Ontmusic16. Can two composers working independently create the same, single piece?
Contents
Discussion[edit]
Introduction[edit]
What is this question? The topic concerns composition identity. A major issue concerns the relationships between a composer and the music composed by that composer and their relationships to song identity.
Reasons why it is possible for two composers to independently produce the same musical composition[edit]
If one adopts the timbral sonicism position promoted by philosophers such as Julian Dodd, then it is theoretically possible for two composers to each discover the same musical work. Since songs are antecedently existing because they are eternal abstract object types two composers can independently compose/discover the very same song.
Reasons why it is impossible for two composers to independently produce the same musical composition[edit]
If song/musical work identity always necessarily includes the production history including who or what was the relevant composer, then each composition is necessarily tied in to the identity of their composers. When this is true even if the notes are identical, whenever there are two composers involved the same notes do not have to be the same song because each song's identity includes more than just the notes involved; it also includes the composition's historical roots especially who composed the song and where and when. Hence, if two composers are independently involved in song production, then the resulting musical compositions are distinct songs with distinct and entirely different musical histories and so would not count as identical songs to each other.
NOTES[edit]