A Work of Art Exists on Two Levels. On the one hand it embodies a deeply felt experience, a moment of rapturous awareness projected by a creative temperament. On the other, it embodies a way of shaping sensuous material — sounds, colors, blocks of marble, words — into artistic forms, according to techniques and procedures that derive from the nature of that material. In other words, a work of art possesses an expressive content and a formal content. …
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Let us rather lay ourselves open to all music, savoring the best of the old along with the new. In the process we shall vastly enrich our understanding of both.…
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A composer setting out to write a piece has a basic form in mind, much as a chef builds upon a basic recipe in creating a fine dish. Both composer and chef begin with good ingredients. They use a basic form or recipe to put their materials into good order and effective combinations. Finally, they add the personal touch that makes their creations works of art. Each of the forms to be described in this article has served as a guideline to composition and to perceptive listening. …
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Rhythm is the driving power of form, its instant-to-instant thrust; melody and texture articulate form, establishing landmarks and other topography; and harmony is the great chain, the unbroken line that goes from here to there and back again.…
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One of the greatest appeals of music is its ability to evoke moods and images. Composers in every age and of every rank — amateurs as well as the masters — have taken advantage of the evocative power of music to suggest associations with words, pictures, and gestures.…
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The full sound of a composition, as you hear it, is built from individual lines. We designate these lines as voices or parts regardless whether they are played by instruments or sung. Each voice or part is assigned its particular kind of action, as though it were one dancer or actor among an ensemble. Their composite action, the total effect of their sound and motion, constitutes musical texture. …
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