Appreciating Beauty in Art

Music AppreciationMusic Curriculum
Written By Edward Wolfe

When we listen to great music, we can think about how the art is constructed in order to appreciate it more. We respond viscerally, of course, to the feelings we have as we listen. We also can deepen our appreciation of great music by thinking about some of the principles involved in making it great.

Consider the following eight principles pertinent to appreciating beauty:

  1. Are there unifying themes?

  2. Do we find foreshadowing and fulfillment?

  3. Do we find both simplicity and intricacy?

  4. Is poignance an important feature?

  5. Is there discernible structure?

  6. Is there both unity and diversity?

  7. Do we find juxtaposition?

  8. Does the principle of three-fourths seem to apply?

Apply these eight questions to the music selection below, Beethoven’s 5th Symphony, movement 2. Listen to the whole piece and then consider the eight observations below.

  1. The movement is a theme and variations, so the same musical theme occurs several times

  2. The second part of the theme is a martial, bold sound, foreshadowing where the movement will go

  3. The theme when it is presented, is so simple that we actually can sing along with it; yet its development and variations are intricate and subtle

  4. This movement in the context of the whole symphony presents a mood of serenity, persistence, and triumph

  5. The structure is clear and yet not obvious. The theme is stated and then varied 3 times, with diversions

  6. The theme and its variations are both unified and diverse

  7. Within the theme itself we find juxtaposition: lyricism and peace juxtaposed with aggressive defiance. This juxtaposition plays out through the movement.

  8. The principle of three-fourths applies as described below.

The principle of three-fourths usually points us to the high point of tension in the work. The major ideas of the work come together and are resolved and transformed. In this movement, the three-fourths point occurs at about 465 seconds, 7 minutes and 45 seconds. This is immediately after the gentle, lyric part of the theme—after a kind of satirical, wise-cracking restatement—is imbued with all of the strength and boldness of the martial part of the theme. It is transformed from lyric to glorious. Beethoven is saying something compelling about the lyric and martial dimensions of the symphony—and about life itself.

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Edward Wolfe

Edward Wolfe has been a fan of Christian apologetics since his teenage years, when he began seriously to question the truth of the Bible and the reality of Jesus. About twenty years ago, he started noticing that Christian evidences roughly fell into five categories, the five featured on this website.
Although much of his professional life has been in Christian circles (12 years on the faculties of Pacific Christian College, now a part of Hope International University, and Manhattan Christian College and also 12 years at First Christian Church of Tempe), much of his professional life has been in public institutions (4 years at the University of Colorado and 19 years at Tempe Preparatory Academy).
His formal academic preparation has been in the field of music. His bachelor degree was in Church Music with a minor in Bible where he studied with Roger Koerner, Sue Magnusson, Russel Squire, and John Rowe; his master’s was in Choral Conducting where he studied with Howard Swan, Gordon Paine, and Roger Ardrey; and his doctorate was in Piano Performance, Pedagogy, and Literature, where he also studied group dynamics, humanistic psychology, and Gestalt theory with Guy Duckworth.
He and his wife Louise have four grown children and six grandchildren.

https://WolfeMusicEd.com
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