Is music expression?

The perception of the link between music and emotions is an age-old topos present in nearly all known cultures. It is also found in works of most philosophers tackling music, starting with Plato and Aristotle. Yet presenting this relationship in terms of the expression of the artist’s feelings is a relatively recent idea that only became widespread during the Romantic era, and received its theoretical formulations at the turn of the twentieth century in the so-called classical theory of expression. However, the theory came under increasing criticism from the 1930s onwards and by the 1980s there emerged a broad consensus that it was misconceived. The widely accepted position is that aesthetically it is only important for music to possess certain emotional qualities which do not have to be related to the real psychological states of the author — thus not making music an expression in the original sense.

Nevertheless, attempts continue to be made to reinstate the classical theory of expression. This is because its rejection can leave us unsatisfied, as the intuition of an intimate connection between the artist’s personality and the work seems to be widespread and has some credence. Therefore, before we classify this intuition as merely a manifestation of post-Romantic longings or illusions, it is worth considering whether it could be explicated in a way that would not be subject to the standard and justifiable accusations levelled against the classical theory of expression. The present article is an attempt at such explication.