Platonism in Music : a Kind of Refutation

Abstract

answer to this question must centrally involve the idea of a sound structure. Yet, a variety of importantly different proposals are consistent with the Structura list paradigm. According to what is sometimes called a Platonist version of Structuralism, a musical work w is identical to a sound structure : the identifi cation of a certain structured collection of aural properties suffices for the iden tification of w. When is a sound-event e a performance p of a musical work w ? According to common wisdom, the answer to this question must appeal to parameters additional to the aural features of e-for instance, e may need to result from the actions of an intention-capable agent suitably related to the composition of w. According to some, moreover, such relation grounds at least in part our evalua tion of p: p is praiseworthy, appropriate, correct, etc., insofar as it results from the effort of a performer in the right kind of relation to w's composer. Peter Kivy has played an important role in the philosophical debates related to the foregoing questions. His most characteristic views on these topics may conveniently be found in a few essays collected at the beginning of The Fine Art of Repetition. In particular, in the third essay 'Platonism in Music : Another Kind of Defense' (Kivy 1983), Kivy argues in favour of the Platonist claim that musical works are identical to sound-structures-in fact, with sound-structures of a particularly austere make-up. In the fifth essay, 'Live Performances and Dead Composers' (Kivy 1988) Kivy defends the prima facie unrelated claim that performers stand in a relation of moral obligation towards the composers of the works they perform-that is, he defends what I shall call a moral-intentionalist account of performance. Part of this essay's aim is to argue that Kivy's views are inconsistent, and that the moral-intentionalist approach defended in 'Live Performances and Dead Composers' is incompatible with a Platonist stance on work ontology. Given the considerable influence of Kivy's views on the current debate in musical philosophy, the discovery of important tensions within his general approach is