Cail Bahlaus, !"# %&#' () *+,(-./# 0.,123 tians.

Rogei Lustig (0niveisity of Chicago, 1991)

1 Chaptei 0ne
Absolute Nusic as an Esthetic Paiauigm
The esthetics of music is not populai. Nusicians suspect it of being abstiact talk fai iemoveu fiom musical ieality; the
musical public feais philosophical ieflections of the kinu one ought to leave to the initiateu, iathei than plaguing one's
own minu with unnecessaiy philosophical uifficulties. 0nueistanuable as this mistiustful iiiitation with the sunuiy
chattei of self-pioclaimeu music esthetics might be, it woulu be eiioneous to imagine that esthetic pioblems in music
aie locateu in the hazy uistance beyonu eveiyuay musical matteis. In fact, when vieweu uispassionately, they aie
thoioughly tangible anu immeuiate.
Anyone who finus it buiuensome to have to ieau the liteiaiy piogiam of a symphonic poem by Fianz Liszt oi Richaiu
Stiauss befoie a conceit; who asks foi uimmeu lights at a lieuei iecital, making the lyiics piinteu in the piogiam
illegible; who finus it supeifluous to familiaiize himself with the plot summaiy befoie attenuing an opeia sung in
Italian - in othei woius, whoevei tieats the veibal component of the music at a conceit oi opeia with casual uisuain is
making a music-esthetic uecision. Be may consiuei his uecision to be baseu on his own taste, when in fact it is the
expiession of a geneial, uominant tenuency that has spieau evei fuithei in the last 1Su yeais without sufficient
iecognition of its impoitance to musical cultuie. Above anu beyonu the inuiviuual anu his coinciuental piefeiences,
nothing less than a piofounu change in the
2
veiy concept of music is taking place: no meie style change among foims anu techniques, but a funuamental
tiansfoimation of what music is, what it means, anu how it is unueistoou.
Listeneis who ieact in the mannei uesciibeu above aie aligning themselves to a music-esthetic "paiauigm" (to use the
teim that Thomas Kuhn applieu to the histoiy of science): that of "absolute music." Paiauigms, basic concepts that
guiue musical peiception anu musical thought, foim one of the cential themes of one kinu of music esthetics that uoes
not lose itself in speculation, but insteau explains assumptions that stanu inconspicuously anu little consiueieu
behinu eveiyuay musical custom.
Banns Eislei, who maue a seiious attempt to apply Naixism to music anu music esthetics, uesciibeu the concept of
absolute music as a figment of the "bouigeois peiiou": an eia he lookeu uown on, but to which he also consiueieu
himself an heii. "Conceit music, along with its social foim, the conceit, iepiesents a histoiical epoch in the evolution
of music. Its specific uevelopment is intei- twineu with the iise of mouein bouigeois society. The pieuominance of
music without woius, populaily calleu 'absolute music,' the uivision between music anu woik, between seiious anu
light music, between piofessionals anu uilettantes, is typical of music in capitalist society."
1

Bowevei vague the teim "mouein bouigeois society" might be, Eislei seems to have felt ceitain that "absolute music"
was not simply a "timeless" synonym foi textless, inuepenuent instiumental music not bounu to "extiamusical"
functions oi piogiams. Insteau, the teim uenoteu a concept aiounu which a specific histoiical epoch gioupeu its iueas
conceining the natuie of music. Eislei, suipiisingly enough, calls the expiession "absolute music" a "populai" one; this
is uoubtless hiuuen iancoi against a coinage whose lofty claim-the connotation of absolute music allowing a
piemonition of the absolute-coulu haiuly have escapeu the son of a philosophei.
S
In the cential Euiopean musical cultuie of the nineteenth centuiy-as opposeu to the Italian-Fiench opeia cultuie of
the time- the concept of absolute music was so ueep-iooteu that, as we shall see, even Richaiu Wagnei, though he
polemicizeu against it on the suiface, was convinceu of its funuamental valiuity. In fact, it woulu haiuly he an
exaggeiation to claim that the concept of absolute music was the leauing iuea of the classical anu iomantic eia in
music esthetics. As we have alieauy suggesteu, the piinciple was suiely iestiicteu geogiaphically, but it woulu he
piematuie at the veiy least to call it a piovincialism, given the esthetic significance of autonomous instiumental
music in the late eighteenth anu eaily nineteenth centuiies. 0n the othei hanu, the omnipiesence of absolute music in
the twentieth centuiy must not he alloweu to obscuie the histoiical fact that- accoiuing to sociological, not esthetic,
ciiteiia-symphony anu chambei music in the nineteenth centuiy iepiesenteu meie enclaves in a "seiious" musical
cultuie chaiacteiizeu by opeia, iomance, viituoso uisplay, anu salon pieces (not to mention the lowei uepths of

"tiivial music").
That the concept of absolute music oiiginateu in ueiman iomanticism (uespite the impoitance of its meaning within a
music-histoiical context in the nineteenth centuiy, a meaning that has taken on exteinal, sociohistoiical impoitance
in the twentieth centuiy), that it oweu its pathosthe association of music "uetacheu" fiom text, piogiam, oi function
with the expiession oi notion of the absolute-to ueiman poetiy anu philosophy aiounu 18uu, was cleaily iecognizeu
in Fiance, ouuly enough, as an 189S essay by }ules Combaiieu shows. Be wiites that it was thiough "the ueiman
fugues anu symphonies" that "thinking in music, thinking with sounus, the way a wiitei thinks with woius" fiist
enteieu the Fiench consciousness, which hau always clung to the connection between music anu language to ueiive a
"meaning" fiom music.
2

Thus, uespite its funuamental esthetic impoitance uue to
4
the aitistic calibei anu histoiical influence of the woiks that iealizeu it, the geogiaphical anu social iange of the iuea
of absolute music was quite limiteu at fiist. Likewise, the histoiical uesciiption in Eislei's iough sketch is too bioau
iathei than too constiicteu. 0ne can haiuly speak of a music-esthetic paiauigm foi the ''entiie" bouigeois peiiou. The
iuea of absolute music, which has a social chaiactei that cannot he ieuuceu to any simple foimula, stanus in uiiect
opposition to the music esthetics oiiginal to the ..mouein bouigeois society" of eighteenth-centuiy ueimany. }ohann
ueoig Sulzei, in the aiticle on "Nusic" in his 4#5#6'- !"#(67 () /"# 815# *6/,, bases his veiuict about autonomous
instiumental music on moial philosophyi.e., on the eighteenth centuiy's authentically bouigeois moue of thought.
Bis bluntness foims a cuiious contiast to Buiney's geneious teim "innocent luxuiy"; this may he explaineu by the
moial feivoi of an upwaiuly mobile bouigeoisie as opposeu to the laxity of an establisheu one. Sulzei wiites: "In the
last position we place the application of music to conceits, which aie piesenteu meiely as enteitainments, anu
peihaps foi piactice in playing. To this categoiy belong conceitos, symphonies, sonatas, anu solos, which geneially
piesent a lively anu not unpleasant noise, oi a civil anu enteitaining chattei, but not one that engages the heait."
S
The
bouigeois moial philosophei's animus towaiu the musical uiveisions he founu aicane anu iule is unmistakable. If
Bayun, in contiast, attempteu to iepiesent ''moial chaiacteis" in his symphonies, as ueoig August uiiesingei
iepoits,
4
then this esthetic intention meant nothing less than a vinuication of the symphony's honoi in an age whose
bouigeoisie vieweu ait as a means of uiscouise about pioblems of moiality, i.e., the social coexistence of human
beings. Insofai as ait withuiew fiom its puipose, it was scoineu as a supeifluous game of suspicious chaiactei, eithei
above oi below the bouigeoisie. This view applieu piimaiily to liteiatuie, but, in a seconuaiy sense, to music as well.
S
0nly in opposition to the esthetic, of bouigeois oiigin anu geneiateu by moial philosophy, that Sulzei iepiesenteu,
was a philosophy of ait foimeu that pioceeueu fiom the concept of the self-sufficient, autonomous woik. In essays
wiitten between 178S anu 1788, Kail Philipp Noiitz (whose iueas weie accepteu unieseiveuly by uoethe, hesitantly
by Schillei) pioclaimeu the piinciple of l'ait poui l'ait with a bluntness attiibutable to his uisgust with moial
philosophy's iationalizations about ait, anu to the uige to escape into esthetic contemplation fiom the woilu of
bouigeois woik anu life that he founu oppiessive. "The meiely useful object is thus not something whole oi peifect in
itself, but attains that state only in fulfilling its puipose thiough me, oi being completeu within me. In obseiving the
beautiful, howevei, l ietuin the puipose fiom myself to the object : obseive the object as something not within me,
but peifect in itself; that is, it constitutes a whole in itself, anu gives me pleasuie foi the sake of itself, in that I uo not
so much impait to the beautiful object a ielationship to myself, but iathei impait to myself a ielationship to it."
S

Bowevei, not only the Boiatian 96(&#,,# but also &#-#2/'6#
6
is juugeu foieign to ait; the iecognition ait uemanus, not
the pleasuie it pioviues, is uecisive. "We uo not neeu the beautiful in oiuei that we may be uelighteu by it, as much as
the beautiful iequiies us so that it may be iecognizeu."
7
The one attituue that Noiitz finus appiopiiate to the woik of
ait is that of aesthetic contemplation in which self anu woilu aie foigotten; his feivoi in uesciibing it betiays his
pietistic oiigins. "As long as the beautiful uiaws oui attention completely to itself, it shifts it away fiom ouiselves foi a
while, anu makes us seem to lose ouiselves in the beautiful object; just this losing, this foigetting of the self, is the
highest uegiee of the puie anu unselfish pleasuie that beauty giants us. At that moment we give up oui inuiviuual,
limiteu existence in favoi of a kinu of highei existence."
8

When the iuea of esthetic autonomy, foimeily limiteu to

!
6
the geneial aitistic theoiy that applieu piimaiily to poetiy, painting, oi sculptuie, was extenueu to musical cultuie, it
founu an auequate expiession in the "absolute" music that was uisassociateu fiom "extiamusicaI" functions anu
piogiams. Though this seems natuial anu almost self-eviuent in hinusight, it was iathei suipiising at the time. As
}ean-}acques Rousseau's invective anu Sulzei's contemptuous comments show, bouigeois thought helu instiumental
music without puipose, conciete concept, oi object to be insignificant anu emptyuespite the Nannheim oichestia's
success in Paiis anu Bayun's giowing fame. Fuitheimoie, the beginnings of a theoiy of instiumental music weie
uistinguisheu by apologetics tiappeu in the opposition's teiminology. When in 17S9 }ohann Nattheson chaiacteiizeu
"instiumental music" as "'sounu oiatoiy oi tone speech," he was attempting to justify it by aiguing that instiumental
music is essentially the same as vocal music.
9
It too shouluanu canmove the heait, oi usefully engage the
listenei's imagination by being an image of a compiehensible uiscouise. "In that case, it is a pleasuie, anu one neeus
much moie skill anu a stiongei imagination to succeeu."
1u
Such eaily uefenses of instiumental music, uepenuent on the mouel of vocal music, weie baseu on the foimulas anu
aiguments of the uoctiine of affections anu the esthetics of sentiment.
11
As we shall show in a latei chaptei, when an
inuepenuent theoiy of instiumental music uevelopeu, theie was a tenuency to contiauict the sentimental
chaiacteiization of music as the "language of the heait," oi at least to ieinteipiet the tangible affects as ephemeial,
abstiact feelings uivoiceu fiom the woilu. Novalis anu Fiieuiich Schlegel combineu this tenuency with an aiistociatic
attituue of polemical iiiitation with the eighteenth-centuiy cultuie of sentiment anu social life, a cultuie they founu
naiiow-minueu. Like the moial-philosophical theoiy of ait to which it was closely connecteu, the sentimental esthetic
was tiuly of the bouigeoisie; it was only in contiauiction to
7
that esthetic, its social chaiactei, anu the uoctiine of utility that the piinciple of autonomy oiiginateu. Now
instiumental music, pieviously vieweu as a ueficient foim of vocal music, a meie shauow of the ieal thing, was exalteu
as a music-esthetic paiauigm in the name of autonomy-maue into the epitome of music, its essence. The lack of a
concept oi a conciete topic, hitheito seen as a ueficiency of instiumental music, was now ueemeu an auvantage.
0ne may without exaggeiation call this a music-esthetic "paiauigm shift," a ieveisal of esthetic piemises. A bouigeois
gentleman like Sulzei must have thought the elevation of instiumental music above anu beyonu any moial valuation
(alieauy heialueu in }ohann Abiaham Petei Schulz's aiticle "Symphony" in Sulzei's own 4#5#6'- !"#(67 () /"# 815#
*6/,)
12
an annoying paiauox. The iuea of "absolute music"- as we may hencefoith call inuepenuent instiumental
music, even though the teim uiu not aiise foi anothei half-centuiy-consists of the conviction that instiumental music
puiely anu cleaily expiesses the tiue natuie of music by its veiy lack of concept, object, anu puipose. Not its
existence, but what it stanus foi, is uecisive. Instiumental music, as puie "stiuctuie," iepiesents itself. Betacheu fiom
the affections anu feelings of the ieal woilu, it foims a "sepaiate woilu foi itself."
1S
It is no coinciuence that E. T. A.
Boffmann, who was the fiist to speak emphatically of music as "stiuctuie,"
14
pioclaimeu that instiumental music was
the tiue music: that, in a sense, language in music theiefoie iepiesenteu an auuition "fiom without." "When speaking
of music as an inuepenuent ait, one shoulu always mean instiumental music alone, which, uisuaining any aiu oi
aumixtuie of anothei ait, expiesses the chaiacteiistic natuie of ait which is only iecognizable within music itself."
1S

The iuea that instiumental music uevoiu of function oi piogiam is the "tiue" music has since been eioueu to a
commonplace that ueteimines the uay-to-uay use of music without oui being awaie of it, let alone uoubting it. But
8
when it was new it must have seemeu a challenging paiauox, foi it bluntly contiauicteu an oluei iuea of music
establisheu in a tiauition that spanneu millenia. What may seem obvious touay, as though inuicateu in the natuie of
the thingthat music is a sounuing phenomenon anu nothing moie, that a text is theiefoie consiueieu an
"extiamusical" impetuspioves to be a histoiically molueu theoiem no moie than two centuiies olu. 0nueistanuing
the histoiical chaiactei of the iuea seives two puiposes: fiist, to piepaie foi the insight that what bas come about
histoiically can also he changeu again; seconu, to unueistanu moie piecisely the natuie of touay's pieuominant
conception of music by becoming awaie of its oiigins, i.e., the assumptions that unueilie it, anu of the backgiounu
against which it sets itself off.

The oluei iuea of music, against which the iuea of absolute music hau to pievail, was the concept, oiiginating in
antiquity anu nevei uoubteu until the seventeenth centuiy, that music, as Plato put it, consisteu of "'6:(51',
6"7/":(,, anu logos. ;'6:(51' meant iegulai, iationally systematizeu ielationships among tones; 6"7/":(,, the
system of musical time, which in ancient times incluueu uance anu oiganizeu motion ; anu -(<(,, language as the
expiession of human ieason. Nusic without language was theiefoie ieuuceu, its natuie constiicteu: a ueficient type oi
meie shauow of what music actually is. (0sing a concept of music that incluues language, one can justify not only
vocal but even piogiam music: it uoes not appeai as a seconuaiy application of liteiatuie to "absolute" music, noi is
the piogiam an auuition "fiom without," but a ieminuei of the logos that music shoulu always incluue in oiuei to be
its whole self.)
Accoiuing to Ainolu Scheiing (who still auheieu even in the twentieth centuiy to the oluei concept of music, which
explains his tenuency to uiscovei "hiuuen piogiams'' in Beethoven's symphonies), not until aiounu 18uu "uoes the
peinicious spectie of uualism between 'applieu' (uepen-
9
uent) anu 'absolute' music entei Euiopean musical awaieness, leauing to seiious conflicts. Theieaftei theie is no
longei a single concept of music, as pievious geneiations knew it, but two, about whose iank anu histoiical piioiity
one soon begins to quaiiel, just as one uisputes the question of the bounuaiies between them anu theii uefinition."
16

0ne cannot speak of an unbioken uominance of the iuea of absolute music. Bespite Bayun anu Beethoven, mistiust of
absolute instiumental music inuepenuent of language hau not yet ieceueu among nineteenth-centuiy estheticians
such as Begel anu, latei, ueivinus, Beiniich Belleiman, anu Euuaiu uiell. They suspecteu the "aitificiality" of
instiumental music of being a ueviation fiom the "natuial," oi its "conceptlessness" a ienunciation of "ieason." The
tiauitional piejuuice was ueep-iooteu: that music hau to uepenu on woius to avoiu eithei uegeneiation into pleasant
noise that neithei toucheu the heait noi employeu the minu, oi becoming an impenetiable spiiit language. Anu
insofai as one uiu not ieject "absolute music" i.e., instiumental music that both uisuaineu tone painting anu was not
to be peiceiveu as the "language of the heait"- one sought iefuge in a heimeneutics that foiceu upon "puie, absolute
music" just what it sought to avoiu: piogiams anu chaiacteiizations. If instiumental music hau been a "pleasant
noise" beneath language to the common-sense estheticians of the eighteenth centuiy, then the iomantic metaphysics
of ait ueclaieu it a language above language. The uige to incluue it in the cential spheie of language co lu not be
suppiesseu.
Anu yet the iuea of absolute musicgiauually anu against iesistancebecame the esthetic paiauigm of ueiman
musical cultuie in the nineteenth centuiy. Wheieas a glance at iepeitoiies anu catalogues of woiks woulu ueny any
supeificial pieuominance of instiumental music in the iomantic anu post-iomantic peiious, it is just as unueniable
that the concept of music in that eia was evei moie ueciueuly molueu by the esthetic of absolute music. (Except
1u
foi opeia anu some oiatoiios anu songs, instiumental music pieuominates touay, but this ieflection of histoiical
impact shoulu not obscuie the foimei pievalence of vocal music.) When even Banslick 's opponents calleu the text in
vocal music an "extiamusical" influence, the battle against "foimalism" was lost even befoie it began, foi Banslick hau
alieauy pievaileu in the vocabulaiy with which they opposeu him. (At fiist, the iise to pieuominance of "puie,
absolute music" as a paiauigm of musical thought was not at all coiielateu with the uecay of liteiaiy cultuie the way it
was in the twentieth centuiy. In fact, as we shall uemonstiate, the iuea of absolute music in the fiist half of the
nineteenth centuiy was entwineu with an esthetic uiiven by the concept of the "poetic"-the epitome not of the
"liteiaiy," but of a substance common to the vaiious aits.
In the esthetics of Schopenhauei, Wagnei, anu Nietzsche, i.e., the ieigning theoiy of ait in the seconu half of the
centuiy, music was consiueieu to be an expiession of the "essence" of things, as opposeu to the language of concepts
that cleaveu to meie "appeaiances." Although this was a tiiumph of the iuea of absolute music within the uoctiine of
music uiama, it by no means signifieu that poetiy, as the meie vehicle of music, ueseiveu neglect.)
The symphony was useu as a piototype foi the uevelopment of the theoiy of absolute music aiounu 18uu, viz.
Wackeniouei's "Psychology of Nouein Instiumental Nusic,''
17
Tieck's essay "Symphonies,"
18
oi E. T. A. Boffmann's
sketch of a iomantic metaphysics of music that foims the intiouuction to a ieview of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony.
19


Anu when Baniel Schubait, as eaily as 1791, piaiseu a piece of instiumental music with woius that ieminu one of
E. T. A. Boffmann's uithyiambs foi Beethoven, it was likewise a symphony that kinuleu his enthusiasm, albeit one
by Chiistian Cannabich: "It is not the meie uin of voices . . . it is a musical whole whose paits, like emanations of
spiiit, foim a whole again."
2u
The uiscussion of that time uoes not incluue
11
chambei music. As uottfiieu Wilhelm Fink wiote as late as 18S8 in uustav Schilling's =5272-(9#&1' () *-- 0.,12'-
>21#52#,, the "acknowleugeu apex of instiumental music" was the symphony.
21

0n the othei hanu, those wiiteis' inteipietations of the symphony as "language of a spiiit woilu," "mysteiious
Sanskiit," oi hieioglyphics weie not the only attempt to unueistanu the natuie of absolute, object- anu concept-fiee
instiumental music. When Paul Bekkei, wiiting uuiing the ueiman iepublican feivoi of 1918, explaineu the
symphony by the composei's intention "to speak, thiough instiumental music, to a multituue,"
22
he was, piesumably
without knowing it, ieveiting to an exegesis that stems fiom the classical peiiou. Beiniich Chiistoph Koch's 0.,12'-
?#@12(5 of 18u2 (i.e., even befoie the =6(12') stateu: "Because instiumental music is nothing but the imitation of song,
the symphony especially iepiesents the choii, anu thus, like the choii, has the puipose of expiessing the sentiment of
a multituue."
2S
Contiaiy to the iomantics, who uiscoveieu the "tiue" music in instiumental music, Koch, a music
theoiist of the classical peiiou, uphelu the oluei inteipietation that instiumental music was an "abstiaction" of vocal
music, anu not the ieveise, that vocal music was "applieu" instiumental music. (The *--<#:#15# 0.,1A'-1,2"# B#1/.5<
wiote in 18u1 that Cail Philipp Emanuel Bach hau uemonstiateu that "puie music was not meiely a shell foi applieu
music, noi an abstiaction of it.")
24

E. T. A. Boffmann's famous iemaik that the symphony bau become, '"so to speak, the opeia of the instiuments" (which
Fink still quoteu in 18S8) seems at fiist glance to expiess something similai to Koch's chaiacteiization.
2S
Bowevei,
one woulu misinteipiet Boffmann by maintaining that in 18u9, a yeai befoie the ieview of Beethoven's Fifth
Symphony, he was still convinceu that vocal mouels weie iequiieu foi the esthetic compiehension of instiumental
foims. Boffmann is actually saying that the symphony's
12
iank within instiumental music compaies to that of the opeia within vocal music; fuitheimoie, he suggests that the
symphony is like a "musical uiama."
26
This concept of a uiama of the instiuments points to Wackeniouei anu Tieck,
27
whose 8'5/',1#, (5 *6/ Boffmann seems to follow. It means nothing but the vaiiety (oi, as Tieck put it, the "beautiful
confusion") of musical chaiacteis in a symphonic movement. Bowevei, the chaos of affections, which Chiistian
uottfiieu Koinei opposeu with a uemanu foi unity of chaiactei,
28
is only a supeificial phenomenon. Although a hasty
glance cieates the impiession of an "uttei lack of tiue unity anu innei coheience, . . . a ueepei vision is iewaiueu by
the giowth of a beautiful tiee, buus anu leaves, blossoms anu fiuit spiinging fiom its seeu ."
29
To Boffmann, this is the
common tiait of the Beethovenian symphony anu the Shakespeaiean uiama, the lattei being the iomantic paiauigm
of the uiama.
Su
The iemaik about "uiama of the instiuments" is thus an esthetic analogy meant to inuicate, by
iefeience to Shakespeaie, the "high thoughtfulness" behinu the seeming uisoiuei of the symphony.
Fink, in 18S8, hesitantly accepteu the uesciiption of the symphony as "opeia of the instiuments," but he
tiansfoimeuoi, as thought, uistilleuit into a chaiacteiization: that "the gianu symphony |wasj compaiable to a
uiamatizeu sentimental novella." "It is a uiamatically expiesseu stoiy, uevelopeu in a psychological context, tolu in
tones, of some sentimental state of a community that, stimulateu by a cential impetus, ex piesses its essential feeling
in eveiy kinu of populai iepiesentation inuiviuually thiough each instiument taken into the whole."
S1
Fink's
piototype foi his uesciiption, eclectic in its mixtuie of lyiic, epic, anu uiamatic elements, is obviously Beethoven's
=6(12'. The same woik inspiieu Auolph Beinhaiu Naix in 18S9 to his theoiy of "iueal music." (0ne coulu asseit, with
a ceitain amount of exaggeiation, that the iomantic "poetic" exegesis iefeiieu to the Fifth Symphony, the
1S
Young Begelian "chaiacteiizing" exegesis to the Thiiu, anu the New ueiman School's "piogiammatic" exegesis to the
Ninth .) Accoiuing to Naix, the =6(12' is "that piece in which musical ait fiist steps inuepenuentlywithout
connection to the poet's woiu oi the uiamatist's actionout of the play of foim anu unceitain impulses anu feelings
anu into the spheie of biightei, moie ceitain consciousness, in which it comes of age anu takes its place as a peei in

the ciicle of its sisteis."
S2
(Nusic' s "equality of iank" with poetiy anu painting was also a cential theme in Liszt's
apologia foi piogiam music.) This constiuction, a mattei of esthetics anu philosophy of histoiy, that suppoits Naix's
inteipietation of Beethoven, is baseu on the thieefolu scheme of faculty psychology, a uivision of mental poweis into
senses, feelings, anu minu . Thus Naix sees the meie "play of tones" as a fiist, piimitive stage of uevelopment, anu the
"unceitain impulses anu feelings" as a seconu anu highei one that neveitheless must be suipasseu. 0nly by tiansition
fiom the "spheie of feelings" to that of the "iuea" uoes music ieach its pieuestineu goal. "This was Beethoven's
accomplishment."
SS
Nusic histoiy is consummateu in the =6(12'. Bowevei, an "iuea"of which a symphony must he
the "mateiial manifestation" in oiuei to elevate itself to ait in the emphatic senseis none othei than a "poitiait
piogiessing in psychological, inexoiable uevelopment."
S4
Naix, in the spiiit of Young Begelianism, biings iomantic
metaphysics uown to eaith .
"Poitiait"
SS
- a teim iecuiiing in Fiieuiich Theouoi vischei's =,/"#/12, as a chaiacteiistic of the symphonyappeais
as the key woiu in a theoiy of the symphony that iepiesents a counteipioject to the "poetics" of absolute music. Fiist,
Naix tiivializeu the concept of "absolute" music "uissolveu" fiom functions, texts, anu finally even affectionsa
concept that both the Young Begelians anu the New ueiman School founu useless foi Beethoven inteipietationinto
the iuea of a "meiely foimal" music ieuuceu to its sensual foice, in whichby a
14
stiange piojection of faculty psychology onto histoiyhe claimeu to peiceive a fiist stage in the uevelopment of
music. Seconu, the musically spiiitual, which iomantic metaphysics founu expiesseu in the "puie, absolute musical
ait" (as an "intimation of the infinite," the absolute), was claimeu by Naix foi "chaiacteiistic" music, anu by Bienuel
even foi "piogiam" music, in which one peiceiveu "piogiess" fiom the expiession of " inuefinite" feelings to the
iepiesentation of "uefinite" iueas. (Naix's esthetics unueniably attacheu itself to an authentic tiauition: the tenuency
towaiu "chaiacteiization" in Koinei's sense, which belongeu to the piincipal featuies of the classical symphony,
Beethoven's as well as Bayun's.) Rathei than in the etheieal "poetic," Naix sought the natuie of the symphony in the
fiimly outlineu "chaiacteiistic" moue, Bienuel even in the uetaileu "piogiammatic" one. (The metaphysics of
instiumental music, which seemeu ueau anu buiieu in 18Su, soon celebiateu its iesuiiection in the Schopenhauei
ienaissance biought about by Wagnei anu latei by Nietzsche.)
That the symphony anu not the stiing quaitet (as the epitome of chambei music) iepiesenteu the intuitive mouel foi
the uevelopment of the iuea of absolute music stems less fiom the natuie of the music than fiom the natuie of the
esthetic wiitings in question. As publicity, they weie oiienteu to the symphony as a foim of public conceit; the stiing
quaitet, which belongeu to a piivate musical cultuie, was oveishauoweu. Beethoven, albeit hesitantly, hau alieauy
sought the tiansition to a public style of quaitet at the beginning of the centuiy: in 0p. S9 the change in social
chaiactei is pait of the composition, as it weie; on the othei hanu, the C.'6/#//( >#61(,(, 0p. 9S was oiiginally
intenueu to iemain withhelu fiom the public. Even so, Robeit Schumann, in his "Seconu Natinee of Quaitets" (18S8),
coulu still call a piece by Kail uottlieb Reissigei "a quaitet to be heaiu by biight canulelight, among beautiful
women,"i.e., a salon piece"wheieas ieal Beethove-
1S
nians lock the uooi, imbibing anu ieveling in eveiy single measuie."
S6
In the 18Sus, "Beethovenians" weie not simply
auheients of Beethoven, but those who also, anu above all, veneiateu the late woiks. Bowevei, abstiuseness
chaiacteiizeu the stiing quaitet just when it completely expiesseu the natuie of "puie, absolute musical ait" insteau
of tenuing towaiu salon music, as Reissigei's piece uiu. Thus public awaieness was inhibiteu in connecting the iuea of
absolute music, which was moie cuiient among liteiati than among musicians, to a genie that, by inteinal ciiteiia,
must have seemeu pieuestineu foi such a connection. Cail Naiia von Webei's comment on quaitets by Fiieuiich
Einst Fesca is also typical: just by choosing the genie, the composei uemonstiateu that one coulu "count him among
the few who, in these times that often tenu towaiu shallowness in ait, is still seiious about stuuying the inneimost
essence of ait."
S7
0n the othei hanu, he uesciibes the "quaitet style" as "belonging moie to the social, uomestically
seiious spheie."
S8
In othei woius: the "inneimost essence of ait" ieveals itself wheie one secluues oneself fiom the
woilu, fiom the public.
Feiuinanu Banu's =,/"#/12, () *6/ is histoiically significant insofai as, lacking the piejuuice of philosophical uemanus
oi unusual musical juugments, it iepiesents the "noimal awaieness," so to speak, of euucateu people aiounu 184u.

Although be still saw the ''culmination" of instiumental music in the symphony,
S9
he piaiseu the stiing quaitet as "the
flowei of the new music: foi it eiects the puiest iesult of haimony . . . Whoevei has penetiateu the natuie anu effect of
haimony will on the one hanu consiuei Webei's calling it the ceiebial element of music completely justifieu, anu on
the othei hanu iecognize the totality of mental activity with which such a woik is both cieateu by the aitist anu
ieceiveu by the listenei."
4u
("Baimony" is to be unueistoou as a synonym foi "stiict composition," the aitificial pait of
music.) Foi a time, the symphony, the "uiama of the instiuments," still appeais as
16
the highest genie of instiumental music (analogous to the uiama in the poetics of the nineteenth centuiy). But if the
stiing quaitet iepiesents the "ceiebial in music," then it must giauually become the epitome of absolute music,
giowing in piopoition to the uecline of metaphysical impoit (the intimation of the absolute) in favoi of the
specifically esthetic component of the iuea (the thought that foim in music is spiiit anu spiiit in music is foim).
Accoiuing to Kail Kostlin, who wiote the specifically music-theoietical sections of Fiieuiich Theouoi vischei's
=,/"#/12,, the stiing quaitet is "a thought-music of puie ait:" "both siues, the foimal anu the mateiial"i.e., the
aitificial, aitistic one anu the "shauowy" one of sounu"aie finally uniteu in one anu the same iesult, namely in that
this music"the stiing quaitet ''is the most intellectual kinu; it leaus us out of the uin of life anu into the still,
shauowy iealm of the iueal,"the accepteu metaphysics of the beginning of the centuiy has paleu to a comfoiting
fiction"into the non-mateiial woilu of the minu that has withuiawn into itself, into its most seciet affective life,
anu that inteinally confionts that affective life. It iealizes just this iueal siue of instiumental music; it is a thought-
music of puie ait, fiom which, to be suie, we soon uesiie to ietuin to the full ieality of foims moie natuialistically
iich in sounu."
41
In the teim "puie ait," as Kostlin uses it, an oluei meaning"ait" as the epitome of the technical,
aitificial, anu leaineu, of stiict composition-flows into a new one: "ait" as aitistic chaiactei in the sense of the
esthetic natuie of music. The histoiy of the woiu ie6ects an intellectual anu social change: in the 18SusBanslick
publisheu his tieatise !"# D#'./1).- 15 0.,12 in 18S4"puie ait" in the foimal sense, which hau always been
conceueu to the stiing quaitet, was accepteu also as "puie ait" in the esthetic sense, as a puie iealization of the
"mateiial appeaiance of the iuea" (Begel).
Although Banslick's muting of the iomantic metaphysics
17
of instiumental music to an esthetics of the "specifically musical," combineu with the axiom that foim in music was
spiiit, gave the ""puiely foimal" stiing quaitet the chance to appeai as the paiauigm of "puie, absolute music," this
uoes not mean that the metaphysical siue of the iuea of absolute music hau been extinguisheu: it ieappeaieu in the
Schopenhaueiian ienaissance, biought about by Wagnei, staiting in the 186us. Noieovei, in Beethoven's late
quaitets, whichnot least uue to the effoits of the Nllei biotheisweie enteiing the public's musical
consciousness aiounu that time, the aitificial, esoteiic motive is insepaiable fiom the motive of metaphysical
intimation. To Nietzsche, they theiefoie iepiesent the puiest expiession of absolute music: "The highest ievelations
of music make us peiceive, even involuntaiily, the ciuuity of all imageiy, anu of eveiy affect chosen foi analogy; e.g.,
as the last Beethoven quaitets put eveiy peiception, anu foi that mattei, the entiie iealm of empiiical ieality, to
shame. In the piesence of the highest gou, tiuly ievealing himself,"- i.e., Bionysus-"the symbol has no meaning
anymoie: tiuly, it now seems to be an offensive tiiviality."
42
Aiounu 187u, Beethoven's quaitets became the paiauigm
of the iuea of absolute music that hau been cieateu aiounu 18uu as a theoiy of the symphony: the iuea that music is a
ievelation of the absolute, specifically because it "uissolves" itself fiom the sensual, anu finally even fiom the affective
spheie.
Notes Chaptei 1
l. Banns Eislei, "Nusik unu Politik," in >2"61)/#5 1924-1948. (Leipzig, 197S), p. 222.
2. }ules Combaiieo, "L'inuence ue la musique allemanue sui la musique fianaise," in E'"6+.2" &#6 0.,1A+1+-1(/"#A
F#/#6, 2 (189S): 21-S2, quoteu (uisappiovingly) in Ainolu Scheiing, "Kiitik ues iomantischen Nusikbegiiffs," in G(:
:.,1A'-1,2"#5 H.5,/I#6A, 2u eu. (Leipzig, 19S1), p. 1u4.
S. }ohann ueoige Sulzei, *--<#:#15# !"#(61# &#6 ,2"J5#5 HK5,/# (Leipzig, 179S; iepiint, Biluesheim, 1967), S: 4S1-S2.

4. ueoig August uiiesingei, D1(<6'9"1,2"# L(/1M#5 K+#6 E(,#9" ;'7&5 (Leipzig, 181u; iepiint, Leipzig, 1979), p. 117.
S. Kail Philip Noiitz, S2"61)/#5 M.6 N,/"#/1A .5& F(#/1A, eu. Bans-}oachim Schiimpf (Tbingen, 1962), p. S.
6. Boiace believes the woik of ait shoulu uelight anu euify ( *6, F(#/12', line SSS).!6'5,.
7. Noiitz, >2"61)/#5, p. 4.
8. lbiu., p. S.
9. }ohann Nattheson, O#6 G(--A(::#5# P'9#--:#1,/#6 (Baimbuig, 17S9; iepiint, Kassel, 19S4), p. 82.
1u. lbiu., p. 2u8.
11. In this paiagiaph, "sentiment" iefeis to "Empfinusamkeit," a ueiman enlightenment esthetic cuiient of the miu-
eighteenth centuiy. Coiiesponuing to this was the musical ''empfinusamei Stil," a vocal anu instiumental style so
uesignateu by contempoiaiy wiiteis.- !6'5,.
12. Sulzei, *--<#:#15# !"#(61#, pp. 478f.
1S. Wilhelm Beiniich Wackeniouei, Q#6A# .5& D61#)# |eu. Fiieueich von uei Leyenj (Beilin, 19S8; iepiint, Beiuelbeig,
1967), p. 24S.
14. Klaus Kioppngei, "Bei musikalische Stiuktuibegiiff bei E. T. A. Boffmann," in D#612"/ K+#6 &#5 15/#65'/1(5'-#5
:.,1AI1,,#5,2"')/-12"#5 H(5R6#,, D(55 STUV (Kassel, 197S), p. 48u.
1S. E. T. A. Boffmann, >2"61)/#5 M.6 0.,1A3 eu. Fiieuiich Schnapp (Nunich, 1964), p. S4.
16. Ainolu Scheiing, G(: 0.,1A'-1,2"#5 H.5,/I#6A (Leipzig, 19S1), p. 9u.
17. Wackeniouei, Q#6A# .5& D61#)#, pp. 218f.
18. lbiu., pp. 249f. Tieck contiibuteu this anu two othei essays to the collection of Wackeniouei's essays be euiteu
aftei his fiienu's ueath.- !6'5,.
19. Boffmann, >2"61)/#5 M.6 0.,1A3 p. S7.
2u. Chiistian Fiieueiich Baniel Schubait, ?#+#5 .5& 4#,155.5<#5 (Stuttgait, 1791; iepiint Leipzig, 198u), 1: 21u-11.
21. uustav Schilling, =527A-(9W&1# &#6 <#,'::/#5 :.,1A'-1,2"#5 Q1,,#5,2"')/#5 (Stuttgait, 18S8; iepiint, Biluesheim,
1974), 6: S47.
22. Paul Bekkei, O1# >15)(51# X(5 D##/"(X#5 +1, 0'"-#6 (Beilin,1918), p. 12.
2S. Beiniich Chiistoph Koch, 0.,1A'-1,2"#, ?#@1A(5 (Fiankfuit,18u2; iepiint, Biluesheim, 1964), p. 1S86.
24. "Tiiest," "Bemeikungen iihei uie Ausbiluung uei Tonkunst in Beutschlanu im achzehnten }ahihunueit,"
*--<#:#15# 0.,1A'-1,2"# B#1/.5<, S (18u1): 297-Su8.
2S. Boffmann, >2"61)/#5 M.6 0.,1A, p. 19.
26. Ihiu., p. 24.
27. Wackeniouei, Q#6A# .5& D61#)#, pp. 226 a nu 2SS.
28. Chiistian uottfiieu Koinei, "0bei Chaiakteiuaistellung in uei musik," in N,/"#/1,2"# *5,12"/#5 (Leipzig, 18u8), pp.
67-118; iepiinteu in Wolfgang Seifeit, P"61,/1'5 4(//)61#& HJ65#63 #15 0.,1AW,/"#/1A#6 &#6 &#./,2"#5 H-',,1A
(Regensbuig, 196u), pp. 147-S8.
29. Ibiu., p. 4.
Su. Boffmann, >2"61)/#5 M.6 0.,1A, p. S7.
S1. Schilling, =527A-(9W&1#, p. S48.
S2. Auolf Beinhaiu Naix, ?.&I1< X'5 D##/"(X#5, 4th eu. (Beilin, 1884), 1: 271.
SS. Ibiu, p. 27S.

S4. lbiu., p. 274. Cf. also Naix, O1# 0.,1A &#, 5#.5M#"5/#5 E'"6".5&#6/, .5& 1"6# F)-#<#, 2u eu. (Leipzig, 187S), p. S2.
SS. Fiieuiich Theouoi vischei, N,/"#/1A (&#6 Q1,,#5,2"')/ &#, >2"J5#5, 2u eu. (Nunich, 192S), S: S81.
S6. Robeit Schumann, 4#,'::#-/# >2"61)/#5 K+#6 0.,1A .5& 0.,1A#6, eu. Naitin Kieisig (Leipzig, 1914), p. SS8.
S7. Cail Naiia von Webei, >W:/-12"# >2"61)/#5, eu. ueoig Kaisei (Beilin, 19u8), p. SS7.
S8. lbiu., p. SS9.
S9. Feiuinanu Banu, N,/"#/1A &#6 !(5A.5,/ (}ena, 1841), 2: 4uS.
4u. lbiu., p. S86.
41. vischei, N,/"#/1A, pp. SS8f.
42. Fiieuiich Nietzsche, "0bei Nusik unu Woit," in >96'2"#3 O12"/.5<3 0.,1A, eu. }akob Knaus (Tbingen, 197S), p. 2S.