https://doi.org/10.1177/1029864918776351 Musicae Scientiae 2018, Vol. 22(4) 454–473 © The Author(s) 2018 Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions DOI: 10.1177/1029864918776351 journals.sagepub.com/home/msx “The brilliance of perfection” or “pointless finish”? What virtuosity means to musicians Jane Ginsborg Royal Northern College of Music, UK Abstract The concept of virtuosity has been explored by music historians and theorists from disciplines ranging from aesthetics and anthropology to semiotics. Its history goes back to ancient times, although it is often thought to culminate in the 19th century with Liszt and Paganini. Many historical sources quote well-known performers and composers but little is known as to how music students and professional musicians define virtuosity today, and what it means to them as performers and audiences. The present study was exploratory, employing a mixed methods approach. A total of 102 musicians provided open- ended responses to a short questionnaire. A keyword-in-context analysis of content was undertaken, followed by a more in-depth thematic analysis. Five main themes emerged: characteristics of virtuosity; relationship between virtuosity and (“magical”) music making; aspirations towards virtuosity; how virtuosity is achieved; and communication. Responses from students and professionals were compared and are discussed with reference to historical and current theoretical models. Keywords aspirations, characteristics, exploratory, music making, thematic analysis In a recent interview the pianist Murray Perahia reflected on his friendship with Vladimir Horowitz: He told me at the very beginning, “If you want to be more than a virtuoso … first you have to be a virtuoso,” so he advised me to go into quite a lot of Liszt, quite a bit of Rachmaninov, the repertoire that I had not known, and what I was stunned with when he played was the amount of colours, and that nothing was technical, in other words technique wasn’t even broached but it became a larger subject of life, of sounds, of colours and all kinds of things. (Rafferty, 2017) The concept of virtuosity has been explored by music historians and theorists from disciplines ranging from aesthetics and anthropology to semiotics. Let us begin, however, with semantics. The earliest definition of the word “virtuoso” can be found in Sébastien de Brossard’s Dictionnaire (1703). It derives from the Italian virtù, “‘that excess of native endowment, of adroitness, or of Corresponding author: Jane Ginsborg, Royal Northern College of Music, 124 Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9RD, UK. Email: Jane.Ginsborg@rncm.ac.uk 776351MSX 0 0 10.1177/1029864918776351Musicae ScientiaeGinsborg research-article 2018 Article