The Meaning of Music, part 2

To what extent does a composer's music reflect his or her personality?

First of all, a composer is a product of his times and will compose music in the style of the period. Also, he composes music in the styles with which he is familiar, whether folk-inspired, classical, popular, etc. Beyond that, however, is it possible that an individual composer reveals his basic outlook on life in his music? For example, we hear Mozart's wonderful music as a product of the period, but we also see and understand that he pushed the classical style to its limits and introduced new expressiveness and great artistic inventiveness in his music. In addition, we have external evidence that Mozart was a playful person, for example, and we can find many examples of "playfulness" in his music.

Examining Mahler's music and thinking about the joys and tragedies of his life, we see that, not only did he explore new kinds of expressiveness in his music, but he represented his own personal story in the music. Great joy was juxtaposed with great sorrow, as happened in his own life.

A personal quirk of Mahler's was his use of cowbells to indicate peaceful happiness because, in his own life, he remembered his moments of peace and happiness while in the Alps, listening to the cowbells. (When I heard the cowbells in the Alps, I cried, remembering how many times I had heard the cowbells in Mahler's music, and now I was actually in the Alps!)

My composer/songwriter friend has sent me a draft of a new song. The music starts out slowly, tenderly. Then a warm and lovely melody is presented. After that, the music becomes more intense. Does this represent the composer's thoughts or personality? Does this music tell a story? I think all of this is possible.