Composers’ mistakes and their correction in performance

Abstract

This paper identifies a previously unrecognized, and philosophically interesting, kind of mistake that can be made by a composer in composing a work of Western classical music. Specifically, she may err by writing some scored instructions for performance that undercut the meaning of her own work. Since following those instructions would frustrate the most fundamental purpose of performing that work—namely, to evince understanding of it—the practice of work-performance sanctions performers to correct those mistakes in performance by departing from the score where necessary. The possibility of this kind of mistake and their correction lies, we argue, in the distinction between a work’s meaning and its elaboration in the scored instructions for performance. We substantiate this claim and defend it against the tight constraint thesis, the view that a work’s meaning is determined by the totality of its score’s instructions. This thesis will be revealed to be both in conflict with the manifest image of our performance practice and philosophically unmotivated. Finally, we consider the scope of the composer’s authority in light of the possibility of the sort of mistakes and their correction that concern us here.