ABSTRACT
This chapter establishes five propositions concerning beauty, and exemplifies each of them with reference to the experience of peoples of the North, and of cello-playing. The five propositions are Beauty is attentional, Beauty is in the unity of affects, Beauty is enchanting, Beauty is in hearing and seeing, and Beauty is sensed along the path of presence. The sublime beauty of northern landscapes, that inspired such awe in travellers, apparently left no impression on native minds. Even collectors, folklorists and ethnologists who, by training and profession, were more ready to acknowledge the artistry of native productions have been inclined to suppose that it takes their own eyes and ears to recognise beauty that is not apparent to the producers themselves. The beauty of the performance lies not in the compositional form of the music as such, as if the job of the instrumentalist were only to deliver the form, ready-made, to a receptive audience.
