Explaining Musical Experience

Abstract

Abstract I start with the observation that we often respond to a musical performance with emotion— even if it is just the performance of a piece of absolute music, unaccompanied by text, title or program. We can be exhilarated after a Rossini overture brought off with subtlety and panache; sombre and melancholy after Furtwangler’s performance of the slow movement of the “Eroica”. And so forth. These emotions feel like the real thing to me— or anyway very close to the real thing. When one experiences them, it takes time for them to wear off, and one gets irritated with the companion who, because not similarly moved, wants immediately to start discussing where to go for dinner.