 A natural way out of this impasse is to explicitly define expression in terms of emotional arousal, distinguishing it from the mere musical depiction of worldly objects, including the external manifestations of human emotions. This is the option taken by Charles Avison (1709–1770) in his Essay on Musical Expression, first published in 1752. Avison distinguishes between music resembling extra-musical objects, including manifestations of emotions, such as laughter, and music that is able to provoke an emotional response in the listener. The former case is musical ‘imitation’, which Avison claims produces “a reflex act of the understanding” (Avison 1775: 50), while the latter is ‘expression’. Avison argues that the goal of music is to pursue expression, which is achieved by the competent use of melody and harmony. While the idea that music is valuable because it moves the listener was not new, Avison’s clarity in decoupling it from imitation is noteworthy.