Re: [F_minor] intentionalist fallacy yadda yadda

[Brad Lehman <bpl@umich.edu>]

> How about the intentionalist fallacy. The intention of the artist is not the only valid reading.
>   

The "intentional fallacy" in music criticism (and performance practice 
discussions) usually comes down to several points: (1) that the original 
artist's "intention" about his/her piece is somehow discernible, and (2) 
that that approach to the material somehow wins, or at least carries 
greater weight, for other people deciding how they ought to approach it 
themselves.

Reference: Peter Kivy, _Authenticities: Philosophical reflections on 
musical performance_, chapter 2: "Authenticity as intention".

Peter Schickele put it nicely in introducing a composition by the 
fictitious PDQ Bach: "The composer's intentions, if indeed he had any......"

"Intentions" become a stumbling block whenever Glenn Gould figures into 
the picture, since his interpretations of anybody else's music were so 
_sui generis_ that they took on their own unique authenticity.  
Authentic Gould....not necessarily authentic Beethoven, Bach, 
Schoenberg, Sibelius et al as played by Gould; but rather Gould's ideas 
about how Beethoven, Bach, Schoenberg, Sibelius, et al ought to have 
done it, given his (Gould's) circumstances.


Brad Lehman
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