced prior to its composition and must exist for all time, since it might be instanced at any time (Wolterstorff 1975;Cox 1985). Partly in reaction to such a view, the thicker characterisation of the work as necessarily including a performance-means and as necessarily being indexed to a person, time and place, rejects the claim that the work exists eternally (Levinson 1980a).…”

Section: The Ontology Of the Musical Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Ontology of Musical Works and the Authenticity of their Performances1

Davies

2003

Themes in the Philosophy of Music

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The authentic-performance movement is a phenomenon of the last fifty years. Once one could rarely find a recording of baroque music played on the original instruments and such performances were often lame and faltering because of the players’ unfamiliarity with the instruments and with the appropriate performance practices. Now, it is difficult to find a recording of such music not played in the ‘authentic manner’ and different orchestras vie with each other in the vibrancy of their interpretations.

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The Imaginary Museum of Musical Works

Goehr¹

1994

214

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What is the difference between a performance of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony and the symphony itself? What does it mean for musicians to be faithful to the works they perform? To answer such questions, Lydia Goehr combines philosophical and historical methods of enquiry. Finding Anglo‐American philosophy inadequate for the task, she shows that a historical perspective is indispensable to a full understanding of musical ontology. Goehr examines the concepts and assumptions behind the practice of classical music in the nineteenth century and demonstrates how different they were from those of previous centuries. She rejects the finding that the concept of a musical work emerged in the sixteenth century, placing its emergence instead around 1800. She describes how the concept of a work then came to define the norms, expectations, and behaviour that we now associate with classical music. Out of the historical thesis, Goehr draws conclusions about the normative functions of concepts and ideals. She also addresses current debates amongst conductors, early‐music performers, and avant‐gardists.

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Are Musical Works Discovered?

Cited by 18 publications

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The Ontology of Musical Works and the Role of Intuitions: An Experimental Study

The Ontology of Musical Works and the Role of Intuitions: An Experimental Study

The Ontology of Musical Works and the Authenticity of their Performances1

The Imaginary Museum of Musical Works

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