A Glimpse of Western Practical Music Aesthetics

Before the Renaissance, the music aesthetics in the West was mainly studied and analyzed by some thinkers and philosophers as pure theory. However, since the Renaissance in the 14th century, musicians of various groups has formed, in practice, different thoughts of music aesthetics with the separation of composition, performance, appreciation and theory. As a result, two music aesthetic categories, called theoretical and practical aesthetics respectively, came into being. This article puts more emphasis on the practical music aesthetics in the West by means of different music works composed by various music groups in different periods.