Value Judgment and Musical Explanation: Their Roles in Selected Writings of Edward T. Cone

Addresses the value judgment of the overall success of a work or movement and its relationship to music explanation. By focusing on Cone's analytical writings and his value concept of directionality, it attempts to investigate how his judgments of overall success are supported in his analytical explanations, how such judgments are made, and how they can be understood and shared. Considerations include Cone's aesthetic conception of musical directionality, and how a sense of direction is embodied in compositions. In probing Cone's reasoning and assumptions, the final chapter focuses on the first movement of Berliozâs Fantastic Symphony.