Ontological models have an implicit result on how ‘paradigmatic’ musical works - and thus their materials - are understood. Tracing the effects of platonism through Werktreue on the realisation of such works, a synthetic model is presented which suggests another means by which musical works can be understood.

Nigel McBride is a composer and researcher, educated at Magdalen College, Oxford, and Queen’s University, Belfast. His compositions (published by Edition Gravis, Berlin) have been performed throughout the UK, USA, and Europe. He is co-editor on the forthcoming Critical Perspectives on the Music of Michael Finnissy (Routledge, 2019).