Abstract
Aesthetic expression has a transcendent meaning in relation to everything which an artist creates. Expression as exteriorisation (J. Derrida). Transcendence is moving from a reality which is sensorily experienced “on this side” to a reality “on the other side” (J. Girnius). Transcendence is the essential structure of subjectivity: a person themselves is “existing transcendence” (M. Heidegger). Musical expression is—by converting the text of the work into sound, transcendence—the stepping over into a different form of the work’s being. This presupposes a rational basis of transcendence: it is the product of the thinking of being (A. Šliogeris). The adaptation of the ideas of a broader sphere (e.g., of the humanities) for the purposes of one’s own special activity (e.g., musical performance) is also an act of transcendence, and is effective in activating the imagination, the understanding of the work and musical hearing. The knowledge, abilities and values stored in a person’s experience reflect the identity of the semantic subject: a person’s experience is a system of individual meanings (Ž. Jackūnas, R. Pavilionis).
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Every human act is some sort of expression. At the same time, it is a manifestation of understanding of the goal of the activity, of the means necessary to achieve it and of the ability to use those means. Every person puts something like a seal on the outcome of their activity. The particular characteristics of the person acting determine the quality of the activity’s product. For this reason the works of the same activity but of different actors are so different. Art is always an expression and always an action. “What is expression? It is a sign charged with [meaning]. […] Expressions are signs that “mean” [“want to say”] […]. Expression is exteriorization. Expression imprints in a certain outside a sense which is discovered first in a certain inside.”Footnote 1 The art of expression answers the question “how” posed by the object requiring expression. Put briefly, the musical work, in order to live, demands—awaits—its interpreter. But, as we know, interpretation is more than just its visible sign form. It is also “something else.” “This something else in the work constitutes its artistic nature.”Footnote 2
In our case, this can be understood as an attempt to get closer to the “else” through conscious interpretation. The goal of interpretation is to “uncover,” to reveal, that “other” by means of sound expression. Aesthetic expression has a transcendent meaning in relation to everything which an artist creates: a painting, a poem, a piece of music. Transcendence (in Latin, trānscendentia from trānscendere, to step over) means
moving from one plane to another plane (transcending), specifically—entering into objects through an act of cognition, rising beyond the bounds of experience, especially moving from a reality which is sensorily experienced “on this side” to a reality “on the other side”, which itself is also sometimes referred to by the same name of transcendence. […] For Heidegger transcendence is the “essential structure of subjectivity” and therefore, for him, a person themselves is “existing transcendence”.Footnote 3
Following the law of cause and effect, the work to be interpreted is the effect of the creative process, but to the interpreter it is the cause, on the basis of which they create their own effect—the intelligent expression of that work. “The ensemble of visible objects, like accumulations of transcendence, is fostered by the mind, as the human power which individualizes and creates form. From this perspective, to think means precisely to individualize.”Footnote 4 Musical expression is already, in its own direct way—by converting the text of the work into sound, transcendence—the stepping over into a different form of the work’s being. But this still presupposes a rational basis of that action (transcendence). “Any sort of the invisible constructed by thought or imagination is immanent to a person, and all invisible transcendents are like that. […] Transcendence is the product of the rational, intelligent thinking of being.”Footnote 5
Aesthetic activity is experience. It should not be limited to the instrumental sphere. The adaptation of the ideas of the sciences which inquire into human spiritual activity for the purposes of one’s own special activity is a very effective factor in activating the mental horizon as well as the imagination and powers of understanding. It is also an act of transcendence—the crossing from one theoretical sphere to another by adapting the ideas of that sphere to the purposes of one’s own direct activity.
He who has a true idea knows at the same time that he has a true idea, and cannot doubt its truth. […] So he who has an adequate idea, that is, he who knows a thing truly, must at the same time have an adequate idea, that is, a true knowledge of his knowledge; that is (as is self-evident), he is bound at the same time to be certain.Footnote 6
So-called musicological knowledge is based on the preparation of the “lifeless body,” its external form, and not on the understanding and elucidation of the conditions of the life of that form. “Among the musicologists there are also those who cannot make a musical analysis that I would call ‘alive.’ Their works, often very good, do not achieve, however, that intimate contact with a musical phrase from which the spark of revelation springs forth. But when musicology is understood and treated by human, lucid, and generous minds, this beautiful and fecund science guides, enlightens, and fortifies us.”Footnote 7
The knowledge, abilities and values stored in a person’s experience are considered rational, appropriated, assimilated, intelligible, intimate, and reflecting the self, the identity, of the semantic subject. […] We could therefore define a person’s experience, following Rolandas Pavilionis, as a “system of individual meanings”.Footnote 8
A broader horizon will activate and deepen musical hearing, since the interpreter, as Novalis stated, “is hearing outwards.”Footnote 9
Notes
- 1.
Derrida, Voice and Phenomenon, 27.
- 2.
Heidegger, ‘The Origin of the Work of Art’, 145.
- 3.
Juozas Girnius, Raštai [Writings], vol. 1 (Vilnius: Mintis, 1991), 572.
- 4.
Šliogeris, Bulvės metafizika [Metaphysics of a Potato], 32.
- 5.
Ibid.
- 6.
Spinoza, ‘Ethics’, IIp43, 268.
- 7.
Landowska on Music, 358.
- 8.
Jackūnas, Estetika ir prasmė [Aesthetics and Meaning], 27.
- 9.
Novalis. ‘Fragmente des Jahres 1798. Fragmente oder Denkaufgaben’, in Gesammelte Werke, vol. 3, ed. Karl Seelig (Zürich: Bühl-Verlag, 1946), 75.
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Rimas, J., Rimas Jr, J. (2024). The Transcendent Quality of a Musical Work. In: Etudes on the Philosophy of Music. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-63965-4_17
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