EN
Perfecta cognitio and perfecta delectatio arise when the experience of music involves both the listener’s understanding and sensitivity. The former focuses on analysing musical structures, while the latter contends with what can be heard and imagined within those structures. Experiencing music is democratic because even a naïve listener can be moved by musical sounds, whereas understanding seems to be more of an aristocratic capacity reserved for musical scholars. My aim is to show that an ‘aristocratic’ account of musical understanding is untenable, since in my opinion is does not require musicological knowledge and concepts. Musical understanding, I suggest, is the capacity for following sounds, which even naïve listeners exhibit to some degree.