Readers usually interpret Eduard Hanslick's famous treatise On the Musically Beautiful in light of its memorable statements and arguments that articulate a “formalist” position, that is, an account of self-sufficient musical art, purely musical beauty, and an appropriate contemplative mode of listening. In this standard interpretation, Hanslick's treatise remains, to the present, the most prominent example of formalism in musical aesthetics.

However, Hanslick's detailed music criticism, addressing specific compositions in the context of Viennese concert life, does not typically stay within the limits of this aesthetic position. The apparent discrepancy between Hanslick's treatise—a brief, early text—and the other writings that took up much of his life is well-known. Even more interestingly, Hanslick's treatise itself offers heterogeneous statements and implications about music and music perception.

In this paper, I indicate the complex, unresolved character of Hanslick's thought, especially in the treatise, with regard to a particular topic, the role of the composer in musical experience. This emphasis departs from the more usual focus on ideas about emotion and expression. I shall be pointing to some confusion in Hanslick's thinking; however, I regard this confusion as evidence of a praiseworthy, if not fully self-aware, openness to musical experience.