Abstract
The intent of this essay is to call attention to one of the ways in which music is able to open an experience of finitude, of insurmountable limits, in a unique manner that is not easily translated into the conceptual language of philosophy. Two brief movements are discussed as exemplary instances of the musical opening: the Liebestod from Wagner’s and the Knee Play #5 from Glass’ Einstein on the Beach. Both of these movements are discussed as ways in which the movement of life is able to be presented in its full complexity: as dissonant, full of unsatisfied desire, of love, of death, and of the resistance of music itself to language. References are made to Nietzsche’s notion of the human being as a form of musical dissonance and to Heraclitus’ fragments about dissonance and harmony. The essay speaks rather personally at times for the simple reason that it is an argument that the character of the experience to be considered remains deeply embedded in the lived experience of factical life.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 84-95 |
Number of pages | 12 |
Journal | Internationales Jahrbuch für Hermeneutik |
Volume | 16 |
Publication status | Published - 2017 |
Keywords
- music
- hermeneutics