Comparing The Cult Of Natural And A Side Trip To Aesthetics

- How are the statements in the latter two articles (the Cult of Natural and A Side trip to aesthetics) applicable to the classical style that emerged in late 18th century? The emphasis of natural characteristics in music to focus on the evoked emotions and reactions of the listener was the technique used during the late 18th century composers. With a good mixture of experience, talent and knowledge, music can be created in ways that refreshes the listener and engages them through a series of paths led by the music. By the changing harmonies and accompaniments, “emotions are unlocked and the sense won over” (Scheibe, 256). Before the emerging classical style in the late 18th century, music consisted of melodies that were restricted and unnatural,

Do you think the meaning of these two concepts change in the three (3) articles involved in this assignment? Or do they stand for the same thing? If so, how? If not, what do they stand

Scheibe uses a proposition between the need of experience in any art or science, and music to use the idea of art to describe how music needs to follow the same characteristics. “True art always seeks that which is natural” (Scheibe, 256), which also applies to music in order to evoke the same sense of beauty. Excessive art is deemed to be unnatural and disordered, which creates a sense of confusion and unpleasant. The further art and music move away from nature, the more complex they become, which is no longer pleasant due to the merit nature already possesses that sets the standard. Art and music should not mimic the literal sense of nature, but evoke the same emotions and sets a certain mentality in the listener’s mind. The musical thought in later 18th century focuses in the musical expression that emerges from art and harmony and the importance of not using several musical techniques that would diminish expression like imitation. Avison describes how imitation belongs in the same section as dissonance and shocking sounds, which “cannot be called Musical Expression” (Avions, 289). Imitation doesn’t excite the soul nor does it affect the emotions of the listener due to how imitation “fix the hearer’s attention on the similitude between the sounds and the thing which they describe”(Avions, 289), which just gives