Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-02-05
NEWS OF MUSIC
| Pratt Emotion Lecture
/ Available as Pamphlet
BY DAY THORPE

rs. ~ 0EN - 4AAOAsA -
The mills at the Library Of
Congress grind slowly. but
often they turn out exceeding
~ appetizing fodder. In De-
csmber, 1850. Carroll c. Pratt.
professor of psychology at
Princeton, delivered a lecture
att Library entitled Music
as the Language of Emotion"
ID 1852 the Library printed it
as a pamphlet. and this week
got around to mailing it out to
people who might be inter-
ested in it.
st is d lecture so far from
dogmatic and so suggestive.
that I hesitate to impair Prof.
Pratt's argument by a brief
summary, The subject. how
ever. is one that no one in
terested in music can avoid.
and one that for most of us
has considerable fascination.
Perhaps a few paragraphs ex-
planning Prof. Pratt's field Of
inquiry may send the reader
to the pamphlet for his own
analysis and conclusions.
Not a "Visceral" Response
The professor believes not
only that there is nothing in
herently emotional in a mu-
steal compositions fact no.
body would be rash enough to
deny - but that a piece Of
music when heard arouses
none of the subtler emotions
in most hearers. He admits
that there are a few individ-
uals who respond to music
"viscerally," but points out
that the slow movement Of
the Eroica symphony usually
creates a feeling of pleasure.
seldom of sadneSS-the nearer
does not suffer real grief. THE
death of a friend or relative.
a game of poker, business sue
cess or failure; such events stir
up the adrenals as no work Of
art could ever hope or want
to do
On the other hand, there is
little question that the basic
emotions a piece of music may
be presumed to represent are
generally Ineligible.
A group of 227 college stu
dents tnot especially suscep-
tible to music. I suppose. al
though the point is not made
were asked by the professor to
the four words stately"
"sprightly," "wistful," and
vigorous" with the introduce
ton Of the Brahms first SYM
phony. 40 measures from the
middle of the Midsummer'S
Night Dream overture, the in
PRODUCTION to the finale of the
Mozart G minor quintet, and
several measures from the
third movement Of Tchaikov-
Sky's sixth symphony. ! could
pick out adjectives that ,f1t
much more exactly, but no
one will doubt that each word
is more suitable to one piece
of music than to any of the
other three. The students had
no trouble whatever.
Each piece was classified cor
rectly in from 81 to 80 per cent
of the cases.
1T Is Of course conceivable"
says Prof. Pratt, "that the stu
dents were ascribing their own
emotional experiences to the
music. It strains credulity.
however, to believe that such
a large group of undergrad
yates would experience such
homogeniety of feeling at
precisely the right moments.
>. The problem is solved by
the simple but very important
assertion that the music which
they heard. and art in general,
may be called a language of
emotion only if that phrase is
understood in a flgurative
sense. Real emotion does not
enter into music at all"
Test Was Muddled
Without voicing an opinion
on Prof. Pratt's unequivocal
tconoclasm, I would like to
point out that his test was
muddled from the start. The
students who listened to the
four selections recorded their
impression on no clean slate,
but on one that they had been
using (unconsciously. If they
had no particular interest in
music since childhood. a slate
bearing the chalkmarks OF
movie music, the radio. and
popular tunes. Did 1857 per
cent of them think Mendels-
sohn "sprightly" because the
music represented sprightn-
ness. or rather because they
had learned a valid meaning
for the word "sprightly" by.
among other methods. hearing
similar m usic. denoted
"sprightly." throughout their
lives? Would a native Of Pa
peete think Mendelssohn
"sprightly," or would the col
lege students have any opinion
at all about. high-brow Chinese
music. for example? Would
they respond to the final scene
of "Wozzeck" as ironically
happy. or pathetically sad. or
as anything at all with any
degree Of unanimity?
That music is entirely d.
vorced from emotion / am in
clined to doubt. but that II
has a predominantly intellec-
tual appeal I think is true.