Why can’t I change Bruckner’s Eighth Symphony?

Musical works change. Bruckner revised his Eighth Symphony. Ella Fitzgerald and many other artists have made it acceptable to sing the jazz standard “All the Things You Are” without its original verse. If we accept that musical works genuinely change in these ways, a puzzle arises: why can’t I change Bruckner’s Eighth Symphony? More generally, why are some individuals in a privileged position when it comes to changing musical works and other artifacts, such as novels, films, and games? I give a view of musical works that helps to answer these questions. Musical works, on this view, are created abstract objects with no parts. The paradigmatic changes that musical works undergo are socially determined normative changes in how they should be performed. Due to contingent social practices, Bruckner, but not I, can change how his symphony should be performed. Were social practices radically different, I would be able to change his symphony. This view extends to abstract artifacts beyond music, including novels, films, words, games, and corporations

Platonism vs. Nominalism in Contemporary Musical Ontology

Ontological theories of musical works fall into two broad classes, according to whether or not they take musical works to be abstract objects of some sort. I shall use the terms \u27Platonism\u27 and \u27nominalism\u27 to refer to these two kinds of theory. In this chapter I first outline contemporary Platonism about musical works—the theory that musical works are abstract objects. I then consider reasons to be suspicious of such a view, motivating a consideration of nominalist theories of musical works. I argue for two conclusions: first, that there are no compelling reasons to be a nominalist about musical works in particular, i.e. that nominalism about musical works rests on arguments for thoroughgoing nominalism; and, second, that if Platonism fails, fictionalism about musical works is to be preferred to other nominalist ontologies of musical works. If you think in terms of realism vs. anti-realism about musical works, then one way of putting this is to say that realism about musical works stands or falls with Platonism about musical works. That\u27s because, for methodological reasons I discuss below, a theory according to which musical works are concrete objects of some sort is not a realist theory of musical works, properly understood. This chapter is thus a contribution to the debate over the fundamental ontology of works of Western classical music, broadly construed, though its conclusions could be applied to other musical (or artistic or cultural) practices that are sufficiently similar, if such there be

Analysis of musical works

Робоча програма Аналіз музичних творів для студентів галузі знань 0202 «Мистецтво», напряму підготовки 6.020204 “Музичне мистецтво”Рабочая программа Анализ музыкальных произведений для студентов области знаний 0202 "Искусство", направления подготовки 6.020204 "Музыкальное искусство"Analysis of the Work Programme for students of music industry knowledge 0202 "Art" training direction 6.020204 "Art of Music

What is Music? The Ontological Status of Musical Works

The ontological status of musical works is a controversial topic among those in the field. This paper aims to argue for a nominalist and non-reductive approach to musical works that differentiates musical works from the sound structures commonly equated with them. The difference between sound structures and musical works is heavily emphasized and I conclude that musical works have emergent attributes sound structures do not. These attributes being creatability, fine individuation, and the inclusion of performance means. After establishing this I begin to build an argument for a nonreductive approach to musical works by rejecting the extreme view held by compositional nihilists. Once I establish that musical works are entities in our ontology I argue against them being abstract. I end by defending the nominalist approach

What is Music? The Ontological Status of Musical Works

The ontological status of musical works is a controversial topic among those in the field. This paper aims to argue for a nominalist and non-reductive approach to musical works that differentiates musical works from the sound structures commonly equated with them. The difference between sound structures and musical works is heavily emphasized and I conclude that musical works have emergent attributes sound structures do not. These attributes being creatability, fine individuation, and the inclusion of performance means. After establishing this I begin to build an argument for a nonreductive approach to musical works by rejecting the extreme view held by compositional nihilists. Once I establish that musical works are entities in our ontology I argue against them being abstract. I end by defending the nominalist approach

Musical Works’ Repeatability, Audibility and Variability: A Dispositional Account

This paper is devoted to face recent views in the ontology of music that reject that musical works are repeatable in musical performances. It will be observed that musical works’ repeatability implies that they are audible and variable in their performances. To this extent, the aim here is to show that repeatability, audibility and variability are ontologically substantive features of musical works’ nature. The thesis that will be defended is that repeatability, audibility and variability are dispositional non-aesthetic properties of musical works. The plausibility of the dispositional account of musical works’ repeatability, audibility and variability will lead us to the conclusion that they are ontologically substantive features of musical works’ nature, and consequently, any suitable explanation of the ontology of musical works must not ignore them

The analysis of musical works

Робоча програма Аналіз музичних творів для студентів галузі знань 0202 «Мистецтво», підготовки 6.020204 “Музичне мистецтво”, професійне спрямування «Сольний спів».Рабочая программа Анализ музыкальных произведений для студентов отрасли знаний 0202 "Искусство", подготовки 6.020204 "Музыкальное искусство", профессиональное направление «Сольное пение».The analysis of musical works Programme for students musical works industry knowledge 0202 "Art", preparation 6.020204 "Musical art" professional focus "solo singing"

The analysis of musical works

Робоча програма Аналіз музичних творів для студентів галузі знань 0202 «Мистецтво», підготовки 6.020204 “Музичне мистецтво”, професійне спрямування «Сольний спів».Рабочая программа Анализ музыкальных произведений для студентов отрасли знаний 0202 "Искусство", подготовки 6.020204 "Музыкальное искусство", профессиональное направление «Сольное пение».The analysis of musical works Programme for students musical works industry knowledge 0202 "Art", preparation 6.020204 "Musical art" professional focus "solo singing"

Musical Works and Performance Evaluation

This paper addresses the following problem: to what extent do ontological considerations about musical works affect our evaluation of performances of those works? I argue for the claim that at least some important grounds on which performances are evaluated are specific to them, in that these grounds are either independent from, or related but not fully determined by, the properties of the works they are of. In the first part of the paper, I explore the relations between good-making features of works and of performances of them. The second and third parts develop two kinds of example in favour of the claim above. In the last part, I discuss the significance of those examples in relation to the ways in which performances are assessed, and explore some further ramifications of them

Performance interpretations of musical works

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