Original scientific paper

The Elements of Expression in Music. A Psychological View

Robert Tallant Laudon ; University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.A.

Abstract

Hanslick recognized the importance of the new auditory sciences of physiology and psychology for the study of feelings in music; but, in the auditory science of his day, he found no explanation of emotions within the complex art of music. A concept of the emotions given by William James in 1890 opened new possibilities. The so-called James-Lange theory proposed that emotions started in the motions and tensions of the body and were only later felt by the brain. Donald N. Ferguson in 1922 recognized the similarity of music's elements of motion and tension to the bodily ones. He put forth a theory that music of great composers could represent, by its elements, an emotion or complex of emotions that humans feel. Two examples of Bach fugue subjects show his method. Reference is made to recent psychological studies.

Keywords

Emotion; Feeling in Music; Auditory Science; James-Lange Theory; Ferguson, Donald; Hanslick, Eduard; James, William

Hrčak ID:

32058

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/32058

Publication date:

15.12.2006.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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