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While the topic of aesthetic value is an accepted part of most courses on aesthetics, the systematic application of criteria for aesthetic value to art works in general and musical works in particular is scarce in the literature. For example, George Dickie concentrates on the nature of concepts such as aesthetic experience and aesthetic value almost to the exclusion of what constitutes a reasonable set of criteria fox recognizing a good work of art.1 In discussions of value-adding characteristics in musical works one finds words like elegance, conciseness, economy of means, consistency of style, informational content, clarity of intent, and unity in variety, with little attention to what combination of criteria might constitute a complete set for evaluation.
Not all philosophers of music favor a concept of musical value limited to aesthetic meaning. Recently Philip Alperson has advocated an "aesthetic pluralism, such as found in Francis Sparshott's theory of the arts, in which works of art need not be primarily perceptual objects.2 Monroe Beardsley, by contrast, firmly believed in a form of "aesthetic monism" emphasizing the artworks' perceptual properties that enhance aesthetic experience. Without taking a position on aesthetic pluralism versus monism, this article explores the application of aesthetic value to musical works from the perspective of Beardsley's aesthetic monism.
In his comprehensive treatment of aesthetics, Beardsley proposed three criteria-unity, complexity, and intensity of human regional qualities-that he believed were applicable to all the arts.3 Employing the language of music and specific examples to illustrate how each criterion can be applied to music, Beardsley attempted no overall evaluation of a musical work by means of the three criteria. Yet, if his system is to be at all useful, this final step ought to be explored. The degree to which the system is useable by an experienced listener to Western art music remains to be elucidated.
Some writers have argued that there is little point to undertaking such an exercise with respect to works of the great composers of the past. Leonard Meyer, for one, has reservations about the validity of beginning with aesthetic principles and arriving at critical judgments of the works of masters like Bach, Haydn, and Beethoven, the qualities of whose music may have influenced the formulation of the aesthetic principles.4 Even so,...