Emotion and composition in classical music: historiometric Perspectives

Abstract

Abstract The compositions that constitute the classical music tradition of the Western world probably have many different functions. Yet among those functions is probably some kind of emotional expression or communication. That is, when aficionados of classical music attend a concert or turn on their stereo, they usually expect to be ‘moved’. Furthermore, listeners often believe that these emotional reactions are what the composer intended—that the work is a vehicle for emotional communication. As Beethoven once put it, ‘Coming from the heart, may it go to the heart’ (quoted in Scherman & Biancolli 1972, p. 951). What makes these expectations somewhat surprising is the fact that classical music constitutes a fairly abstract form of aesthetic expression. Indeed, the concert halls are often dominated by purely instrumental forms—such as the symphony, concerto, quartet, and sonata—in which not a single word or programme gives any clue what the piece is actually about. Moreover, looking at a music score does not help render a classical composition any less abstract. On the contrary, musical notation is far more precise, rarified, and refined than can be found in any other form of artistic expression. Superficially at least, a score has more in common with a mathematical proof than with a painting, poem, or sculpture.

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