Musical Offerings, Spring 2018

Musical Offerings ⦁ 2018 ⦁ Volume 9 ⦁ Number 1 31 Musical Offerings 9, no. 1 (2018): 31–41 ISSN 2330-8206 (print); ISSN 2167-3799 (online) © 2018, Amanda Staufer, licensed under CC BY-NC-ND ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ ) The Unifying Strands: Formalism and Gestalt Theory Span Centuries of Music Philosophy Amanda Staufer Cedarville University hy do we call Beethoven’s Ninth a “symphony” but the creak of a chair “noise?” How do we know that certain perceived sounds are musical, while others are merely commonplace or accidental? What causes the ear to perceive, the brain to comprehend, and the senses to experience music? Specifically, what distinguishes music from noise? The branch of philosophy called musical aesthetics addresses these questions and more. Musical formalism and Gestalt theory—two theories of musical aesthetics—demonstrate that some aspects of musical perception and experience can be universal and timeless. Strands of formalism or Gestalt surface in the theories of musical aesthetics by Aristoxenus, Descartes, and Meyer, philosophers from the ancient, Enlightenment, and modern eras, respectively. An ancient musician and philosopher, Aristoxenus of Tarentum presented his theory of music in Harmonics (Elementa harmonica) during the fourth century BC. During the Enlightenment, René Descartes meaningfully impacted history through his contributions to philosophy and mathematics. Descartes’s theories significantly altered the course of modern philosophy. His musical treatise, Compendium musicae (1618), presents important contributions to music philosophy. Leonard Meyer, a twentieth-century musicologist, distinguished himself as one of the most influential musical theorists of the modern era. Meyer published his musical philosophies in several written works, the most significant being Emotion and Meaning in Music (1956). Aristoxenus, Descartes, and Meyer are important because they were key philosophers in their respective centuries who distinguished themselves through their noteworthy ideas. Most importantly, their theories W