Eduard Hanslick

Eduard Hanslick was a 19th-century music critic and theorist known for his influential ideas on music aesthetics. He argued that music should be appreciated for its formal structures and internal logic rather than its emotional content or associations. This perspective, known as Formalism, emphasizes the importance of musical form, melody, harmony, and rhythm as the primary elements that convey meaning in music. Hanslick's seminal work, "On the Musically Beautiful," established music as a distinct art form, highlighting its intrinsic qualities, which has significantly shaped modern music criticism and theory.