Music critics listen to symphony orchestra concerts and write a review which assesses the conductor and orchestra's interpretation of the pieces they played. The critic uses a range of aesthetic evaluation tools to write their review. They may assess the tone of the orchestra, the tempos that the conductor chose for the symphony movements, the taste and judgement showed by the conductor in their creative choices, and even the selection of pieces which formed the concert program.
Aesthetics of music (/ɛsˈθɛtɪks,iːs-,æs-/) is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of art, beauty and taste in music, and with the creation or appreciation of beauty in music.[1] In the pre-modern tradition, the aesthetics of music or musical aesthetics explored the mathematical and cosmological dimensions of rhythmic and harmonic organization. In the eighteenth century, focus shifted to the experience of hearing music, and thus to questions about its beauty and human enjoyment (plaisir and jouissance) of music. The origin of this philosophic shift is sometimes attributed to Baumgarten in the 18th century, followed by Kant.
Aesthetics is a sub-discipline of philosophy. In the 20th century, important contributions to the aesthetics of music were made by Peter Kivy, Jerrold Levinson, Roger Scruton, and Stephen Davies. However, many musicians, music critics, and other non-philosophers have contributed to the aesthetics of music. In the 19th century, a significant debate arose between Eduard Hanslick, a music critic and musicologist, and composer Richard Wagner regarding whether instrumental music could communicate emotions to the listener. Wagner and his disciples argued that instrumental music could communicate emotions and images; composers who held this belief wrote instrumental tone poems, which attempted to tell a story or depict a landscape using instrumental music. Although history portrays Hanslick as Wagner's opponent, in 1843 after the premiere of Tannhäuser in Dresden, Hanslick gave the opera rave reviews. He called Wagner, “The great new hope of a new school of German Romantic opera.”[2] Thomas Grey, a musicologist specializing in Wagnerian opera at Stanford University argues, “On the Beautiful in Music was written in riposte of Wagner's polemic grandstanding and overblown theorizing.” [3] Hanslick and his partisans asserted that instrumental music is simply patterns of sound that do not communicate any emotions or images.
Since ancient times, it has been thought that music has the ability to affect our emotions, intellect, and psychology; it can assuage our loneliness or incite our passions. The Ancient Greek philosopher Plato suggests in The Republic that music has a direct effect on the soul. Therefore, he proposes that in the ideal regime, music would be closely regulated by the state (Book VII). There has been a strong tendency in the aesthetics of music to emphasize the paramount importance of compositional structure; however, other issues concerning the aesthetics of music include lyricism, harmony, hypnotism, emotiveness, temporal dynamics, resonance, playfulness, and color (see also musical development).
Aestheticsofmusic (/ɛsˈθɛtɪks, iːs-, æs-/) is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of art, beauty and taste in music, and with the creation...
Aesthetics (also spelled esthetics) is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature of beauty and the nature of taste; and functions as the philosophy...
overview of and topical guide to aesthetics: Aesthetics – branch of philosophy and axiology concerned with the nature of beauty. Aesthetics can be described...
philosophy ofmusic is the study of fundamental questions regarding music and has connections with questions in metaphysics and aesthetics. Questions...
This is a list ofmusic genres and styles. Music can be described in terms of many genres and styles. Classifications are often arbitrary, and may be disputed...
A music genre is a conventional category (i.e, genre) that identifies some pieces ofmusic as belonging to a shared tradition or set of conventions. Genre...
pre-modern tradition, the aestheticsofmusic or musical aesthetics explored the mathematical and cosmological dimensions of rhythmic and harmonic organization...
Michal Smoira Cohn (2010). The Mission and Message ofMusic: Building Blocks to the AestheticsofMusic in our Time. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. pp. 93–94...
An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track or cassette)...
Classical music generally refers to the art musicof the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions....
art music and traditional or "folk" music.[dubious – discuss] Art music was historically disseminated through the performances of written music, although...
Romantic music is a stylistic movement in Western Classical music associated with the period of the 19th century commonly referred to as the Romantic era...
Institute for MusicAesthetics, founded in 1967 as the "Institute for Valuation Research", is an institution of the University ofMusic and Performing...
Renaissance music is traditionally understood to cover European musicof the 15th and 16th centuries, later than the Renaissance era as it is understood...
specifically for music, or for which music is specifically created, are called lyrics. If a pre-existing poem is set to composed music in classical music, it is...
Baroque music (UK: /bəˈrɒk/ or US: /bəˈroʊk/) refers to the period or dominant style of Western classical music composed from about 1600 to 1750. The...
had much in common with early Renaissance ideals and aesthetics. Much of the surviving musicof the time is secular, and tends to use the formes fixes:...
composition art and music. Aesthetics also encapsulates the look, feel, or sound of natural forms. Aesthetics also encompasses the science of how an individual...
Turntablism Turntable List of medieval musical instruments Fictional music#Fictional musical instruments List of folk music traditions List of musical instruments...
Applied aesthetics is the application of the branch of philosophy ofaesthetics to cultural constructs. In a variety of fields, artifacts (whether physical...
performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general term used to designate a person who follows music as a profession...
and bringing out the storytelling qualities ofmusic. The need to express these strong emotional aesthetics makes Thumri and Kathak a perfect match, which...
Non-religious secular music and sacred music were the two main genres of Western music during the Middle Ages and Renaissance era.[citation needed] The...
This is a history ofaesthetics. The first important contributions to aesthetic theory are usually considered to stem from philosophers in Ancient Greece...
A record producer is a music recording project's overall supervisor whose responsibilities can involve a range of creative and technical leadership roles...
also rapping, roots of hip hop music. Analogously, verse drama might normally be judged (at its best) as poetry, but not consisting of poems (see dramatic...
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