What is a Musical Composition

Stockhausen would say:

"a musical composition is nothing more than a temporal organization of sound events, just as every sound event in this composition is a temporal organization of impulses"

I agree, Edgard Varèse was already talking about «organized sound».

You caught 2 composers that I don't know... is it serious?

Anyway thanks for the punctual responses... maybe a bit generic...

"Organized Sound" by Edgard Varèse.... I recommend it to you, it is a really beautiful text, one of those that opens the mind

Ok for Varese and the most recent of the 2 by Stockhausen...

In your opinion, is this last one still current and exhaustive or is something missing?

Furthermore, how do you fit 4' 33'' of Cage into the "organized" discourse?

Yes, but the question is addressed to you (us, but for example as far as I am concerned, not at the moment, but I feel like expressing my own vision of the composition) not to Varese or to Stockhausen.

I find that we are the fruit of our studies, so what harm is there in revealing the sources?

I didn't write that something is wrong, but if a person asks for personal opinions—and they should be personal—I understood that these are just quotes and advice (in fact, I have nothing to say, there would be no reason to), but it is like when a person borrows an aphorism or a quote; I would like to hear certain phrases or definitions come out of their own mouth. If you tell me "Rachmaninoff thought this," it might be interesting, pleasing, or make me feel in agreement with his thought, but it isn't your own idea, as the saying goes; otherwise, it would be "sufficient" to go and read every composer's correspondence and disregard what we think.

If I ask you personally or others for an opinion on something I have written, I certainly don't expect you to resuscitate Beethoven to answer me; it doesn't seem like such a daring "request."

I repeat, this is not sterile criticism; whoever responded by providing quotes certainly did so naturally, but in part it is visible that, from reading so many aphorisms (necessarily so, not because I go looking for them) taken from everywhere and not reading things that come from the head of a present person—who could very well express their vision according to the experience they have or do not have, their studies, their influences, but what he or she actually thinks—that is the effect it has on me.

Ok... what is your idea?

I respond in the best way I know: a musical composition is what the culture of the time, or a sufficiently large number of informed people, defines as "musical composition"

Beautiful Thallo, I'll try too: "a musical composition is a means of expression"

I wrote above that I don't feel up to it right now, which doesn't mean I don't want to challenge myself, but I'm just not feeling it right now; anyway, let's try

quickly, for me, based on my experience (very limited), a musical composition is a fusion between foreign elements and elements inherent to the composer,

the foreign ones are the acquisition and the most logical possible ordering of learned and assimilated material; the inherent elements are one's own ability to

express one's instincts, experiences, and influences in the most faithful way, into a concept that is possibly understandable, pleasant, perhaps beautiful,

but above all contemplative on a formal and emotional level.

"musical composition" (understood as an intellectual-craft activity): a tendency of certain individuals, who demonstrate particular sensitivity toward the sonic dimension, to express their own thoughts and, essentially, their own way of being, through the 'meditated' combination of sonic events (natural sounds, analog sounds, digital sounds, noises).

Marta23 wrote:

You caught 2 composers that I don't know... is it serious?

It depends on what you do...

Marta23 wrote:

Anyway, thanks for the punctual responses... perhaps a bit generic ...

Necessarily: "musical composition" embraces music ranging from "organum" to noise, passing through centuries and centuries of music and, above all, different ways of writing/listening. The only way to define composition is to remain generic and moderately aseptic.

I also give my opinion closing my eyes, in a "poetic" way...

It is the writing of a musical text that uses the vocabulary of the dictionary of the heart.

Ok you are right, I found the answers very interesting anyway.

I would like to raise the bar in difficulty, if you had to explain it to a class of children under 10, how would you behave?

Carlos wrote:

By necessity: "musical composition" encompasses music ranging from "organum" to noise, spanning centuries and centuries of music and, above all, different ways of writing/listening.
The only way to define composition is to remain generic and moderately aseptic.

I was re-reading the various interventions; it seems to me that Thallo's succeeds in understanding everything

TheSimon wrote:

I'll also give my two cents by closing my eyes, in a "poetic" way...

It is the writing of a musical text that uses the vocabulary of the dictionary of the heart.

So you want to be romantic, eh