Interpreting a Composer’s Intentions

To alleviate any confusion when referring to Dipert’s article I will use his three levels of a composer’s intentions and their definitions which are as follows: Low-level intentions are those concerning the means of production of sound and include t

I agree that it would be very unlikely for the sound of a clarinet to startle a modern audience however I do not agree with what Dipert assumes the intention of the Composer to be, to startle a modern audience. Dipert seems to think that the composers intentions are to affect audiences of all eras. When in practical reality Gluck’s intentions were probably not to startle every audience for the rest of time but were to startle an audience of mid eighteenth century concert goers. Thus when Gluck’s middle-level intentions are satisfied in front of a modern audience his high-level intentions are not dissatisfied.

This just leads us to the reasoning that there is no exact way to replicate the experience of hearing Gluck’s clarinets for the first time. I think that there are two main ways for someone to try to experience Gluck’s clarinets or any other classical piece of music. One, have the performer interpret and perform his idea of how the piece would affect the modern audience similarly to the original audience by translating the composer’s middle-level intentions. Or two, listen to a performance as it would have been most closely performed to an audience of the composer’s time and use individual knowledge of music and history to interpret for oneself what the experience may have been like. I believe this is the value of performing with the composer’s intentions because it gives more opportunities for a better understanding of a work of music.

he type of instrument, fingering, etc. Middle-level intentions are those that effect the intended sound, such as temperament, timbre, attack, pitch, and vibrato. High-level intentions pertain to the effects the composer intends to produce

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