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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]
|
20418
|
The horror expressed in some works of art could equallly be expressed by other means
[Kemp]
|
20419
|
We don't already know what to express, and then seek means of expressing it
[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]
|