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The concept of ‘form’: in the disciplines of musical aesthetics and music-theories

Mikyung Lee 1

1국예술영재교육연구원

Candidate

ABSTRACT

This article is an overview of the concept of ‘form’. In many musicological treatises, the concept ‘form’ has revealed with different meanings in different stages and fields. As a philosophical-aesthetic term, ‘form’, above all, indicates perceptible configurations of art work, while it is considered as the constructive or organizing element (NEW, 2001) in the texts on music-theories. The points of the discussions about the concept ‘form’ in both researching areas are slightly different. In music aesthetics, form is a configuration or shape which is always perceptible. In this meaning, form is an important subject in musical aesthetic as a opposite concept of musical ‘content’. What is musical configuration or shape? Music has no shape in fact. It flows just in time. So form of music doesn’t exist in real. We should imagine the form while listening music. The forms of music are made from our imaginations. Then, how can we discuss about the objective ‘form’ of musical work? Is it in your mind, or in composers’ mind, players’ or listeners’? They all have different images of a musical work because of diversity of their own experiences and backgrounds. Form exist no means as objective and decidable in musical aesthetics of 20th century. Form in the field of music theory is defined as the organization of musical elements and their relationship. This definition is related with the conception that a musical work is a self-sufficient whole which has a character of organic unity. It reflects the organicism which is formulated in 18th century. But a composition is not merely a whole composed of structures. Rather, the work is also constituted by the procedures of composition, interpretation and perception. New musicological strategies in 20th-century is to challenge the stability and singularity of formal categorization as a means of defining and determining the essence of the musical work.

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