Sketch of a New Esthetic of Music

An extended essay argues that Western music remains a young, evolving art whose essential immateriality and temporal flow set it apart from older arts, and that existing doctrines mistakenly constrain its freedom. It critiques the fetishization of formal symmetry and the misapplication of the label absolute music, questions programmatic prescriptions, and urges rethinking music's aims. The author advocates liberating composers from inherited rules, expanding expressive and sonic resources, and developing new forms and theories to allow music to follow its innate buoyancy toward previously unimagined possibilities.