The Content of Music

The content of a musical composition is what is contained in it; the ideas and feelings which find expression through it, and the ideals which are embodied in it.

1. What ideas, then, may be expressed in the forms of music?
2. What feelings, if any?
3. What ideals may be embodied in it?

1. No images can be expressed or conveyed by combinations or successions of tones. No events can be described in this way, no situations indicated, except indirectly and with difficulty. Nor can any abstract ideas be expressed. Certain sounds do indeed suggest certain ideas and images, and may be employed in music for this purpose. Thus the barking of a dog raises the idea of the animal, because we have always associated the sound with dogs, but the idea of a dog given by this sound alone is extremely incomplete, so that any one confined to a mere imitation of barking in an attempt to express and convey his idea of any particular dog, would be very unsuccessful. Given other particulars, and the mere suggestion by this sound would be sufficient to raise the complete idea.

There are instances of this kind in music. Thus, Mendelssohn in his music to Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream, introduces in the midst of music appropriate to a love scene, an imitation of the braying of a donkey, and this irresistibly suggests at once the scene with Bottom and Titania, which Mendelssohn had in mind. But if we did not know beforehand that the composer's music referred to this particular play, the mere introduction of a bray would convey no such idea.

We must discard then, at the outset, any notion that music can be used as words are, or as the pictorial arts are, for the expression and conveyance of the images impressed on our minds by outward objects. Any use of music for such a purpose must be incidental and secondary to its main object. There has been a great deal of nonsense written about "the meaning of music," by writers who wished to connect some definite scene or event with particular pieces, importing into them a significance wholly foreign to the composer's intention.

All talk about 11 describing " this or that event or situation in tones indicates confusion of thought. Properly speaking, no music ever "described" or 11 depicted " anything. The expressions used, however, are attempts to convey a real truth, the relations of which are apparently not clear in the minds of the writers who use them. More of this hereafter.

But are there, then, no ideas in music ? Certainly there are;' but only musical ideas, except, as in the above illustrations, when other ideas are indirectly suggested.

What, then, is a musical idea? A musical idea is any succession or combination of musical sounds, the separate components of which have a definite, intelligible relation to one another. " Motives," as defined in Chapter III, are musical ideas. The development, arrangement and combination of these motives, so as to evolve from them complex wholes, satisfactory to the intellect, constitutes musical thought.

The proper apprehension of the completed product of the composer's thought, as coherent, logical musical discourse, is also to be called musical thinking. A fugue, sonata or symphony, studied scientifically, in all the relations of the separate parts to one another and to the whole, demands for its proper comprehension intellectual powers and training. Considered from the side of construction, of technical knowledge and technical treatment of sounds, music is purely a product of intellect and the composition of it is a purely intellectual process.

But no composer of genius impresses himself on the world merely or mainly as an intellectual athlete, or as a skillful composer. His skill is subordinate, -is only a means to an end. That end is the embodiment of some ideal. Mere technical skill, dexterity in the combination and arrangement of sounds may be acquired by diligent study. It may be possessed as an attainment by scholars and pedants without a spark of creative power. But the real creative artist uses the materials accumulated by study, and the facility acquired by practice, as so much food for his imagination; as means for the embodiment of ideal conceptions. First and foremost, that which occupies the attention of the artist is the embodiment of ideals of Beauty. It is not enough that his production be skillfully constructed; it must be beautiful in order to satisfy his artistic sense and make for itself a permanent place in the world's estimation.

Beauty in music is of three kinds: Sensuous Beauty of Tone, Symmetrical Beauty of Form, and the Beauty which comes of the adequate expression of a worthy emotional content. Of these three kinds of Beauty, any one may predominate, almost to the exclusion of the other two; or two of them may be prominently present, the other being neglected; or all three may unite to form a wellrounded and satisfactory whole.

Of these three kinds, compositions which embody simply an ideal of the Phasing in Sensation, are lowest in the scale, because the production of them involves the minimum of intellectual effort and of technical attainment, and also because the emotional content is inferior. Compositions which combine with this the embodiment of an ideal of Formal Beauty stand higher, because Form is the result of high intellectual processes.

Before passing to the consideration of music as the expression of ideal emotional experiences, it is extremely important to make sure that there is no confusion in the minds of even young readers, unacquainted with psychology, as to the relation of feeling to the other mental operations ; and also that the distinctions between the different kinds of feelings are clearly understood. The discussion of this subject, even in the briefest possible way, involves a long digression, for which, it is hoped, ample excuse will be found in the importance of the the subject, the widespread ignorance of it, and the difficulty of referring students to any treatise on it which shall be at once brief, clear and pointed. No one can really understand music, who can not discriminate between its emotional content and the other elements which enter into it. It is hoped, therefore, that sufficient apology has already been offered for the interpolation of a short essay on the emotions here.

There are three, and only three kinds of activity possible to the human mind. We know, we feel, we choose. There are three general faculties corresponding to these mental activities, viz., the Intellect, the Sensibility and the Will.

Under the intellect are included all perceptions, Memory, Imagination, logical Thinking, Intuition, in short all cognition or knowing. The will is the power of choosing. Under the sensibility are included all those phenomena of mind which we commonly speak of as Feeling or Emotion, these terms being here used as synonymous, from the simplest experiences of pleasure and pain to the warmest affections, the strongest desires and the most violent passions.

Feelings are either (1) simple, or (2) complex.

1. The simple emotions are pure feelings of pleasure or pain. They are in all cases effects, produced upon the mind by a great variety of causes. The attempt to classify and enumerate these causes would lead us too far. It is sufficient to note that the mind is always affected by some cause or other which produces either pleasure or pain, although our emotions are sometimes so lacking in intensity that the sensibility seems to be almost neutral ; the line of transition from one state to the other is nearly reached, and feeling is reduced to a minimum for the time being. This is especially true when there is no cause at work which powerfully affects the feelings, and when the mind is taken up with intellectual operations. A man absorbed in solving a mathematical problem, or in composing a fugue or sonata, for example, may be so occupied with his purely intellectual activity that he is almost or quite unconscious of feeling at all. Nevertheless, there is feeling present. For if his intellectual energy is put forth without impediment, the exercise of his intellectual powers is pleasurable; if he meets with unexpected obstacles or interruptions, a painful effect is produced. The pain in the one case or the pleasure in the other may be of considerable intensity, or it may be so slight as not to obtrude itself on the attention, and the state of feeling, or mood, besides being simple, may be said to be indefinite or vague.

The simple emotions of pleasure and pain often depend on bodily conditions as causes, without our being conscious of what these causes are. Most people are subject to elations and depressions of mood, dependent on the condition of the nervous system. The nerves may be affected by the weather, by the condition of the digestive apparatus, or by other bodily causes. Besides this we receive pleasure and pain from our social relations, from success or failure in our business, from the gratifications or thwarting of desire, etc., etc.

2. Complex feelings are either (1) Desires or (2) Affections. (Passions are simply desires in their extreme form.)

1. When we experience pleasure in view of some object as an exciting cause, we commonly desire that object in its absence ; or if any object gives us pain, we desire its absence. In both cases there is something more than a simple emotion. There is superadded to the pure pleasure or pain an outgoing of the mind toward the cause of the feeling to possess it, or to be rid of it. The mind is no longer simply passive, quiescent; it reaches out actively toward its object. Desire tends to action. Thus we enjoy a beautiful object, or the society of a friend. The withdrawal of these causes a painful sense of lack and deprivation; we desire a renewal of the pleasure before experienced, and long for the presence of the friend or the beautiful object as a condition of the wished-for gratification. In the case of a friend, we desire not only his presence but his society, interchange of thought and feeling ; we desire also that our thoughts, feelings and actions may meet the approval of those we esteem. In the case of a beautiful object, or any object which gives us pleasure, we desire to possess it, to have it within our control; or if that be impossible, as in the case of a landscape, for instance, we desire to appropriate it, to make it our own so fat as the nature of the case admits. Or, we are repelled by something ugly or horrible, or displeased by behavior which we disapprove ; we desire to separate ourselves from the disagreeable person or object, and this feeling tends to active effort on our part to bring about this separation.

2. Affections involve still another mode of feeling. We experience pleasure or pain; we recognize some person or sentient being as the cause of this simple emotion ; there is a movement of feeling to confer good or ill upon the cause. With this is also commonly associated the desire of possession. The society of a friend delights us. We not only desire the presence, society and approbation of our friend, but we desire also that he should experience pleasure. This awakens in us the impulse to please him, to act for his good. Or we are displeased by the behavior of an evil-disposed person. We not only desire the absence of so obnoxious a cause of painful emotion, but we are naturally impelled to inflict pain on the offender.

The important consideration for us in this discussion, as regards the content of music, is, that in the simple emotions the mind is passive and quiescent; in the complex experiences of the desires and affections there is a strong tendency to action. These are the impulses which furnish motive power to the will, and are the springs of conduct and of character.

The significance of these distinctions will appear more and more clearly as we attempt to study the works of various composers, and to interpret their mental states from their productions. We shall find that some of these compositions give evidences that their authors were occupied primarily with the intellectual side of their work,-with plans of construction. In these cases emotional experience was reduced to a simple mood, so vague that close scrutiny would be required to decide whether it was pleasurable or painful. We shall find other cases in which the completed products show that the composer had thoroughly mastered his material, constructed his forms with unimpeded freedom of energy and experienced keen pleasure in the spontaneous activity of production. This pleasure became the emotional content of the music without the deliberate intention and perhaps without the consciousness of the composer. In other cases, there was added to this a higher faculty in the composer whereby he conceived an Ideal of Beauty, which he sought to embody in his composition. In these cases there was infused into the work the added delight arising from the contemplation of the beautiful conception, and from the consciousness of success in the attempt to embody it.

In all these cases the emotions experienced by the composer were simple, except in so far as the element of desire to accomplish a certain result complicated his emotional state. When this desire was constantly in process of fulfillment this element was reduced to the smallest possible quantity, and the feeling became as nearly simple as possible.

But we shall find composers in whose mental states the complex feelings predominated; whose minds are no longer occupied mainly with intellectual processes, but in whom urgent desires, longings and yearnings, or fierce passions constantly force themselves upon consciousness, make their impulses felt in the whole mental activity, and leave unmistakable traces on the completed product. We shall find others who consciously sought to express in tones real or imagined emotional experiences; who deliberately set themselves the task of finding successions and combinations of tones which should embody clearly conceived emotional states, sought to reproduce in tones the most subtle as well as the most powerful impressions made upon their own sensibility, and to convey these impressions to others. Finally, we shall find composers who sought to reproduce the emotional impressions made by a series of events, with such vividness, that a single clue should suffice to suggest the whole story to those already acquainted with it.

Resuming now our discussion of the content of music, let us inquire: How are these feelings revealed through musical composition ? What is the relation of music to emotion ? This is now for us the inquiry of most immediate importance.

Every one who will give the matter a little attention will discover that sounds, articulate and inarticulate, are among the most efficient means of expressing and conveying feelings. Animals express pleasure and pain by means of inarticulate sounds; so do infants. Adults do the same, and modify their expressions of ideas in language by the tones in which their words are uttered. These tones express and convey the emotional state of the speakers. We all learn in early childhood to associate certain modulations of the voices of those around us with certain feelings in their minds, so that we could not possibly be convinced that we do not interpret these sounds correctly. So certain are we of our understanding of them, that no positiveness of assertion by anyone as to the state of his feelings could convince us that he spoke truly, if his tone of voice belied his assertion. Thus anger, hatred, joy, love, jealousy, eager expectation, desire, passionate remorse, gentle regret, sadness or melancholy are conveyed unmistakably by sounds, whether connected with words or not. Let it be noticed that words, the signs of ideas, only excite feelings indirectly, by conveying ideas, which raise the feelings; while sounds convey these feelings directly and immediately. It is by the natural extension and carrying out of this process, that the sounds produced by instruments have come to be associated with the same feelings which the voice expresses by tones in speech and in song, so that music has come to be a highly complex and elaborate language of emotion - a perfect medium for the expression of feeling.

This is the prime characteristic of music. All the fine arts aim to express and excite feeling. The painter deals in pictures of stirring or tender or tragic scenes; the poet and the novelist describe and narrate situations and events which excite the strongest and deepest feelings. But, as already pointed out, the office of words is to express directly, ideas; the painter gives us still more clearly ideas and images. Feelings are indeed excited by the ideas, but the process by which the artist reaches other minds is a duplex one. The musician reaches the sensibility of his hearers at once, and directly, without the intervention of images. This is the peculiarity of music among the fine arts, that it expresses the life of emotion most directly, and most subtly and powerfully. That music is greatest and noblest which most perfectly answers this, its peculiar end and aim; in which its peculiar capacity is most fully recognized and developed.

That composer is greatest who most clearly discerns the true ends and capabilities of his art; who aims to give worthy expression to the noblest emotional experience. He is the best connoisseur who best appreciates the capabilities of music as a language of emotion, and is best able to interpret the emotional state of the composer by hearing his productions.

It is, therefore, not only possible to embody in music ideals of emotional experience, but the embodiment of such ideals constitutes its peculiar and appropriate function, and all worthy embodiment of noble emotions involves Beauty, as well as do products which attain or approximate ideal perfection of form.

Those compositions then, are greatest and noblest which, using as materials tones pleasing by their sensuous beauty, combine them into symmetrical wholes, satisfactory to the intellect, and express through these combinations emotional experiences ideally noble and exalted.

To sum up this discussion: In a broad sense, the ideals of the Pleasing in Sensation and of Beauty of Form which are embodied in music may be said to be a part of its content, but that which is most appropriately said to be " contained " in music, is the emotional experience which finds expression through the form; this it is which is innermost, and so with peculiar propriety is said to be " The Content of Music." In this sense the term " content " will always be used in this book. Wherever it appears, emotional content is meant.