Musical Ontology: Works, Versions, and Lineages

Abstract In this paper, I develop a novel account of musical works according which they are situated heir lines, consisting of actual and possible work-versions that are situated in specific musical-historical contexts. And I argue that this account offers a better explanation of three core phonenomena - musical multiplicity, musical flexibility, and musical audibility - than its competitors. Finally, I introduce the broader category of musical lineages - sequences of work-versions each of which has evolved in certain ways from its predecessors - and argue that musical works can be viewed as lineages that are initiated by the requisite sorts of compositional intentions and whose constituent work-versions must satisfy standards of similarity from their original contexts of composition.