Chapter 18, From Composer to Interpreter to Listener and Chapter 19, Epilogue Summary and Analysis

In every musical situation there are three separate factors: a composer, an interpreter, and a listener. These distinct entities form a type of triumvirate which can only function as a whole. Copland states that in order to understand and appreciate music, each of these entities must be explored and understood.

What do we look for in a composer? This may be a difficult question, since a composer's work is often abstract. It is not necessary for the composer to tell us a story like a novelist; he is not required to duplicate nature like a sculptor; the composer's work is not required to have "immediate practical function" like that of an architect. What a composer gives us is himself, a sense of his...