Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Remarks On The Imitative Power Of Instrumental Music.
REMARKS ON THE IMITATIVE POWER OF INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC .
BY THE LATE DR . ADAM SMITH .
THE toneand the movements of Music , tho' naturally very different from those of conversation and passion , ma }' , however , be so managed as to seem to resemble them . On account of the great disparity between the imitating and the imitated object , the mind in this , as in the other cases , can not onl y be contented , but delighted , and even charmed and transported , with such an imperfect resemblance as can be had . Such imitative Musicthereforewhen
, , sung to words which explain and determine its meaning , may frequently appear to be a very perfect imitation . It is upon this account that even the incomplete Music of a recitative seems to express sometimes all the sedateness and composure of serious but calm discourse , and sometimes all the exquisite sensibility of the most interesting passion . The more complete Music of an air is still superior , and
in the imitation of the more animated passions , has one great advantage over every sort of discourse , whether Prose or Poetry , which is not sung to Music . In a person who is either much depressed by grief or enlivened by joy , who is strongly [ affected either with love or hatred , with gratitude or resentment , admiration or contempt , there is commonly one thought or idea which dwells , upon his mind , which continually haunts him , which , when he has chacecl it away , immediately returns upon him , and
which in company makes him absent and inattentive . He can think but of one object , and he cannot repeat to them that object so frequently as it recurs upon him . He takes refuge in solitude , where he can with freedom either indulge the extasy or give way to the agony of the agreeable or disagreeable passion which agitates him ; and where he can repeat to himself , which he does sometimes mentallyand sometimes even aloudand almost always iii the same
, , words , the particular thought which either delights or distresses him . Neither Prose nor Poetry can venture to imitate those almost endless repetitions of passion . They may describe them as I do now , but they dare not imitate them ; they would become most insufferably tiresome if they did . The Music of a passionate air not , onl y may , but frequentl y does , imitate them ; and it never makes its way
so directly or so irresistibly to the heart as when it does so . It is upon this account that the words of an air , especially of a passionate one , though they are seldom very Jong , yet are scarce ever sung straight on to the end , like those of a recitative ; but are almost always broken into parts , which are transposed and repeated again and again , accordingto the fancy or judgment of the composer . It'is ' jy means of such repetitions only , that Music can exert those peculiar
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Remarks On The Imitative Power Of Instrumental Music.
REMARKS ON THE IMITATIVE POWER OF INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC .
BY THE LATE DR . ADAM SMITH .
THE toneand the movements of Music , tho' naturally very different from those of conversation and passion , ma }' , however , be so managed as to seem to resemble them . On account of the great disparity between the imitating and the imitated object , the mind in this , as in the other cases , can not onl y be contented , but delighted , and even charmed and transported , with such an imperfect resemblance as can be had . Such imitative Musicthereforewhen
, , sung to words which explain and determine its meaning , may frequently appear to be a very perfect imitation . It is upon this account that even the incomplete Music of a recitative seems to express sometimes all the sedateness and composure of serious but calm discourse , and sometimes all the exquisite sensibility of the most interesting passion . The more complete Music of an air is still superior , and
in the imitation of the more animated passions , has one great advantage over every sort of discourse , whether Prose or Poetry , which is not sung to Music . In a person who is either much depressed by grief or enlivened by joy , who is strongly [ affected either with love or hatred , with gratitude or resentment , admiration or contempt , there is commonly one thought or idea which dwells , upon his mind , which continually haunts him , which , when he has chacecl it away , immediately returns upon him , and
which in company makes him absent and inattentive . He can think but of one object , and he cannot repeat to them that object so frequently as it recurs upon him . He takes refuge in solitude , where he can with freedom either indulge the extasy or give way to the agony of the agreeable or disagreeable passion which agitates him ; and where he can repeat to himself , which he does sometimes mentallyand sometimes even aloudand almost always iii the same
, , words , the particular thought which either delights or distresses him . Neither Prose nor Poetry can venture to imitate those almost endless repetitions of passion . They may describe them as I do now , but they dare not imitate them ; they would become most insufferably tiresome if they did . The Music of a passionate air not , onl y may , but frequentl y does , imitate them ; and it never makes its way
so directly or so irresistibly to the heart as when it does so . It is upon this account that the words of an air , especially of a passionate one , though they are seldom very Jong , yet are scarce ever sung straight on to the end , like those of a recitative ; but are almost always broken into parts , which are transposed and repeated again and again , accordingto the fancy or judgment of the composer . It'is ' jy means of such repetitions only , that Music can exert those peculiar