“That may be true,” she swallowed, her throat too dry for comfort. His eyes tracked the movement and she felt more able to focus. “Yet if music is so orderly and predictable, why is it that each composer will bring something of himself to his arrangement? Why is it that one man can interpret the same piece of music so differently from another?” Emily’s breath came faster.
“Without order, they would simply experiment with no purpose. There would be no understanding of harmonics, of melody.” The Duke’ was shaking his head, but his voice was lower.
“Feelings are what drive music. Music captures parts of ourselves we cannot otherwise express and brings them to life. Music transcends order. It is the ultimate form of freedom.”Emily felt something in her chest stir as she remembered the hours she had spent on the pianoforte.
Music was so much more than order and structure. Music was something she could feel within herself, was something that had let her give voice to her emotions. She loved the way it could light up a room, that it could add atmosphere.
She had loved being able to do that, being able to bring joy to those around her with her art. And then…No, I will not think of that now.
Emily caught herself glancing around, she needed to escape the weight of his gaze.Assessing, he is always assessing.
“Music without order is simply noise.” The Duke of Warren made a dismissive gesture.
“Beethoven would beg to differ.” Emily scoffed.
“There is still order to his music.”
“But it is unpredictable too. Just take Fur Elise. Something that starts simple and then becomes fiendishly hard.” It had been one of the first pieces she had heard and she had taught herself to play it the very next day, mistakenly thinking it would be a simple affair. “It began as one thing and became another. That is freedom.”
The Duke gave her a disdainful look. “That is someone letting their emotions interfere with their work.”
“Is that not art? An expression of one’s own emotions? Even you can admit to possessing them.” Emily narrowed her eyes at him.
A look flashed across Duke Warren’s face and his words sounded practiced, almost as though they had been learned by rote. “To indulge in our senses is vanity.”
“What does that even mean?” Emily raised an eyebrow at him.
“Only that one must think rather a lot of themselves, if they allow themselves to wallow in their feelings to the point of needing to express them through art.” The Duke made a vague gesture with his hand as though he were recalling something.
He called me a musician. Does this mean he thinks I am vain?She felt another stab of anger. “Then you feel that all artists, that all musicians are vain?”
“That is not what I said.” The Duke frowned at her.
“You know, Kant actually has some very interesting thoughts on the ideas of freedom and choice.” Lord Baine broke in making Emily jump.
She had no idea that he had joined them, not that she and the duke had come dangerously close. Her cheeks flushed and she shook her head, turning to face Lord Baine.
“How wonderful of you to join us,” Emily hoped her voice did not sound as high-pitched as her own ears suggested.
“I hope I am not interrupting.” The lord smiled, his soft eyes holding a certain amusement she was not privy to.
“I am sure Miss Pembleton would love to know more, brother. Afterall, you did save her from an unforgivably certain defeat. Please excuse me,” Duke Warren smirked before leaving the two alone.
Does he think me too stupid to understand? I’ll show him.Emily smiled at Lord Baine and said, “Please, Lord Baine. Do go on.”
As they walked through the gardens Lord Baine rambled about transcendental freedom, and while it was certainly interesting, he would get so carried away by his own thoughts he forgot to explain most of what he was saying.
“Because if you think about it, where does order come from? Is order reason or imposed another way?” Lord Baine said patiently.
“Does it matter?” Emily asked. “Surely order is order, we both know what the word means.”
“To Kant it does. For therein lies the question of ethics he seeks to explore.” Lord Baine replied.
Emily’s head hurt. She was fairly certain that Lord Baine was speaking English but had absolutely no idea what he was talking about. However, she did not want to give Duke Warren the satisfaction of learning about her lack of knowledge.
“So, does he argue that freedom must be a part of ethics? Of morality?”
Lord Baine turned to her, looking relieved. “Precisely. Freedom is the only thing that is innate and universal.”
