Abstract This book provides a contextualist ontology of musical works, distinguishing works for playback from ones for performance and, among the latter, studio from live performances. Works are variously thick or thin to the extent that they determine details of their faithful renditions. Through the element of interpretation, performances are richer in constitutive properties than are the works they faithfully present. Features of the musico‐historical context in which the work is created affect what the composer can make work‐determinative via the scores he issues as instructions to performers. Scores must be read in terms of the notional conventions and musical practices they take for granted. To be of a work, a performance must match its contents, must intentionally follow the work‐determinative instructions, and must be tied by a robust causal chain to the work's creation. Also, the performance must be at least minimally faithful, so the work can be recognized in it. Authenticity is a virtue in a performance, and only small departures from the ideal are acceptable when made for the sake of an interesting interpretation. Non‐Western music can remain authentic if it assimilates influences and changes in ways compatible with its traditions and values. Recordings simulate live performances or create virtual ones and, because the medium is not transparent, are to be understood and appreciated differently from live music‐making.
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