Musical Works in the Worlds of Performers and Listeners
Robert L. Martin · 1993
Abstract Familiar problems arise when we ask what sort of an object a musical work is (for example, Beethoven’s String Quartet in C, Op. 59 No. 3).1 The work itself is not any particular score of it (the autograph score, or the plates of the first edition, or any other score or set of parts), or the type of which any actual scores are tokens; this is clear because a person can be familiar with the work without being familiar with the score. The work itself is not any performance or set of performances; this is clear because there can be works that are never performed; it is possible for a person to admire the work without admiring any particular performance or set of performances of it. A musical work is none of the relevant physical objects or acoustical events.