The Language of Music (Clarendon Paperbacks)

About this book

First published in 1959 this original study argues that the main characteristic of music is that it expresses and evokes emotion and that all composers whose music has a tonal basis have used the same or closely similar melodic phrases harmonies and rhythms to affect the listener in the same ways. He supports this view with hundreds of musical examples ranging from plainsong to Stravinsky and contends that music is a language in the specific sense that we can identify idioms and draw up a list of meanings. The books final section analyzes two symphonies Mozarts Fortieth and Vaughan Williamss Sixth to explore the nature of musical inspiration and the process whereby the notes actually convey emotion from composer to listener.