Composers and Performers

We take performers of classical music as producers of creative performances. We sometimes criticize a performer’s performance by saying ‘That is not what the composer wants’. The literature takes this kind of criticism, which I call ‘intentionalist criticism’, to be in tension with performers’ creat...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inPhilosophia (Ramat Gan) Vol. 48; no. 4; pp. 1469 - 1481
Main Author Kim, Junyeol
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.09.2020
Subjects
Education
Epistemology
Ethics
Philosophy
Philosophy of Language
Philosophy of Mind
Philosophy of Science
Authenticity
Composer
Performer
Creativity
Classical Music
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:We take performers of classical music as producers of creative performances. We sometimes criticize a performer’s performance by saying ‘That is not what the composer wants’. The literature takes this kind of criticism, which I call ‘intentionalist criticism’, to be in tension with performers’ creativity—taking the criticism to be an attempt to restrict performers’ creativity by historical authenticity. This paper aims to construct a possible understanding of intentionalist criticisms according to which those criticisms are grounded in our respect of performers as artists. Under this understanding, the point of intentionalist criticisms is that performers, who are pursuing the aesthetic beauty of a work, can produce an aesthetically better result by being open-minded to the perspectives of the composer who is also a serious pursuer of the work’s beauty.
ISSN:0048-3893
1574-9274
DOI:10.1007/s11406-020-00176-8