The Aesthetic Value of Performing Music

What is the intrinsic aesthetic value of performing, say, a Beethoven sonata that has already been performed and recorded many times before? The question is delineated by comparison to composing, on the one hand, and to listening, on the other. In answering it, special emphasis is put on various aspects of internalizing a musical masterpiece that refine and elevate the performer’s musical mind and personality to high standards she cannot attain otherwise. This has a bearing on the merits of an “intentionalistic” notion of performance vis-à-vis an “autonomous” one.