Abstract

In his engaging volume on fairytales, George MacDonald wrote that the purpose of a fairytale is “not to give the reader things to think about, but to wake up things that are in him." By contrast, many works of art, including contemporary musical compositions, are accompanied by statements of “things to think about,” such as didactic program notes by the composer on pet social justice issues. This essay explores what can be done in a piece of music to “wake up things” already in the listener. These include invoking something familiar in the musical style, using essential building blocks of beauty in constructing the music, and providing a teleology of purpose and narrative flow in the music, in contrast to modernist trends that eschew these things. The essay explores also how and why these “awakening things” can and should be accomplished.