The subjectof the present study,though perhapsof more than passing interestfrom the general viewpointsdiscussed above, is of vital and paramountimportance inthe field of musicitself. On the other hand, one can hardlyįail to become awareof the striking similarityof someaspects of musical experience to other types ofaesthetic experience, particularly thoseevoked byliterature. Reference has been madeto othermodes ofaesthetic experience, it has beendone in order to clarify or bring into sharper reliefsome point in connection withmusical processes rather thanto establish a general aesthetic system. The relationshipbetween musicand other realms of aesthetic experience is likewise left for the reader to determine. No attempt, forexample, ismade todeal with the general logicalphilosophical status of music-to decide whether musicis a language orwhether musicalstimuli aresigns or symbols. However, beforethe relationshipof music to other kinds of meaning andother modesof communicationcan be considered, a detailedexamination ofthe meanings of musicand theprocesses by which they are communicated must be made.Thus although it is hoped thatthe relevanceof this study to the largerproblems of meaningand communication will be apparent, these matters are not explicitlyconsidered. Lems of meaning andcommunication, especially those involving aesthetic experience. Unlike a closed, non-referential mathematical system, music issaid to communicate emotional and aestheticmeanings aswell as purely intellectual ones.This puzzling combination ofabstractness with concrete emotional and aesthetic experience can, if understoodĬorrectly, perhapsyield useful insights into more generalprobvii The meaningswhich it imparts differ in important ways from those conveyedby literature, painting, biology,or physics. Not only doesmusic useno linguistic signsbut, on one levelat least,it operatesas a closed system, thatis, it employs nosigns or symbols referringto the non-musical world of objects, concepts, and human desires. The problemof musical meaning andits communicationis of particular interestfor severalreasons. Other fields,such aseconomics, political science, various branches of theĭirected attention to theseproblems. Philosophy,psychology, sociology, andanthropology, toname some of thosemost directlyinvolved, haveall becomeconcerned withthe problemof meaning: the variety of meanings, their significanceand epistemological status, their interrelationships, and manner of
The diversity and complexity of twentieth-centurymodes of thought, togetherwith the clear and pressing needfor a more sensitive andcomprehensive understanding of how the exchange of attitudes, information, and ideas takesplace, has made the analvsis ofmeanings and an examination of the processes by which they are communicated animportant focusof interest for many nominally disparatefields of inquiry. His life was gentle,and and theelements theelements So mixedin him that Naturemight Naturemight standup standup And say to all the world, 'I`his was a man. ISBN: 9-7 paperbound! Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 56-9130 Printed in the United States of America 00 99 98 97 96 95 94 93 92 91 CHICAGO 60637 The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London © 1956 by The University of Chicago. Library of Congress Catalog CatalogCard Number:56-9130 Number:56-9130 THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS.
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