Music to Hear on Here: The Words on Schoopenhauer for "In Vain" and leading into Nietzsche Birth of Tragedy

Sunday, February 27, 2011

The Words on Schoopenhauer for "In Vain" and leading into Nietzsche Birth of Tragedy

"...music derives its force from its special relation to the will. It is, like the other arts, a phenomenon, an appearance--not some impossible objectified noumenon. Unlike them, however, music is as direct a representation of the will as human perception can find. Other arts are copies of copies of the will, twice removed from it by virtue of representing the Platonic Ideas that are, as most general objectifications of will, already once removed. Music alone bypasses these Ideas to achieve a direct objectification of will. Music is not a mimesis of other phenomenon but rather connected to the noumenal realm as directly as are the Ideas themselves." Gary Tomlinson, "Overcoming Operatic Metaphysics," p. 110

1 comment:

phantasmaMarch 1, 2011 at 10:13 AM
this is an illuminating take on music as it pertains to the world of phenomena--something i wish i'd seen before i formulated my entire argument and finished my paper! regardless, i thank you for the helpful clarification
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Course Description

"Writing about music is like dancing about architecture." Martin Mull (or Elvis Costello)

Thinking about the meaning and value, intellectual, affective and neurological experiences, and aesthetics of music has occupied an important position in modern and contemporary philosophical writings. Central to the philosophy of music is a questioning of what music is insofar as it is an art form and practice, akin to but different from other arts, such as drama, literature, painting, sculpture, to name but a few examples. Claims have been made, in fact, that music’s effect, when performed and listened to, surpasses those of the other arts because of its abstact purity, of its universality, and of its singular capacity to express, represent and incite emotions. This course will explore such issues in 19th-20th century philosophy. We will begin with introductory readings of what composes the field and discipline of the philosophy of music. We will read—among other philosophers, novelists, critics and musicologists—Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Barthes and Adorno’s writings on music. Finally, we will have the occasion to read about and listen to specific musicians, both high and low, and explore the contexts of their work, concentrating on the historical and political dimensions of the practice, performance and art of making music.