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Single Idea 20340

[catalogued under 21. Aesthetics / B. Nature of Art / 7. Ontology of Art]

Full Idea

With the usual reservations, there is nothing that can be predicated of a performance of a piece of music that could not also be predicated of that piece of music itself.

Gist of Idea

A musical performance has virtually the same features as the piece of music

Source

Richard Wollheim (Art and Its Objects [1968], 37)

A Reaction

He offers this as evidence that it fits the performance being a token, and music (and all other art) being a type. There are quite a few 'reservations'. Music too difficult to perform. Great music always badly performed.

Book Reference

Wollheim,Richard: 'Art and Its Objects' [Penguin 1975], p.97