"Knowledge of the second kind [as opposed to the intellect, which is originally designed to serve the will and is based on the principle of sufficient reason]...is an abnormal activity, unnatural to the intellect; accordingly, it is conditioned by a decidedly abnormal and thus very rare excess of intellect and of its objective phenomenon, the brain, over the rest of the organism and beyond the measure required by the aims of the will. Just because this excess of the intellect is abnormal, the phenomena springing therefrom sometimes remind one of madness." (Metaphysics of the Beautiful and Aesthetics 108)
Classically trained as an opera singer, Galas' voice has an abnormally large range and is very powerful. She uses this voice, however, in a manner that exceeds the bounds of her training. The source of her music and her art is a response to the AIDS related death of her gay poet brother in the early 80's. Her style can definitely be considered abnormal and devoid of what Schopenhauer would characterize as sufficient reason. Her voice becomes an instrument to convey her outrage and pain. She shrieks, quotes the bible and speaks in tongues to symbo0llically convey the holiness and majesty of her mourning. Schopenhauer sees music as a means to spiritually distract one from the pain of the will. Galas seeks to strangle the will with her suffering.
No comments:
Post a Comment