Editing Musical analysis (section)

{{Short description|Study of musical structure}}
{{About|the process or academic discipline of music analysis|the academic journal by that name| Music Analysis (journal)}}
[[File:Musical analysis shape.png|175px|right|Approaches or techniques to musical analysis. Assumption and advocating could be considered missing.]]

'''Musical analysis''' is the study of [[musical form|musical structure]] in either [[musical composition|compositions]] or [[Concert|performances]].{{sfn|DeVoto|2003}} According to music theorist [[Ian Bent]], music analysis "is the means of answering directly the question 'How does it work?'".{{sfn|Bent|1987|loc=5}} The method employed to answer this question, and indeed exactly what is meant by the question, differs from analyst to analyst, and according to the purpose of the analysis. According to Bent, "its emergence as an approach and method can be traced back to the 1750s. However it existed as a scholarly tool, albeit an auxiliary one, from the [[Middle Ages]] onwards."{{sfn|Bent|1987|loc=6}}

The principle of analysis has been variously criticized, especially by composers, such as [[Edgard Varèse]]'s claim that, "to explain by means of [analysis] is to decompose, to mutilate the spirit of a work".<ref>Quoted in {{harvnb|Bernard|1981|loc=1}}</ref>