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Single Idea 20403

[filed under theme 21. Aesthetics / B. Nature of Art / 4. Art as Expression ]

Full Idea

The 'expression theory' holds that if music is sad that is because it expresses the composer's sadness, ...but composers take a long time composing sad works, and may even been gleeful at receiving payment for it.

Gist of Idea

It seems unlikely that sad music expresses a composer's sadness; it takes ages to write

Source

Stephen Davies (The Philosophy of Art (2nd ed) [2016], 6.4)

Book Ref

Davies,Stephen: 'The Philosophy of Art (2nd ed)' [Wiley Blackwell 2016], p.143

A Reaction

[compressed] Pretty conclusive. I see composing as like acting. Just as you can put on a happy or sad face, so a composer can discover music that feels sad or happy. Three movement sonatas don't fit expression at all.

Related Ideas

Idea 20404 Music isn't just sad because it makes the listener feel sad [Davies,S]

Idea 20405 Music may be expressive by being 'associated' with other emotional words or events [Davies,S]

The 19 ideas with the same theme [personal expression is the essence of art]:

8119 Art aims only at beauty, of form, of idea, and (above all) of expression [Winckelmann, by Tolstoy]
8120 Objects can be beautiful which express nothing at all, such as the rainbow [Herbart, by Tolstoy]
8124 The highest feelings of mankind can only be transmitted by art [Tolstoy]
8121 Art is when one man uses external signs to hand on his feelings to another man [Tolstoy]
8122 True works of art transmit completely new feelings [Tolstoy]
14835 Artists are not especially passionate, but they pretend to be [Nietzsche]
20422 The experience of expression and communication are intermingled in art [Croce]
23934 The only expression art could have is the emotion resulting from pure form [Bell,C]
20420 The emotion expressed is non-conscious, but feels oppressive until expression relieves it [Collingwood]
20331 It is claimed that the expressive properties of artworks are non-physical [Wollheim]
20345 Some say art must have verbalisable expression, and others say the opposite! [Wollheim]
18551 Croce says art makes inarticulate intuitions conscious; rival views say the audience is the main concern [Scruton]
12165 Romantics say music expresses ideas, or the Will, or intuitions, or feelings [Scruton]
12167 Reference without predication is the characteristic of expression [Scruton]
20417 Expression can be either necessary for art, or sufficient for art (or even both) [Kemp]
20419 We don't already know what to express, and then seek means of expressing it [Kemp]
20418 The horror expressed in some works of art could equallly be expressed by other means [Kemp]
20405 Music may be expressive by being 'associated' with other emotional words or events [Davies,S]
20403 It seems unlikely that sad music expresses a composer's sadness; it takes ages to write [Davies,S]