While many theories have been developed about how music effects a listener’s emotions, these theories are inconclusive and only can provide a prospective to how this emotion might be evoked in a given work. It is interesting to consider, however, that these theories are not new ideas in music. While many of them may have been developed and recorded within a more modern period, it was an idea of the enlightenment to inspire this type of thought in philosophers and composers of the time. Wouldn’t it be likely that each of these composers had their own philosophies on how emotion in the listener is evoked? I think the answer to this is, likely. Perhaps it was one composer’s perspective that music could only transfer emotion by means of imitation. This composition would be inherently different from a composition of another composer, which embeds ideas of emotion portrayed though association (historical, social, etc…). It is also possible that some composers of this time period composed using both compositional techniques. Regardless of which compositional style was used, it is important to consider that many of the works composed in this era were written with a certain emotion, or certain emotions, in mind. As listeners, we of course are given the right to choose how we listen to a given work, but I also think it is a valid to state that listening in the 21st century is a very different endeavor than listening of the 18th century. This is primarily due to the fact that musical associations have greatly changed over the last 200+ years. For instance, a highly chromatic piece of music in the 18th century, which might have been seen as shocking in the 1700’s might seem very consonant and in turn, not provide the same effect to the listener of today. This dilemma brings up a much larger (and harder to answer) question pertaining to the emotions portrayed in music. Is it at all important to consider the original emotional intentions in a given piece of music? Because so much of musical interpretation is a subjective act, would taking these intentions into consideration be stripping music of natural ability to evoke a wide variety of emotions from listener to listener, or would this contextual intersubjectivity be a what the composer originally intended? How do you think the theorists discussed in our reading would have felt about these issues?

One argument of this article is that emotion in music is largely subjective. Do you believe this to be true? Why or why not?

In the 20th century, composers used many other means to portray emotions within music. What are some other techniques which can be used to portray emotion in music? If you don’t know any techniques used in the 20th century, invent some of your own ideas.

Most would argue that it was not a goal of music predating the enlightenment to evoke emotions in the listener though a composer’s music. Based on your own observations vs. what we have learned in this class, do you believe this to be true? Why would emotion by means of association not be a characteristic of pre-enlightened music?