Abstract

Research found that images can be both visual and non-visual. Similarly to what happens with paintings, musical compositions having a text may evoke in the listener’s mind visual and non-visual images linked to their meaning. Can purely instrumental music fulfil the same function? In addressing this question, the present study first examines the early Western theory of mimetic art, and then focuses on the application of Peirce’s Semiotic Theory to musical signs. The article identifies many musical topoi in specific pieces composed between the sixteenth and the twentieth century, and compares them to symbols depicted in paintings and figures of speech, which can be found in prose and poetry. Finally, the article shows that a plot may be recognized in some musical pieces, assimilating them to dramas or movies.