Composing in Unison

Comparisons between music and painting have been§common since §the Renaissance. 'I grade the things before the eye§as the musician §grades the sounds that meet his ear' said Leonardo,§while Kandinsky§confessed in his first letter to Schoenberg that 'The§independent §progress through their own destinies, the independent§life of the §individual voices in your compositions, is exactly§what I am trying to §find in my paintings.' Are these comparisons (and§those that other §people have drawn between painting and music)§plausible and §technically demonstrable? Do painters and musicians§compose their §works in similar ways? 'Composing in Unison' is§intended to explore §this kind of questions. About half of the text deals§with the realities §of artistic perception and is aimed at clarifying§some general issues §like, for example, the ways in which the concept of§space §contributes to the creation of musical and visual§compositions. The §other half is a discussion of motivic development,§tonality, §perspective, harmony, colour, rhythm and drawing, and§of particular §works that are subjected to close analysis, and compared.