Conceptual blending, creativity, and music

Abstract

This article explores the use of conceptual blending theory for the study of creativity, especially as creativity is manifested in musical utterances. The first part of the article offers an overview of blending theory and describes two aspects of the theory that present challenges to the study of creativity in general, and to music in particular. The second part of the article offers an application of blending theory to Dido’s lament from Henry Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, with an emphasis on the ways concepts prompted by language and music blend together to create a rich, and highly creative, world for the imagination.