The Imaginary Museum of Musical Works: An Essay in the Philosophy of Music - Hardcover

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In the practice of classical music, musicians generally distinguish their performances and interpretations of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony from the symphony itself. But what conceptual understanding underlies this distinction? Just what is a performance of a work of music, or an interpretation of a work, and what is the musical work itself? Lydia Goehr considers these questions as she explores philosophically, historically and musically what it means to speak about music in terms of "works", and, more particularly, what it means for performers and interpreters to speak about being true to the works they perform. Finding traditional Anglo-American methodology inadequate for the task, she argues for a historicist approach to understanding the ontology of the musical work. Goehr describes how the "imaginary museum of musical works" was founded as a result of changes that took place around 1800 in aesthetic theory, society and politics. She describes how the concept of a musical work emerged, took shape and subsequently defined the norms, expectations and behavioural patterns that have come to characterize classical musical practice. She sets the description in the context of a more general philosophical account of the rise and fall of concepts and ideals, and of their normative functions. Her conclusions address both current philosophical debates and debates among musicians and musicologists.