9/15 Assignment

Although not a language in the literal sense as we discussed, music is definitely a vessel by which to transmit thoughts and emotions. It’s puzzled composers as to why compositions in major keys sound ‘bright’ and those in minor keys have a sadder, elegaic quality to them. I’m sure all of us have heard a song that sent a shiver down our spine and gave us goosebumps, and in the nineteenth century, performances by Franz Liszt sent his audience members into a hysteria, a phenomenon dubbed ‘Lisztomania’. I don’t know if that was the true intent of Liszt, but the audience responded to his music with intense enthusiasm, and I feel that the effect that music has is ultimately left to the individual listener. I don’t feel that there is a definite formula that can be applied to that can make someone feel anxious, happy, or mournful, all the emotions that are experienced are shaped by the perception of the listener. I also feel that the creator of a piece and the one that performs it are artists in their own right, and people still perform pieces that were composed centuries ago, although they may sound differently than when they were originally performed. I’d like to hark back to my first post for a moment to bring up Marcel Duchamp’s ‘Fountain’. Is the creator of the urinal the artist? or is Duchamp, for writing on it and taking a picture?