Two varieties of aesthetic virtue are distinguished. Trait virtues are features of the agent’s character, and reflect an overarching concern for aesthetic goods such as beauty and novelty, while faculty virtues are excellences of artistic execution that permit the agent to succeed in her chosen domain. The distinction makes possible a fuller account of why art matters to us—it matters not only insofar as it is aesthetically good, but also in its capacity as an achievement that is creditable to an (...) individual, and as a reflection or embodiment of virtuous motives. (shrink)

Philosophical hermeneutics is underrepresented in the literature on music performance. Given the shift from Cartesian subjectivism to anti-subjectivism in the contemporary literature on improvised musical performance, it is somewhat surprising that hermeneutics does not figure more prominently. Since hermeneutics is characterized by a dialectical to-and-fro—the hermeneutical conversation—between interpreter and subject matter, it would appear to offer a strong foundation for an anti-subjectivist account of improvised musical performance. The aim of this essay is to offer such an account. Drawing primarily on (...) the work of Hans-Georg Gadamer and Luigi Pareyson, this essay works through ideas related to the performer’s interpretation of pre-composed musical works, the context and content of the performance event, and the relational character of musical performance. It is argued that improvised musical performance necessarily relies upon a certain hermeneutic relationality. (shrink)