The voice of the muse: a study of the role of inspiration in musical composition

What is musical inspiration? How is it triggered and what are its effects? In attempting to shed light on these and related questions, the author investigates the sources of composers' inspirations as revealed in their own writings. In the resulting typology three general sources of inspiration are proposed: a metaphysical-religious (the inspiration from ABOVE), a psychological-physiological (the inspiration from INSIDE) and finally a sociological-cultural source (the inspiration from OUTSIDE). This is complemented by a case-study of Smetana's Piano Trio in which a process of inspiration is induced with the help of historical information.