A Software Framework for the Quantitative Study of Compositional Process

Аннотация

The creative process can be deeply mysterious. As apparent above, some composers have sought to heighten the mystique surrounding creativity. Even if Stravinsky’s description is true, it leaves little for composers to learn from; few composition departments offer courses on being a vessel through which a masterwork passes. If, on the other hand, Taruskin’s examination of Stravinsky’s creative process is a more accurate representation, the work opens up, its transformations become more apparent, and we appreciate better the complexity of its realization. To my mind, this makes the work greater, rather than lesser. This is hardly a novel stance; Sloboda,3 Burnard,4 Donin,5 and Collins and Dunn6 all make vigorous, effective arguments against such mythologizing. From their shadow, I will say that the process of composition is remarkable and rightfully deserves to be seen as it is rather than as according to our wishes.