Gundlach[38] found that speed was by far the most important factor in distinguishing among several pieces played to a group. And Hevner[48] found that for excitement the most important element was tempo, which must be swift. “Dreamy sentimental moods follow slow tempo. Sheer happiness demands a faster tempo.”
Hanson[42] believes that “everything else being equal, the further the tempo is accelerated above tempo moderato (which is about the same speed as the human pulse rate) the greater becomes the emotional tension.” He goes on to state that “as long as the subdivisions of the metric units are regular and the accents remain in conformity with the basic pattern, the effect may be exhilarating but not disturbing. Rhythmic tension is heightened by the extent to which the dynamic accent is misplaced in terms of metric accent, and the emotional effect of ‘off-balance’ accents is greatly heightened by an increase in dynamic power.” He is unduly alarmed by the effect “Boogie-Woogie” may have on the younger generation because rhythm irregularity finds its most fertile field in this jazz form characterized by “a repeated figure in the bass (which) continues indefinitely in regular rhythm.”
Sonority. Hanson[41] has traced the development of music from the highly consonant music of the Roman Catholic Church at about the time of Palestrina to the dissonant music of certain modern composers. He describes the early hymns as “calm, serene and in a sense impersonal.” For him, “the expression of personal feeling in music seems inevitably to be associated with the use of dissonance. Indeed the expression of emotion in music seems to be bound up in the contrast between dissonance and consonance, the former producing a sense of tension and conflict to be either heightened by progression to a sonority of still greater tension or resolved by a succeeding consonance.” It may be easy for a musician to believe that the increased use of dissonance creates an increase of emotional tension, but to the musically uncultured listener dissonance may just as often create boredom or annoyance.
Composition. Although musical factors such as pitch, intensity and melody can contribute to mood effect when isolated, the reaction to an entire composition is quite different from reaction to tones of chords. It may depend upon environment or association with the situation in which the selection was first heard or is being heard. It may be altered by the length of the composition or unanticipated contrasts of intensity or the use of unusual patterns, rhythm or tempo. In listening to music, expectation plays an important role. A sudden change or interruption is apt to excite surprise. “The mere meeting of the expectation in all its details affords pleasure of a kind. But great as is the aesthetic pleasure, a far greater degree of enjoyment may at times be attained by a carefully planned surprise, the appropriateness and artistic skill of which is recognized and approved”[10].
Much has been written on the images or stories which musical compositions evoke. Some musicians have tacitly implied that ability to appreciate these stories results in greater pleasure, but Gehring[34] wisely insists that “musical enjoyment does not depend on interpretations, but it may also be reaped by those who abstain from making them.” There are some people who can interpret any musical selection, and others who find no story. Between these extremes is a group who can get more pleasure from music if listening is preceded by such preparation. As Damon[20] has pointed out, “A musical selection is thought to be more beautiful and more colorful when the usual program notes are supplied before hearing it.”
There are those who see specific color in sound. It was Isaac Newton who first compared the diatonic scale with the seven colors of the spectrum from red to violet beginning with C as red. Katz[71] reported on strong color association of two case studies. For the first, C major was jet black and for the other C major was brilliant white. But this could be expected inasmuch as the scale of notes presents intervals and proportions of the most definite kind whereas those of the color spectrum are confluent and have no mathematic relation. Spectrum analogy was discredited by de Marian in 1737[70]. “No two people agree or hardly ever do, as to the color they associate with the same sound”[30].
But color is only one element in a mental image; what about the others? Is it possible for two people listening to a new, unnamed musical selection for the first time to envisage the same story or picture?
T. Kawarski and H. Odbert[52] found no direct relationship between color and music which held for more than a few individuals but certain general relationships of photoism to special aspects of music were found to recur constantly. Thus increase in brightness tends to accompany rise in pitch or quickening of tempo. Whereas some one factor like strong visual imagery or cultural influences or suggestions may be dominant in some individuals and a totally different factor in another, none of those factors operate in any pure and simple fashion.
Too often musical interpreters will see too much in a given selection. Some will try to rhapsodize in words the theme as announced by the title of the selection. Some enthusiasts will grasp at straws of suggestion from the original source. Gurney cites an amusing instance in connection with a sonata of Beethoven, of which the three movements are entitled: Les Adieux, L’Absence, and Le Retour. These titles were so inviting that some gushing comments were published about the portrayal of passages from the life of two lovers. However, on the manuscript, Beethoven wrote: “Farewell on the departure of His Imperial Highness, the Archduke Rudolph, the 4th of May 1809.” and “Arrival of his Imperial Highness, the Archduke Rudolph, the 30th of January 1810.”
The insistence by some of the specific images evoked by certain selections can be disheartening to those lovers of music who accept such interpretations as fact and are disappointed in their inability to experience the same reaction as others, especially if the others are recognized musicians.