\n<\/p>\n
Mar 29, 2023<\/p>\n
It’s universally acknowledged that music effects our emotions.
\nBut does it actually make sense to talk about music “expressing”,
\nemotions in any intrinsic sense (that is, can music itself be happy
\nor sad)? And even if it does, should we treat emotional expression
\nas the essential purpose of music, or the criterion by which we
\njudge musical beauty? If music doesn’t literally contain emotions,
\nhow does it still manage to affect our feelings so powerfully? And
\nwhat is music expressing, imitating or reflecting, if not
\nemotions?<\/p>\n
If we want to understand the nature and purpose of music, much
\nless its relation to our moral and spiritual lives, we have to give
\nsome answer to these questions. Thomas Mirus, drawing on the
\nthought of the 19th-century music critic Eduard Hanslick and
\npsychologist Edmund Gurney, argues against the conventional view
\nthat music is essentially a vehicle for emotion.<\/p>\n
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