Why Music?

Peter J. Leithart, December 19, 2003

Why music? Well, for instance: What I want my life to be is better expressed by a 2-minute segment the Canzona of Beethoven's A minor string quartet than by any words I could ever speak or write, expressed all at once in multiple registers and nuances. To say it all would be to try to say something infinite; but it can be expressed musically with a few stringed instruments in a couple of minutes.