Joseph Sowa wrote about Mozart and music from the heart vs the head:

>It was only later in his life that he started to 'think' about
>what he was writing, and put what he meant into his music.  Which brings
>up another diffence between the two styles of composition.  Music from the
>head can be written by the composer yet the composer doesn't necesarily
>believe what he's writing.  Music from the heart is the truth, the whole
>truth, and nothing but the truth.

How do you know whether a composer meant what he wrote? Surely it depends
on whether *you* are reacting emotionally to the music - and a lot of
subjective factors enter into that.  I listened to Josef Hofmann for at
least a year, thinking he was a calculating and icily cerebral pianist;
then one day I discovered that I our stereo system had for years had a
'filtre' button switched on that changed the tonal perspective; I switched
the button off, and lo and behold, much of Hofmann's piano playing came
vividly to life, and I wondered how I could ever have considered him cold
and unfeeling.

Overall you, and some others on this list, are too enamoured of the 'truth'
in music.  Music is after all just a collection of sounds from which we try
to glean emotional meaning.  What we think it means enters into that just
as much as what the composer thought he put into it.  That's why, some time
ago, I asked some questions of the composer list members, because I wanted
to get a first-hand view of what goes on in creative minds.  I realize now
those questions were in themselves far too general and unanswerable.  But
belated thanks, Joseph, for your detailed reply.  It was much appreciated.

Felix Delbruck
[log in to unmask]