Gary F, Jon S, List, Gary F. wrote: "maybe [artists] are driven to think this way by an irrational urge to create, to do something that hasn’t been done before, or show us something we haven’t seen before …
Or even, perhaps, to show *themselves* that they can do something previously not imagined. For example, the concert I mentioned I was attending at Carnegie Hall and which featured Mozart's *Great Mass in C-minor* was held as the companion to a show at the new Breuer branch of The Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC, "Unfinshed: Thoughts Left Visible" which asks the question "when is a work finished?" or, in some case, "why did an artist leave a work seemingly unfinished?" http://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2016/unfinished Between the two 'unfinished' works on the Carnegie concert was a panel on the topic including the curators of the MMA show, the conductor of the concert, Leon Botstein (who is also the President of Bard College), and a music historian on the staff of the MMA. During the panel discussion it was noted that much of the text of this mass was not set to music by Mozart, and yet what he did set is totally satisfying in a concert setting. Indeed, if Mozart had composed music using *all *the traditionally set text of the mass that it would be probably be grander in scale than even Bach's *B-minor Mass* or Beethoven's *Missa Solemnis*. Yet what he did set was strikingly original, the arias and ensemble pieces complex and virtuosic in the style of Mozart's late Italian operas, while the choruses 'reinvent' the older contrapuntal style (at the time of composing the mass he had recently 'discovered' and was studying Bach and Handel) making something completely new--and very Mozartian--of it. Well, the long and short of it is that the immense time and effort that must have gone into writing it at the dimensions at which it is composed far exceeded anything 'necessary' for Mozart to do (its composition was prompted by a vow he'd made to his wife) especially given the fact that Mozart had virtually nothing financial to gain from writing it. It was also mentioned in the panel discussion that the last three symphonies he wrote were similarly not commissioned, seemingly inspired by a need to take the symphonic form further than he--or, at that point, anyone--had taken it. Similarly, the MMA show, 'Unfinished', also includes a number of works seemingly written because the artist was "driven . . . by an irrational urge to create, to do something that hasn’t been done before." Much of this work was kept by the artists in their studios and never publicly shown. It is well known that Peirce argues that only abduction offers anything new or fresh in scientific inquiry. I think that it is this originating power of abduction which has helped bring about some of the greatest innovations in science and creations of art, music, architecture, literature, etc. Best, Gary R [image: Gary Richmond] *Gary Richmond* *Philosophy and Critical Thinking* *Communication Studies* *LaGuardia College of the City University of New York* *C 745* *718 482-5690 <718%20482-5690>* On Mon, May 16, 2016 at 9:03 AM, <[email protected]> wrote: > Jon A.S. proposes > > that both inquiry and ingenuity are motivated more fundamentally by > dissatisfaction with the current state of affairs. > > > > Agreed. And this could apply to artistic creation as well: the artist > looks out at what’s been done in his or her field and thinks “There must be > more to it than this!” or perhaps “I can do better than that.” But maybe > they are driven to think this way by an irrational urge to create, to do > something that hasn’t been done before, or show us something we haven’t > seen before … > > > > Gary f. > > > > *From:* Jon Alan Schmidt [mailto:[email protected]] > *Sent:* 15-May-16 21:30 > > > > Gary F., List: > > > > Your points are well-taken, especially given my thinking on the "logic of > ingenuity" as employed by engineers--where there is a cycle of > abduction/deduction/induction (analysis) nested within another (design). > And like artistic creation, engineering does not (usually) begin with the > observation of a surprising fact. What I have posited is that both inquiry > and ingenuity are motivated more fundamentally by dissatisfaction with the > current state of affairs--doubt in one case, which is resolved by attaining > a state of belief; and uncertainty in the other, which is resolved by > attaining a state of decision. > > > > Regards, > > > Jon Alan Schmidt - Olathe, Kansas, USA > > Professional Engineer, Amateur Philosopher, Lutheran Layman > > www.LinkedIn.com/in/JonAlanSchmidt - twitter.com/JonAlanSchmidt > > > > > ----------------------------- > PEIRCE-L subscribers: Click on "Reply List" or "Reply All" to REPLY ON > PEIRCE-L to this message. PEIRCE-L posts should go to > [email protected] . To UNSUBSCRIBE, send a message not to PEIRCE-L > but to [email protected] with the line "UNSubscribe PEIRCE-L" in the > BODY of the message. More at http://www.cspeirce.com/peirce-l/peirce-l.htm > . > > > > > >
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