Introduction:

CRC Press eBooks, pp. 1–11

Abstract

Musical works are virtual entities. They are made of material and immaterial constitutive parts. On the one hand, they are conglomerates of highly distributed material objects such as scores, manuscripts, sketches, annotated copies, different versions, transcriptions, performances, and recordings. On the other, they are sustained by immaterial qualities such as musical and economic value, aesthetic judgment, performative and musicological interpretations, sociopolitical and historical context, personal meaning, symbolic aura. All these component parts are real. They all have a concrete function in the cognitive and sensual perception of any given musical work. As the basic constitutive parts of a dynamic entity, these particles are constantly negotiated and recombined in ever-new arrangements. Every single particle can be located, identified, and coded; yet it is only through a network of connections between different particles and actants that musical works can be meaningfully expressed and communicated.

Authors 2

1. Paulo de Assis
2. Adam Łukawski Aachen

   Leiden University · Orpheus Institute

   Affiliation as printed

   Leiden University/Orpheus Institute