Abstract

Between Hanslick's negative thesis (music cannot portray specific feelings) and his positive thesis (the beauty of music is just the beauty of its tonal forms) lies what I call his disconnection thesis: ‘Even if it were possible for feelings to be represented by music, the degree of beauty in the music would not correspond to the degree of exactitude with which the music represented them’. In short, the beauty of a piece of music and its expressive properties are disconnected. Hanslick supports this thesis with four arguments. Unfortunately for Hanslick none of these works.