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SERGIU CELIBIDACHE -
by
Tom Zelle
May 1996
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UMI Number: 9625105
Copyright 1996 by
Zelle, Tom
UMI
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SERGIU CELIBIDACHE -
by
Tom Zelle
April 1996
APPROVED:
, C h a ir
Supervisory Committee
ACCEPTED:
MMlX' l&UiMjdkm
Dean, Graduate College
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ABSTRACT
music were reviewed to present an analytical overview of his central ideas. The
interviews, documentation o f his seminars, rehearsals and performances, and his own
texts. The results of this research project are based on the utilization of Celibidache’s
main topics and central themes as categories for applying the constant comparative
previously determined categories. The first part of the research project presents an
introduction to phenomenology for the reader, with special reference to the topic of
Celibidache and music. The second part presents Celibidache’s essential points of
view and arguments which include the question of phenomenology, Far Eastern
philosophies, time, tempo, reduction, and aesthetic points on recordings. The research
project concludes with a description of the most significant and apparent principles of
iii
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To my father, mother, and brother.
iv
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
understanding of life, music, and my role within them has been immeasurable. I want
to thank the students of the Phoenix Symphony Guild Youth Orchestra, whose
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER Page
I. INTRODUCTION
IN T R O D U C T IO N ...............................................................................................01
Context o f the S tu d y .............................................................................. 04
The Historical Context............................................................... 04
The Philosophical Context ....................................................06
PURPOSE OF THE S T U D Y ...........................................................................09
DEFINITIONS....................................................................................................... 10
D E L IM IT A T IO N S ............................................................................................... 12
METHODS .........................................................................................................13
vi
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CHAPTER Page
vii
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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
Ever since Sergiu Celibidache began his career as the conductor of the Berlin
Philharmonic Orchestra in 1945 much attention has been drawn to his work and
achievements because o f his unique artistic ability and personality, as well as his
composition with Heinz Tiessen, counterpoint with Hugo Diestler, conducting with
Walter Gmeindl, musicology with Arnold Schering, and philosophy with Eduard
Spranger and Nicolai Hartmann. He conducted his first concert with the Berlin
Philharmonic Orchestra in 1945, later taking the orchestra on tour to Europe and
South America. W hen Herbert von Karajan was appointed as the new music director
classes, and he was appointed music director1 of the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra
in 1979. His working relationship with this orchestra marks the last major phase in
'D ue to various difficulties with the administration and the orchestra, it took six
years to sign the contract with the city of Munich as permanent music director
(Weiler 1993: 361-371).
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his artistic career.
utilization of Far Eastern thinking and his specific approach to music, an approach
affected almost all aspects of the natural sciences, the humanities, and the arts.
the meanings and ideals of human artistic expression. Various attempts have been
utilize, and put into practice a personal position of philosophy and spirituality (Weiler
Institute of Music in New Y ork’s Carnegie Hall. This concert is an event which
musicians still speak of today (Umbach 1995a: 318). John Rockwell of the New York
remember for the rest of his life (Rockwell 1989: 17 and M uenchner Philharmoniker
1989: 85). In addition, the 1989 United States/Canada tour of the Munich
world (Zelle 1994). Still, in the United States almost nothing substantial has been
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published about Celibidache. This research project has sought to shed some light on
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4
to Wilhelm Furtwaengler as the figure in his life who had influenced him the most
(Lang 1988: 208-231). Celibidache not only conducted Furtwaengler’s orchestra, the
Berlin Philharmonic, from 1945 until 1954, but also referred to him several times as
Gar n ic h t. . . Es ist gar nicht wahr, dass ich das wollte. Ich
wollte nicht Nachfolger von Furtwaengler werden. Keiner kann
Nachfolger von Furtwaengler sein ....V on ihm habe ich die
tiefgreifendsten musikalischen Erkenntnisse (Celibidache 1988:
221-229).2
Even though Celibidache had conducted 414 concerts with the Berlin
successor, he had always hoped Furtwaengler would return as music director.2 Never,
2Not at all...It is not true that I wanted that. 1 did not want to become
Furtwaengler’s successor. No one can be Furtwaengler’s successor....I have received
from him the most profound and influential knowledge o f music, [translation mine T.
Z.]
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according to himself, during that time had Celibidache perceived himself as a rival
trying to take over Furtw aengler’s position (Mueller et. al. 1992: 26). W hen Herbert
von Karajan was announced as new music director for the Berlin Philharmonic after
1993: 93) and his career was interrupted. The transition from Celibidache to von
interesting to examine how Celibidache’s and von Karajan’s careers have developed
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, von Karajan, and the impact of the Second World
War.
Clearly, Celibidache’s goals and ideals have always been different from those
of von Karajan’s. Whereas von Karajan continuously lead the Berlin Philharmonic in
a direction that would enhance commercial success (numerous recording cycles, first
on LPs and then on CDs and videos), Celibidache withdrew from the commercial
aspects of classical music. For the past three decades he has continuously refused to
the hope that Furtwaengler would some day be able to return to Berlin
to his old position as music director.
3See for a more detailed discussion and documentation Weiler (1993) and Matzner
(1986).
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make any recordings which would place him in a commercially-oriented
environment.4 And now, almost at the turn of the century, it is inspiring to look at
von Karajan’s and Celibidache’s overall impact on the German tradition of conducting
evolved.
the Buddhist master and teacher M artin Steinke (Mueller et. al. 1992: 19). Steinke’s
interview given on May 5, 1992, in Santiago de Chile, Celibidache said, "Ich bin
Anhaenger des M eister Baba"5 (Celibidache 1992: 28). In his rehearsals and his
teachings, Celibidache often referred to Far Eastern traditions such as Zen, Hinduism,
tra n s la tio n by author: "I am a devotee o f the master Baba." Celibidache refers to
the Indian Guru Bhagavan Sathya Sai Baba.
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Chinese philosophies, and as well others. Far Eastern influences represent the first
Husserl at the very end of the 19th century (Held 1985: 6). Phenomenology’s
essential focus has been defined as the human experience, consciousness, and the laws
Together with the question o f how to distinguish and how to separate the object
outside of an experience from the object within an experience, the question of time
perception, time experience, timelessness, and duration have played a major role in
for Celibidache’s life work. In many ways, his work appears to be congruent with
Husserl’s philosophy, but at the same time, differs in other essential questions.
Both streams of thought, the Far Eastern philosophies as well as the Western
t
understand that he not only utilizes these streams of thought separately, but also
thought can be considered ground-breaking and unique within conducting and music-
making, for it has lead to concepts within the context of music (such as
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8
transcendence, timelessness, and reduction) that might have existed before, but have
not been addressed and incorporated into the actual practice of musicianship.
Celibidache refers to these philosophical backgrounds with such intensity that they
affect both his rehearsal and his conducting technique (Eggebrecht 1992: 62-77).
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9
The design of this study emerges from the two contexts previously discussed:
the historical context and the philosophical context. The purposes of this study are:
the subject.
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10
DEFINITIONS
Phenom enology: A scientific6 method based on the writings of Husserl that excludes
which is the sole reflection o f conscious onto itself (including its acts).
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Non-durational tem porality: The temporal quality of an experience of something
Timelessness: The quality of an experience which does not contain any type of
Music education: All forms and institutions concerned with the teaching of music.
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12
DELIMITATIONS
chapter III, the study was not intended to be a biography. It was not the purpose of
research project was exclusively based on previously published materials, and Oil
notes taken by the author and other students of Celibidache as he taught. Sergin
partially.
developments of his artistic views and philosophical standpoints were not the focus of
this study.
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METHODS
The methods for this research project are drawn from the following
publications: Ball and Smith (1992), Colwell (1992), Glaser and Strauss (1967),
Goodenough (1957, 1969, and 1970), Kleinschroth (n.d.), Lincoln (1985), Patton
refer to the author’s participation in Celibidache’s master classes and his questions
theoretical foundations outlined by Glaser and Strauss (1967), Patton (1980), and
8The methodological references also apply to the analysis o f visual data. Ball and
Smith (1992) have discussed the utilization o f qualitative research methods for visual
data. Similar to the discussions in Lincoln and Guba (1985), and Glaser and Strauss
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The first and main methodological procedure for this research project is that of
structuring the given material by creating topics (i.e., coding). The author will find
categories with which the data can be organized. The categories are primarily
theoretical and are drawn from Celibidache’s philosophical teachings. The main
categories used in this research project are congruent with the main categories in
Celibidache’s teachings. These are key terms or key topics (for example: time and
reduction). These categories are developed through the methods o f triangulation, cross
categories. Here, the findings o f single categories will be related to the findings of
other categories.
which are supported by the data. This includes the presentation o f summaries,
(1967), Ball and Smith outline the methods o f coding and content analysis for visual
data (See especially Ball and Smith 1992: 20-31).
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CHAPTER II
INTRODUCTION
phenomenology with special emphasis on musical time. No dissertations have yet been
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16
SERGIU CELIBIDACHE
conduct/work for audio recordings, but also to publish texts on his teachings. Few
people have been permitted to conduct interviews with him. The reader of this
research project must keep in mind that Celibidache has been highly critical of what
other have people said, written, and published about him. For example, several times
during Celibidache’s seminars and master classes he would not tolerate even literal
quotes.1 In general, his position towards publications, the written word, and language
as a means to communicate the essence of his art is thoroughly negative (Zelle 1992:
36-42). The interviews that were published and documented, however, formed the
basis of the second part of this study which specifically analyses Celibidache’s
Those interviews that played a major role in this research project were
(1986), Harald Eggebrecht (1992), Klaus Lang (1988), Heinz Ludwig (1976), Antonio
Morales (Umbach 1995b), Klaus Umbach (1995a and 1995b),2 and Jan Schmidt-Garre
’In his 1992 seminar at the University of Mainz, for example, Celibidache
strongly censored a student quoting what Celibidache had just said previously.
Celibidache refers to an experience (which includes anything a human says) as
something unique, to be experienced only once, placed in the present moment of its
appearance, and hence unrepeatable. The repetition of words (quotes) implies a
separation of the communicated experience from the linguistic medium (language).
His censorship appeared to be his way of teaching this distinction (Zelle 1992: 36-42).
2Klaus Umbach collected many materials on the subject "Sergiu Celibidache" for
his own research. Most of the material collected in this archive originates directly
from the archive of P e r Sniegel/Germanv. which is not open to the public. Klaus
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only two major texts exist that were written about Celibidache by friends of his.4
In this research project these materials played a major role for chapter three
(biographic overview).
these articles were written by authors rather unfamiliar with phenomenology and
present subjective impressions and judgments. However, the review-articles that were
collected by the author strongly supported the data given in the interviews and other
number six, seven, and eight with the Munich Philharmonic and number seven with
the Berlin Philharmonic, and Teldec Video has published a video recording of
Umbach kindly offered the author the use of his archive. The author photocopied 968
pages of documents from Klaus Umbach’s archive. Most documents are newspaper
review articles. 151 pages consist of interviews with Sergiu Celibidache. Most
documents give the source (usually newspapers), and the date. Page numbers and
newspaper sections are not given. Several documents do not give the source. The
pages of this archive are not numbered. Klaus Umbach’s archive consists exclusively
of photo copies. The author of this research project is therefore using photocopies of
the photocopies of Klaus Umbach’s archive. Throughout the research project the
author will refer to documents of this archive with the reference: (Umbach 1995b). If
the used document states its source and date of publication it will appear in the text.
3Some published interviews do not list the name o f the person who conducted the
interview (for example Celibidache 1992a).
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18
documents and not as authentic substitutes for his conducting and for music (Zelle
1992: 16). Several TV broadcasts were made in Italy, the United States, Great
documents were partially used for the discussion of Celibidache’s rehearsal and
conducting techniques.5
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19
PHENOMENOLOGY
General
1859 in Germany and studied mathematics and philosophy in Leipzig and Berlin.
philosophy in Vienna with Franz Brentano, who profoundly influenced him in the
scientific method. The key terms of H usserl’s philosophy are those of reduction and
consciousness with itself, which is the methodological prerequisite for any analysis
per se based on reduction. Husserl’s philosophy is extremely complex and many other
7The term Habilitation refers to the thesis that has been a requirement in the
European academic system to be appointed as professor.
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essential terms must be comprehended to cover the whole spectrum of his work.
Other m ajor concepts that emerge from the understanding of reduction and epoche are
noema, noesis, eidetic and transcendental reduction, among others. This discussion,
however, uses only the key terms (reduction and epoche) as a point of departure for
phenomenological methodology are derived the understandings that the world only
possible through the concepts of reduction and epoche. He pointed out that the
legitimacy o f this approach emerges not only because the objects of and within
consciousness are being analyzed, but also because of the modes by which these
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21
pointed to the implications Husserl’s phenomenology has for our understanding of the
phenomenological writings: the body can not be perceived as a material object with
the world, but as an "organ of spirit" (1981). Altmann created the point of departure
for understanding that the body is essentially interconnected with its spiritual and
indispensable role for the concept of temporality, which is essential in the realm of
music and music making. Reimann (1969) argued not only that the positivistic attitude
of the mind and the body as objects is naive, but also that the traditional concept of
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conclusion was congruent with concepts of quantum physics,9 namely that the
traditional space/time matrix does not exist, and that consciousness is directly related
to this fact. Reimann’s distinction between "inside of" and "outside of" time is
All that is argued is that the epoche requires for its very
possibility that the subject of our awareness is a transcendental
ego, and specifically that temporality can appear for a
transcendental ego not itself in time (Reimann 1969: DAI-A
30/03, p. 1205).
The significance of phenomenology has been pointed out by many authors for
Heidegger saw in both in-authentic and authentic existence, and in explaining time as
27/08, p. 2561). Mason (1973) and Malik (1937) discussed the phenomenological
the field of educational psychology. In all these works there is a strong emphasis on
9See as well Heidegger 1992, Popper and Eccles 1982, Dossey 1982, Fraser
1990, and Wilber 1977.
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human mind and its perception o f and position in the world. Chapters four and five
will further discuss how these philosophical concepts relate to Celibidache’s work,
Dewey’s and Husserl’s epistemologies for the philosophy of education. Stone (1979)
research." Atkinson (1972: 295) established a "familiarity with the vocabulary and
past, the specific fields of academia have not incorporated phenomenological methods,
developed by Husserl and Heidegger (especially in Sein und Zeit) is so complex that it
prevented the emergence of generally accepted linguistic tools for expression, thought,
comm unication.10
,0See as well Johnston 1992, Orth n .d., Barfoot 1981, and Schrag 1979.
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Phenomenology o f Time
research, is that of time and time consciousness. It is the dichotomy o f duration and
causes the human condition to be torn between two realities: the outside and the
inside, or as Reimann (1969) pointed out, the ego and the transcended ego. Gallagher
(1981) wrote:
As later chapters on music and time perception will discuss, Gallagher’s concept of
temporality and the body/mind relationship can play a significant role for an aesthetic
came to very similar conclusions. Instead of the dichotomy of body and soul, he
"F o r further discussions see Ferrara 1991, Kramer 1988, Smith 1989, Dowling
and Harwood 1986, Stockhausen 1989a and 1989b, and Barry 1990.
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The essential idea of phenomenology is the premise that the quality of human
perception is constituted by what exists within the perceiving apparatus and not by the
entity. In applying this premise to the understanding of time, Portmess (1978) wrote:
White (1977) and Pageler (1967) discussed the question of time within the
time was not a problem that can be understood by looking outside, for example with
the concept of "clock time" or the durational continuum of measured time in physics.
Rather, time and timelessness are determinations of the specific states of human
consciousness.12
12See for a complex discussion of time and phenomenology Heine 1980, Herman
1974.
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case with the factors of personality-in order for one to understand fully the dimension
13See as well a related study on personality and time perception by Barnes 1977.
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Phenomenology of Music
Husserl’s philosophy raises significant issues for music. The questions that
emerge are: How do human consciousness and the human mind relate to the
difference between sound and music? W hat is it that lets music emerge out of sound?
How does temporality differ in the realm of music and in the realm o f sound?
These questions yield different responses when they are applied to the
oriented paradigms. Not only are the answers different, but the laws and structures of
the two paradigms are distinct, too. Consequently, it is crucial for the field of music,
when referring to the realm of sound (positivistic; objectified and measured) or the
Reimann’s aesthetics for music education, we are constantly dealing with a confusion
of the "experienced object and the experiencing of the object" (p. 4).
Historically, Ansermet and Celibidache were probably among the first who
Thakar (1988) seems to have based his research on Celibidache’s teachings, although
phenomenology of music in his master classes, but also puts the phenomenological
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Celibidache eliminates any assumption about musical objects outside the mind during
his work as a conductor. For example, a musician will execute a musical indication (a
crescendo for example) not because it appears on the page of the score, but because
part. Because of this, the motivation to execute a crescendo is internal and not
external. Phenomena only exist within consciousness and that is the exclusive realm to
have been published on the phenomenological studies by Ernest Ansermet, they are of
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that the dualistic schematization of musicology into speculative and practical aspects is
Kimmey insisted that any research result must not be separated from context o f the
researcher (who is he/she, what are his/her intentions, etc). Instead the researcher
him self/herself plays an integral function in understanding the research result itself. It
can no longer be perceived as being separated (what traditionally justifies the quality
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scientific encounter only in the most recent decades of this century. Whereas initial
works (for example Arcaya 1975) outlined and defined the problems o f a
discussed the importance of phenomenology for music education and suggests several
emphasized the relationship between the whole of a piece of music and the abstracted
present concrete practical concepts for the actual rehearsal/classroom situation, his
music, primarily referring to Heidegger’s concepts expressed in Sein und Zeit (1976).
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Delpaz and his co-authors (1978: 252) discussed the "modalities of musical
attention and perception" as a "view of aesthetics and style." Again, the important
quality of this approach is the attempt to explain aesthetic value by focusing on the act
fact that the object of experience is inseparably connected with the modes of the act of
Together with Bartholomew, the works of Pelt (1983) and M agnusdottir (1980)
model for overlooking the primordial perceptual relation of the perceiver and the
point. Pelt focused on the ontology of a piece of art, using Heidegger’s philosophy as
a starting point. Although both authors presented important research for the
that bears clear practical guidelines that can be used in the actual rehearsal/classroom
situation.
detail in the context of specific musical problems. Lochhead (1982) and Bodreau
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secondary education in the arts and Panzarella (1977) investigated concrete "peak
experiences in response to music and visual art and some personality correlates" (p.
factors as being responsible for the aesthetic meaning of peak experiences. Crucial in
this work was the attempt to eliminate the exclusive fixation on an object outside of
human consciousness and to contextualize the peak experience with the consciousness
division o f time gestalts into noise, speech, and music implies various experiential
M ore specific are the works o f Carpenter (1974), who primarily dealt with the
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time, space, feeling, and motion in his extensive discussion.18 Carpenter attempted to
temporalities and structures implied in a fugue. She used in her research examples of
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CHAPTER III
INTRODUCTION
However, available literature does reflect the main stages and points o f Celibidache’s
professional life. The following data are given in the form of a chronology of the
the following three sources, which can be considered fundamental to the biographical
data collection of Celibidache’s life: Klaus Umbach (1995a: 330-331), Klaus Weiler
(1993: 361-371), and Konrad M ueller et. al. (1992: 134-136). Most o f the listed data
are overlapping and published in two or in all three publications. Some data that are
indirectly related to Sergiu Celibidache are included in this chronology for a better
•Some o f the texts used for this chronology (especially Weiler 1993) are so short
that the English representation in this research project comes very close to a translation
o f the original German text. This resemblance was not intended but unavoidable.
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CHRONOLOGY
1912-35 Celibidache born on the 11th of July 1912 in the city of Roman in
Julian Calendar, which was valid in 1912, his date of birth is 28th of
June 1912. Lived in Rumania until 1935. At age four started to play
piano. Nine years o f piano lessons. After basic school training, studied
Berlin (approx. fall 1944). Began to compose and to perform his own
compositions.
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8. 23. 1945 Leo Borchard, the first post war conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic
Orchestra, died.
8. 29. 1945 First concert under Celibidache’s baton with the Berlin Philharmonic
Orchestra.
Berlin Philharmonic.
the return of Wilhelm Furtwaengler (who at that time was not allowed
Furtwaengler.
5. 25. 1947 First concert with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction
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Orchestra.
1948 First concert with the London Philharmonic Orchestra under the
France.
Orchestra.
10. 1953 First concert with the Orchestra of the M ilan Scala.
world war.
11. 29. 1954 Last concert with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra until 3. 31. 1992.
12. 13. 1954 Herbert von Karajan appointed new Music Director of the
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Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. Celibidache left Berlin and the Berlin
England.
10 . 7 . 1957 Celibidache conducted for the first time in three years in Berlin
Tiessen.
1957 - 58 Various concerts with the Radio Symphony Orchestra of the West
1960 - 63 Intensive work and cooperation with the Royal Orchestra Copenhagen.
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10. 1962 First concerts with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra.
1963 - 71 Principal Guest Conductor and Artistic Director of the Swedish Radio
1967 Concerts with the Staatskapelle Berlin in East Berlin, Dresden, and
Bamberg/Germany).
3. 21. 1971 Last concert with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra.
Siena/Italy.
1972 - 77 Principal Guest Conductor and Artistic Director of the Radio Symphony
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Paris. Celibidache moved to Paris with his wife Joane and their son
Serge.
pfaelzischem Staatsorchester/Germany.
10. 15. 1979 First performance o f Bruckner’s eight symphony with the Munich
Philharmonic Orchestra.
10. 1981 First concert tour throughout Germany with the Munich
Philharmonic Orchestra.
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2. 27. 1984 Concert with the Orchestra o f the Curtis Institute o f M usic/
Since 1985 extensive tours throughout the world with the Munich
Philharmonic Orchestra.
11. 1985 For the first time, signed a contract with the city o f Munich.
Festival.
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Florian.
1989 Concert tour throughout the USA and Canada with the Munich
celebration
1990 Concert tour to Japan with the M unich Philharmonic Orchestra, where
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general, his private life is not well documented. With great consistency, Celibidache
protected his private life from the outside world. Klaus Umbach’s biographical reports
(1995a) contain some further anecdotal and private information which will be left
2The data of this chronology were selected from the given ones in the publications
of Umbach (1995a), Weiler (1993), and M ueller et. al. (1992).
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CHAPTER IV
INTRODUCTION TO PHENOMENOLOGY
Quentin Lauer (1958b: 1) wrote in The Triumph of Subjectivity that "with the
passage of time it becomes more and more difficult to determine what the words
Husserl and Phenomenological Research Society and The W orld Institute for
First, phenomenology has entered almost all m ajor fields of twentieth century
of science, religion, and many others) distinct schools have developed independently.
Gabriel Marcel, Jean Hering, Franz Brentano, M erlau-Ponty, Max Scheler, Nicolai
Hartmann, and Victor Frankl are only a few numbers o f this group (Husserl 1985: 5,
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gesammelte W erke. Aufgrund des Nachlasses veroeffentlicht mit dem Husserl Archiv
an der Universitaet Koeln, vom Husserl Archiv (Lowen) Den Haag 1950ff and other
writings), the works of the following three authors, who essentially helped build the
foundation for the idea of phenomenology and its development, need to be mentioned
der Ethik und die materiale Wertethik of Max Scheler (1913/16) (Scheler 1945); Sein
und Zeit of Martin Heidegger (1927) (Heidegger 1976); and Die Phanomenologie der
Phenomenology with the assertion that "all of phenomenology is not Husserl, even
though he is more or less its center." The literature does, however, present Husserl’s
Nevertheless, the focus on Husserl does not make the attempt to define
phenomenology any easier. De Boer (1978: XlXff) points out that no full agreement
on the interpretation has been reached and considerable problems exist in coherently
interpreting and understanding Husserl’s works. H usserl’s own students never reached
agreement, and beyond that, the analysis of Husserl’s work shows that his ideas not
only changed continuously during his lifetime, but that "Husserl utilizes language in a
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46
number of different ways. First, he introduces some new terms and [then] uses old
as the various components which comprise the general ideas and which
which will help clarify and give context to the subsequent discussion of
Celibidache’s work.
Husserl was born on the 8th of April, 1859, in Maehren, where he studied
mathematics and philosophy in Leipzig and Berlin and later became, after completing
1900/01), his first m ajor work, Logische Untersuchuneen. set the starting point for
Philosophic gilt m ir, der Idee nach, als die universale und im
radikalen Sinne strenge Wissenschaft. Als das ist sie
W issenschaft aus letzter Begriindung, oder, was gleich gilt, aus
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Husserl wanted, and this is the fundamental motivation in all his work, to find
it cannot be proven by any method. Because of that, positivistic science is not able to
limit itself as an isolated subject matter, and, furthermore, science is not able to use
meaning is not possible with the preliminaries given in science (Elisabeth Stroecker
1887: x-xi).
H usserl’s most consistent claim and most dominant insistence was that of being
methodology to be objective. The core concepts for this argument were that of being
and reality. "We need a science of Being in the absolute sense" (Husserl quoted from
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that lead to objective knowledge, Husserl argued, could only be achieved by the
Phenomenology looks for what is only assumed to be "out there" (German: es sei)
and at the very same time at the mode in which its state of being is presented within
1987: x-xi).
Husserl’s concern about the notion of pure science and his critique of
conventional positive science is reflected especially in the title of his last major work,
1937) (Husserl 1982a and 1962), which in many ways contains the last evolutionary
The spirit, and indeed only the spirit, exists in itself and for itself, is self
sufficient; and in its self sufficiency, and only in this way, it can be
treated truly rationally, truly and from the ground on scientifically...The
spirit is by its essence capable of practicing self-knowledge....Only when
the spirit returns from its naive external orientation to itself, and remains
with itself and purely itself, can it be sufficient unto itself. The
development of an actual method for grasping the fundamental essence of
the spirit in its intentionalities, and for constructing from there an analysis
of the spirit that is consistent in infinitum, led to transcendental
phenomenology. It overcomes naturalistic objectivism ...through the fact
that he who philosophizes proceeds from his own ego, and this purely as
the performer of all his validities, of which he becomes the purely
theoretical spectator....H ere, the spirit is not in or alongside nature; rather
nature is itself drawn into the spiritual sphere (Husserl 1970: 297-298).
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through the mode in which the quality "being" presents itself in human consciousness.
2The world is not an object with laws of constitution I can own or know. The
world is the natural milieu and the field of all my thoughts and all my obvious
perceptions. The truth does not only live inside the human being; the human being is
in the world and he knows himself in the world. If I come from the dogmatism of
natural humanness or from the dogmatism of science to myself, I do not meet an
actual center of inner truth, but only do I meet a subject that is devoted to the world.
[Translation mine, T. Z.]
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Therefore, a phenomenon, in the sense Husserl meant it, cannot exist independently
of its own presentation within the human mental system; it exists within the specific
vogue o f its presentation (Husserl 1985: 14-15). Basically, it is only the mental
appearance itself that one studies in phenomenology. It is not assumed that this mental
appearance is related to any kind o f external object that the mental appearance tries to
express/represent for human consciousness, nor is what might have caused such an
necessary to use the term might because Husserl assumed that, since all forms of
experience, and perception) exist exclusively within the human mind, it is not possible
to make a statement about the world outside of the human mind. He excluded the
question about any external reality from his interest and concentrated exclusively on
the subject o f consciousness-acts, which constitute the various forms o f mental facts.
However, in leaving all questions about the external world aside, he broke with the
Kant as well as Descartes, for example, based their systems of thought on the
assumption that a reality that can be objectified and analyzed exists independently of
human consciousness. Descartes ignored an egological standpoint per se. His Cogito
Ego Sum was based on the dichotomy between the human act o f thinking and the
world that is being thought of. The "I" o f the Cogito was left out o f his analysis of
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does not acknowledge the significance of lived experience, its processes, formal laws,
and structures. The term "phenomenology" originates from the idea of phenomena,
which was described by Kant: phenomena are data that derive from our experience.
Husserl discussed in depth Descartes’ and Kant’s philosophies3 [see especially Husserl
(1987) Cartesian Meditationsl with which he shares some common ground in his
departure. H usserl’s philosophic axiomata, however, stood far apart from them and
created a world of their own w hich-in this form—was new to occidental philosophy
stating that the fundamental assumptions of daily life are abandoned, which means the
3For a comparison of Husserl’s philosophy with that of Kant see Broekman (1963:
109ff) and Kockelmans (1977: 269ff).
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focal point towards subjectivity, which tries to explain the constitution, condition,
inseparable.
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focusing/analyzing.
The actual and lived evidence and the conscious self-reflection upon it is important as
human claim about the reality, meaning, and contents of the world, and any
comprehension of truth.
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the human world, not that the world creates the human consciousness. The individual
methodological steps of his philosophy can only be mentioned briefly here. If one
only looks at his discussion of Descartes’ statement Cogito Ego Sum (in Husserl
(1987): Cartesian M editations), one realizes how difficult it was for Husserl to make
the step that has been described in the previous sections. This research project only
describes brief summaries, which are oversimplified and designed only to set the stage
for the following chapters. Furthermore, it needs to be clear that the relation to
on Husserl’s work, but it extends it. In fact, Husserl’s work was extended by several
people after his death. Today the work of the phenomenological societies in Europe
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Intentionality
Husserl’s criticism was focused primarily on the practice of psychology and all
academic branches that were dealing in any way with mental acts [see as well the
Husserl developed from this critical attempt the term intentionality (Kohak
1978: 105ff and Mohanty 1971: lOOff), which is one of the very few terms whose
meaning was not altered by Husserl over the years. Its meaning remained consistently
the same and therefore reflects the importance for the overall understanding of
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again, the reason does not exist outside of consciousness, nor is it imposed onto the
before in the quote by Husserl). Husserl defines the state of being focused on
something as intentional. Clearly, together with this state of being focused goes the
desire of fulfillment, which means that the focusing of the mental apparatus becomes
a success. Success means primarily that something appears as a oneness, which means
it has identity with clear limits and borders, which are necessary for any type of
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is this structure that the phenomenological method uncovers and analyzes. Any
6, 45ff). Conscious experiences are founded on the ego-pole and the object-pole. Both
idealism (which tries to reduce all object-poles to ego-poles) or for realism (which
tries to reduce all ego-poles to object-poles) (Reeder 1986: 6). An analysis of lived
8Without an ego (without me) the object within experience could not exist.
Without an object an ego (me) could not be experienced.
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length on the phenomenon o f "the present" and the indivisible unity of his
philosophy, although only briefly introduced at this point, plays a significant role in
word as matter) are not divisible phenomenologically (Husserl 1964: 96-98) shows
remarkable resemblance to Zen concepts of time. The Zen teaching, "One in all and
all in one" (Suzuki 1973: 34-35), reflects this dialectic relationship between conscious
teachings, for instance, it is said that the closer the mind wants to get to an object,
the further it will move away, until eventually it will not see anything. On the other
hand, the more the mind distances itself from an object, the more closeness will
emerge; and eventually, once it is eternities away from the object, it will be able to
grasp it. That is a typical Zen paradox. In this school of thought, it is contradictory
thinking and illogical paradoxes that designate truth to the human mind.
The act of experiencing two material objects as oneness at the very same time
what belongs to something and what does not. M oreover, the meaning of a mental
that object. Any expression o f human consciousness and all constituting acts of
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reduces it to one single aspect that is perceivable, but not identical with the object
itself. The aspect of an object is only one possible aspect. The object itself remains
something that wants us to become closer to the object, but that actually distances us
We now see that the mind always needs to make a decision about which
at all. Therefore, the subject always defines automatically a clear intention of meaning
once it starts to work. The step that creates a mental object in its specific intentional
context is defined with the German word venneinen, which can doubtlessly translate
that psychological mechanism best (Prechtel 1991: 31). Husserl tried in his analysis as
is not the object outside or prior to experience, but the situation from which the
“’The phenomenological question, "How does our own perception present itself as
an act of consciousness?", is related to the statement that the meaning o f something
can never be designated from an exterior object, but can only be understood through
the act of consciousness itself....In addition, the meaning of an act lies in the
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Epoche
The pure reference of consciousness towards itself and nothing else but itself is
defined as epoche. Very often, the term "epoche" is translated to mean "bracketing"
characteristic aside. Bracketing would mean that something would be excluded, since,
if there is something within the brackets, there must be something outside of the
brackets. Husserl assumes in his outline of this subject not that the existence of the
exterior world itself is negated, but only the assumption or the intuition of it. That
allows us to leave the question as to whether our assumptions are true or false aside.
Husserl asserted, as did Plato, that all science, with the exception of
philosophy, always places its own elaboration on at least one single hypothesis that
cannot be certified (see again critique of psychology). One of the most consequential
aims of Husserl was to fulfill the Platonian promise that the phenomenological
approach has to free itself from all sorts of assumptions (Magill, v2, 1961: 795ff).
The term pure phenomenology suggests exactly this. Hence, knowledge and
understanding are not connected whatsoever anymore with anything outside of the
subject, but only with the subject itself. Pure phenomenology concentrates on the
conditions which make knowledge possible, and which logically determine the quality
o f knowledge. Because of the new attitude based on the definition of "epoche," the
world appears in a totally new light (Prechtel 1991: 60). It is very practical in writing
experience of the act itself and not in an object of the experience. [Translation mine,
T. Z.]
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whereas "tree" designates the mental constitution within the human sphere of
consciousness."
"Some authors of the secondary literature use the terms "epoche" and "reduction"
in a broader sense and mention different stages of reduction (for example, Harvey
1989: 89ff and Lauer 1958a: 46ff). This is of importance, since this research project
will show that Celibidache too utilizes the term reduction in a broader sense than does
Husserl. Reduction, therefore, is very often used as a concept for several
methodological steps of phenomenology, not only for one single step (epoche).
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very broad analyses, Husserl demonstrates several mechanisms associated with the
presentation of information within the human mind. Here only a few can be
mentioned. First of all, Hussserl distinguishes the actual experience and feeling of an
act of consciousness from the act of reflecting on the activity of the conscious. Both
the actual experience (Erlebnis) and the reflection (Auffassungssinn) are constituting
acts. The act of reflection Husserl calls noesis and the actual experience he calls
that, a noema always contains two aspects: an aspect of objects (appearing in their
material sense) and an aspect of contents appearing in their non-material sense (for
person joyfully sees an apple tree. As it was stated before, the apple tree exists in its
outside o f the perceiver in an eternally independent time-space continuum and also the
however, the matter is different. Using the phenomenological method of epoche, the
world is excluded from the investigation (bracketing). Now the tree and the joy
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become "tree" and "joy," being independent from any exterior system of reference
consciousness, but nothing else. The step from tree to "tree" and the step from joy to
"joy" do not take away anything from the experience, which is a significant
which involuntarily claims that the phenomenological method takes us away from
reality into some sort of "spaced out" dimensions; actually, the very opposite is true.
Very often, the consideration of human consciousness as a factor that forms our
notion of reality has a negative connotation among positivistic traditions. The negative
quality is what I described before as "spaced out." This mode o f reacting to new
depth between each other. This attitude, as the following section on intersubjectivity
will show, can destroy essential understandings of human communication and culture
different for the individual, because the viewpoint now allows the individual to
understand that the entities perceived are created by him/herself. Therefore, the
now, it becomes apparent that change of perception and being is only possible from
the inside (i.e. through the phenomenological shift of an individual’s mind) and that it
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is senseless to expect change to occur from the outside, because the outside is not the
one’s ego and self. People who only perceive the world/reality as something exterior
(ego-oriented), and who cannot mentally refer to perception as something that they
emerge from the outside, but never from within themselves. Husserl calls this attitude
consciousness means nothing else but the reflection of consciousness on itself. This
act is called noesis. Due to the reflection of consciousness, a dialogue and a reaction
(proposing change and growth possibilities) become possible. In our example of the
apple tree, the noesis would be equivalent to the substitution of tree and joy by "tree"
and "joy," which appears due to conscious reflection of the self onto itself. The joy
about an apple tree in the material sense of the word (positivistic-empirical) would not
designate a noesis, because it does not automatically require self reflection. The
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ego and the self, which is of greatest importance in several contemplative methods
(see, for that comparison, Tulku 1977 and d ’Aquili 1990). Actually, the
differentiation between ego and self, as well as the active role of the self due to self-
reflection (meaning self-reflecting on the ego), are the indispensable factors that make
meditation, Za Zen, breathing exercises, etc.). In this sense the act of joy needs to be
seen from two different viewpoints: one is the ego and the other is the self. In the
case o f the ego, again we could not call the joy a noesis; in the case of the self, we
would have to call it noesis. This distinction was first developed by Husserl’s teacher
Brentano, who stated that real mental acts only refer to their own consciousness and
entities outside of the consciousness. Again this distinction reveals the greatest
his/her potential of self. A person with little or no self will automatically have little or
relationship between a) noesis vs. noema, b) ego versus self, and c) the question of
Based on this distinction, one can say that the noema includes a quality of
being that can be looked at, scrutinized, interpreted and mentally digested. The
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quality of being that emerges through noesis only consists of essences that
Consequently, it would be appropriate to say that the noesis always includes an act of
being (as opposed to an intellectually reduced and deducted act of exclusively thinking
intellectually). The noema, contrarily, only includes objects that do not separate the
relationship:
But in the present work Husserl does not consider mental acts
per se. He studies them, because they provide the key to the
various grades and types of objects which make up the noemata,
for corresponding to "perception" there is the realm of "colors,"
"shapes" and "sizes," and corresponding to "perceptual
enjoyment" there is "dainty" pink and "gloriously" scented,
these qualities owe their actuality in consciousness to the noesis,
but they are part of an order of being, which is absolute and
independent. Husserl calls all such absolute forms or essences
eideia, to avoid ambiguities of such words as Ideas and Essences
(Magill, v2 1961: 798).
times the importance of the timeless a priori character of the interrelationship between
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Transcendental reduction
Husserl calls the second methodological step after the epoche "transcendental
reduction." The constellation at which we arrived after the introduction of the epoche
structure of subjectivity, the ego. W ithin the phenomenological realm, the ego appears
twofold:
First, the ego defines its identity through the specific intentional acts in its
specific relationship to its individual intentional objects. This ego is bound in its
relation to the specific qualities of the experienced objects. This dimension of the ego-
pole is called "factual ego," and it refers to the natural attitude of the ego (Kim 1976:
26). The factual ego receives its qualities from the intentional object.
Second, the ego reveals a constitutional quality, which does not change from
intentional act A to intentional act B; it remains in its characteristic the same; its
function, its functioning, and its structure always persist as the same. Husserl calls
this dimension of the ego-pole the "transcendental ego." It is the ego that reflects
upon the factual ego and that looks at the noema-noesis relationships within itself. The
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Now, the quality giving direction to the transcendental ego is reversed: "The
consciousness to object" (de M uralt 1974: 358). W ith this methodological step, any
(Prechtel 1991: 60ff). Suzanne Cunningham (1976: 9) wrote in Language and the
religious believer, but as a transcendental ego (pure ego), "I am the one living
through my every experience. Personality may change, but the structure of the
"I"...rem ains the same" (Reeder 1986: 73-74). The transcendental ego summarizes
as Reeder calls it, "a datum" (p. 74). It is pure processual and structural essence. The
past (historical, personal, and biological), heritage, and culture determine a subject’s
personality, but all this past is quite independent from what actually makes a subject a
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person. Transcendental ego belongs to being a person, whereas the factual ego
Earlier we defined the two structural components of the epoche as the ego-pole
and the object pole. The transcendental ego is the "correlate of the objective pole in
every conscious act" [emphasis mine T. Z.] (Cunningham 1976: 9), whereas the
factual ego is the correlate of the objective pole in each specific conscious act. The
quality of the factual ego changes, whereas the quality of the transcendental ego
transcendental reduction that reveals the transcendental ego. Because the awareness of
For Husserl, the scientific methodology of formal logic was not free o f any
dimensions of experiences were never excluded; even if they were used, they were
still simultaneous parts of the specific state of being. For example, the experience of
the tree and the "tree" was bound to the utilization of the eyes (the senses do
"pure consciousness" which is characterized by the fact that it is separated from any
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naturalistic viewpoint (factual ego and its objects). Because of this separation, the
transcendental ego has the capability to investigate the factual ego and its objects.
The reflection of the conscious towards itself now is not only separated from
the assumption of an exterior world13 (epoche), but it is also separated from all
appearances that are somehow related to specific factual information. Therefore, the
case of the perception of the tree and/or the "tree" does not contain the transcendental
reduction. Due to this methodological step, the "real" is crossed out and what is left
over is "pure" reality in its most fundamental form of any conscious content, namely
Things can never emerge within consciousness in their totality, because it is the
13It needs to be consistently remembered that the term "exterior world" already
represents a dimension that is not part of the phenomenological analysis. It is used-so
to speak—to look at the phenomenological process from the outside which, indeed,
correlates with day-to-day traditional scientific thinking: namely, that there is a
factual, material, objective, and objectifiable world out there.
14The reduction leads from the thing to the thingness, from the object to
objectiveness, from space to spaceness....Thingness, objectiveness, and
spaceness...can be found within the transcendental ego and therefore are only
determinable in true self-evidence, which finally enables the possibility of a pure
science, but which does not allow us to draw any type of conclusion about the
exterior world at all. [Translation mine, T. Z.]
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emerge in the first place. This does not apply to entities that emerge due to
transcendental reduction, which is based on the reflexive act of the self, in which the
self fills out all space that can possibly be mentally used. In relation to the act of self
factuality," because any conscious factuality that arises due to transcendental reduction
can only appear in absolute self-authenticity (Prechtel 1991: 60). The transcendental
represents the part of human consciousness that can only reveal, if at all, the
I5Some of the available secondary literature uses in this context the English word
self-consciousness (for example Natanson 1973: 205). At first consideration, the usage
of this term might appear to be useful; however, because of the complexity of the
subject matter, it would at this point lead to more confusion than clarity.
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Eidetic reduction
In quoting Immanuel Kant, Husserl states that "all knowledge begins with
experience, but it does not therefore arise from experience" (quoted from de Boer
1978: 247). Husserl tried to compare all transcendental reductions, in order to create
knowledge in the phenomenological sense of the term. The eidetic reduction simply
tries to eliminate all individualities, coincidences, and specific features that are not
common to all transcendental reductions. What Husserl wanted to investigate was the
universal and what is the ecumenical structure concerning the condition of human
16Because the laws of entities are identical with the structures o f their (i.e. the
entities) appearances as thoughts, and further are identical with the structures of
potential appearances as thoughts, they can claim universal applicability. Every single
individual case, therefore, is an example of this universal structure. The eidetic
(variation) reduction should lead to those necessary elements of structure which are
constitutive for the specific object-relation and which must be indispensably accepted.
[Translation mine, T. Z .]
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For Husserl, two very distinct types of experiences exist: First, the experience of
individual and particular objects that belong to the factual ego-pole. Second, the
states,"the objects o f eidetic intuition are not real objects as such but rather the same
objects insofar as they are presented from the aspect of their essential types and
meanings" (Edie 1987: 8). These idealized essentials are neither a reproduction of an
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Husserl believed that for his phenomenological departure, the most important
philosophy on this subject and based the beginning of his analysis on Franz
Brentano’s work (Bernet, Kern, and Marbach 1993: lO lff). Husserl made the
phenomenology. Husserl illuminates this point with his discussion of the now
existence) of the past and the future (which by definition exclude each other) and that
Husserl used his discussions of internal time consciousness for the development of
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The notion of the now-point has different dimensions. In his discussion, Husserl, first
refers to single images as points of now, but further on he develops the idea of the
unity of a flux of images and the unity of multiplicity (Husserl 1964b: 167 and
This notion of "the exhibition of one and the same" through the perception of a
plurality of images by the transcendental ego is of great importance for the discussion
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76
INTERSUBJECTIVITY
time consciousness. Yoshimiro Nitta wrote that "Husserl assum es...that the identity of
the primordial world of the I and of the primordial world of the Other can be
grounded on the co-operation of presence and a-presence" (Nitta 1979: 29).H usserl’s
aim is to show that, even though there exist two distinct egos and two distinctly
experienced objectivities of transcendental egos, there only exists one world. For
Husserl, the transcendental ego is the bridge that allows us to suspend our naturalistic
separation from the world and each other to consequently eliminate the isolation of
the individual subject from all other subjects. In his phenomenology, the
17Fuchs (1976: 74ff) and many others have pointed out that Husserl’s discussion
of intersubjectivity is inconsistent and ultimately "fails." The inadequacy of H usserl’s
argument is supported, according to Fuchs, by critical evaluations of Heidegger,
Sartre, M erleau-Ponty, and Levinas. Here, however, the phenomenological discussion
of intersubjectivity plays an essential role for the following chapters. It is not the
purpose o f this research project to reflect critically on the validity of Husserl’s
philosophy.
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W ithin the realm of the transcendental reduction, the "heres and theres" and the ego
and the alter ego are identical. The transcendental ego is universal since it not only
creates objectivity: it depends on it. Natanson points out that in reading Husserl, one
Consequently the meaning of "my" and "your" transcendental ego designates the
Although not the same, the I is in the you and the you is in the I. Transcendental
reduction creates the ground for the ego’s realization of living within the same
objectivity of all other egos. Subjective objectivity is as well the objectivity of what
I8Restricting ourselves to the ultimate transcendental ego and the universe of what
is constituted in the universe, we can say that a division of his whole transcendental
field o f experience belongs to it immediately, namely the division into the sphere of
its ownness—with the coherent stratum consisting in his experience of a world reduced
to what is included in his ownness (an experience in which everything "other" is
screened o ff)-a n d the sphere o f what is "other." Yet every consciousness of what is
other, every mode of appearance of it, belongs in the former sphere. W hatever the
transcendental ego constitutes in that first stratum, whatever he constitutes as non-
other, as his "peculiar own"—that indeed belongs to him as a component o f his own
concrete essence...; it is inseparable from his concrete being. Within and by means of
this ownness the transcendental ego constitutes, however, the "Objective" world, as a
universe of being that is other than him self-and constitutes, at first level, the other in
the mode: alter ego (translation from Natanson 1973: 101).
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Husserl calls the lifeworld (Lebenswelt). Lifeworld is the constitutional quality within
which human life exists; it is the common ground o f life and the medium that forms
the plurality of egos into one unity. In The Crisis o f European Sciences (Husserl
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subjectivity, because objectivity can only appear within subjective experience. His
methodological goal is to define and describe the different ways in which subjective
experiences appear, how they function, and how their constituents relate to each
generally describes as merely subjective now becomes purely subjective, and last but
constitutes the dependent interrelationships between the ego-pole and the object-pole
within experience, and internal time consciousness, which is the most basic structural
various kinds.
reflection.
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The possibility of universals as knowledge and the constitution of the ego as being
part of one single universal ego through transcendental reduction leads towards the
selective in the sense that its purpose is to prepare for Celibidache’s philosophy.
work: it bears a very close relationship with Far Eastern philosophies (such as Zen,
for example). In 1925, Husserl published an article on the German publication of the
speeches of Gautamo Buddhos (Ueber die Reden Gautamo Buddhos) (Husserl 1989a:
125-126). In this article, Husserl described his profound fascination with Buddhist
writings. He considered the study of these translations as inestimably valuable for the
ethic, religious, and philosophic renewal of our "naive" culture (Husserl 1987: 157-
161). Apparently, Husserl did not perceive his understandings of Buddha’s writings as
contradictory to the goals and values of his own life-long philosophic endeavor in
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with the 1979 publication o f Japanese Phenomenology (Nitta and Tatematsu ed. 1979)
within the series of Analecta Husserliana,19 an East/W est forum for phenomenological
research was born. Other authors have made major contributions to the
positively outside o f human consciousness, but exclusively inside. This shift from the
exterior to the interior of human experience allows a different focus. The laws of the
physics of (exterior) sound are quite different from the laws o f sound experienced by
human consciousness.
20See for further discussions as well Chattopadhyaya 1992, Klein 1988,, Jones 1980,
Dubs 1987, Steindl-Rast n .d ., Santos 1991, and Veith 1978.
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CHAPTER V
INTRODUCTION
interviews, the documentation of his seminars, rehearsals and performances, and his
own texts. Celibidache’s main topics and central themes in these materials serve as
categories for applying the constant comparative analytical method. Each publication
this analytical approach is the scattered and unorganized structure of the material.
Celibidache jumps from one topic to the other and neither in his publications nor in
his seminars does he follow a well structured plan that could be described here as a
generic model. In his seminars, his teachings unfold through dialogue. Students
always ask questions which he then answers. Very often a single question can alter
the direction of how content unfolds during a seminar day. It is not possible in this
presentation to present simple concepts first and complex concepts later. Some initial
statements will help to make sense of the overall picture this chapter creates.
One of the most interesting aspects of this analytical approach, the method of
cross checking through the constant comparative method, is that all published
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interviews (the oldest being 34 years old) reveal an incredible consistency: first, the
examples is consistent; and third, the explanations of his arguments are identical.
These research results are rather surprising because the primary material
newspapers, which have accumulated over a period of more than 34 years. Because of
the reiteration of the same arguments, examples, and topics, the material that has
been analyzed in this research project can be condensed to a very small fraction of the
original.
The material stems from two areas that were not examined in this research
project: a) anecdotal incidences, jokes, and personal matters that are not directly
provocative because of the choice of language or content, which was very often
perceived as highly cynical (Umbach 1995a: 195, 197, 206, and 260). It is interesting
to note that his commentary on colleagues makes up a rather large quantity of the
published materials; almost every interview found contained such remarks. Practically
Muti, Mehta, Boehm, Maazel, von Karajan, Abbado, Fruehbeck de Burgos, Boulez,
Haitink, Swarovsky, Solti, Toscanini, and Knappertsbusch. The same is true for
orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and the Vienna Philharmonic
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choice of words for each individual example. Possible contradictions among and
between explanations of different topics are not further discussed.1 Instead, the topics
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Introduction
the analysis of tone in the context of its impact on human consciousness and its
specific static and dynamic aspects, b) the analysis o f the mind and spirit ( Geist) and
of how both, mind and spirit, react to the acoustic phenomena of music, and c) the
analysis of those aspects of music that cannot be interpreted and that cannot be
influenced by human will, aspects that existed a priori and which led Celibidache to
the conclusion that "in music nothing can be interpreted," but that instead "everything
and to the conditions of music on the other. Music and the conditions of music are
two very distinct concepts which can only be approached and understood by two very
different methodologies: music by pure experience and pure consciousness, and the
conditions of music by logic and science. Music has no definition. Sound has
definitions, but sound is not music. Instead, sound is something that can lead to
music, but sound itself has nothing to do with music. Music, as opposed to sound, is
not logic and, as well, the laws of spatio temporality, such as physical time/tempo,
can not be applied to music. However, the conditions which are necessary for
scientific method for the study and understanding of these conditions is the
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responsible for the conditions that are required for something to become music. But
once these conditions themselves are realized, music happens beyond the realm of
human will, intelligence, understanding, and action. In looking back on his own
career and life, Celibidache points out that the first years o f his career were devoted
to being sensational, effective, and presenting a show to impress the audience, rather
than devoted to making music. At the age o f 31, he stood as a conductor for the first
guarantee itself; many unpredictable factors can prevent the desired goal. Only nine to
ten percent of all his performances can be called music. The rest o f his performances,
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conductor. Very fundamental points of view are seen and presented in an ontological
phenomena of music have the tendency to disappear. The same is true for anything in
life; life is a continual process of coming closer to death. A violin string is set into
vibration by a player. The player causes the string to change its existing mode from
that of passiveness into that of activeness. Nevertheless, right after the string is
human impact by bringing the string back into passiveness. Consecutive sounds or
notes of a melody or a piece represent the "fight" against this natural tendency of
sounds to disappear. No string will vibrate infinitely long, and neither can nature
produce an ongoing, controlled, and stable pitch. Only the human being can do this.
The "fight" is kept alive by a pulsating balance of tensions and relaxations in all
music. Music does not consist of an infinite growth of tension or an infinite growth of
relaxation. When the cosmos or nature takes back what was initialized by a human
being (i.e. bringing the action or vibration of the string back into its original passive
state) a universal law comes into place. Death itself, the taking back of the impulse,
the act of becoming passive again and disappearing, is structured and is determined by
a universal law. The sequence and the appearance of infinite overtones is a priori
defined. The string, once it is set into vibration, starts to divide itself according to an
universal plan (Celibidache 1992i: 62). Celibidache says that each single process of
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dying is structured. The way the cosmos takes everything back cannot be determined
by human will: instead, nature dictates this process. The human being can only
witness this process, but he can not influence it. Based on this ontological viewpoint,
piece of music, music per se are created through human nature, but do not belong to
human nature; they belong to the unity of the cosmos (Celibidache 1992i: 62-63).
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directing their energies against each other. Through this process o f directing their
tension will appear, after which relaxation takes place. The two energetic tendencies
do not do anything by themselves. Only by working together and becoming one can
The tide is a good example2 of this principle: the interplay of gravity, physical
and material conditions, time, motion of moon and earth, etc. cause the oceans to
create tides. The phenomenon of the tide is the unified expression of the multiplicity
of all these elements, factors, and parameters. A tide, so to speak, is the transcended
quality that appears when this multiplicity o f opposing energies becomes one, or a
single unit. As well, the phenomenon of the tide does not appear because the water
itself is doing something. Instead, it is being affected by the interplay and context of
all forces of which water is an integral part. The tide is nothing but a form of
increase and decrease of tensions and relaxations. The cosmic pulsation and vibration
of opposing forces create a natural process which expresses harmony, stability, and
It is part of human nature to search for this harmony, balance, stability, and
beauty that is created by cosmic laws and not by human will. W hen two or more
opposing tendencies are turned into a single unit, human consciousness experiences a
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very different: here, human consciousness experiences physical time and duration.
When humans find love, or find themselves in love, they want to love eternally.
utilizes opposing energies. Each process has a definite structure o f directions: either
the direction of increase or the direction of decrease,3 the direction towards the
climax, or the direction away from the climax. Music, melodies, and developments do
nothing else but this: they can either go towards the climax or they can go away from
the climax. No point or moment of this process can be without the context of this
overall structure of process, direction, and unity. It is not possible for a natural
process of opposing energies to unexpectedly liberate itself from this principle and be
The natural tendency of the human mind is to search for this kind of stability,
the stability that emerges when two become one, when multiplicity disappears and
unity appears. This form of natural stability, balance, and harmony, even though it
in fin ite examples of opposites can be listed here: growth and decrease, light and
dark, male and female, up and down, etc.
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physical and material level into the following phases: beginning, increase of tension
and decrease of relaxation, climax and maximum of tension, decrease of tension and
increase of relaxation, and end. This structural sequence exists everywhere: the heart
beat, breathing, birth and death, etc. If the forces of the present moment are
balanced, stability exists. The essence of stability is truth. Stability, truth, balance,
oneness, and eternity are terms that are used by Celibidache equally; they are
Multiplicity exists when the appearance (for example, setting a string into
vibration) and the disappearance (for example, division of the string and creation of
unity appears when that which was two or more becomes one.
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The fifth
The essential characteristic of the fifth is the opposition of two and three.
The mathematical opposition of two and three is the maximal opposition within one
single unit. Because the fifth is the interval that contains this maximum opposition, it
stands out in quality from all other intervals. There is another reason, however, why
the fifth is of greatest importance in comparison with all other intervals. The fifth is
the first interval in the sequence of appearing overtones that creates a real contrast.
The first overtone that appears in the natural sequence is the octave, but the octave
does not produce any opposition to the fundamental/root. The next overtone that
Celibidache draws many analogies to the opposition of the forces two and
three, which is an integral part of the interval fifth.4 The geometrical angles of 135
and 90 degrees which appear in the kinetic action of the human legs while walking is
opposition a representation of the two to three opposition; for example, the opposition
Life could not exist in its current form without the structuring element of the
two to three opposition. Any internal structure of a single unit is affected by the
universal two to three opposition. Structure is not possible without it. Without
4The second overtone is produced through the structural division of the string into
two and three parts.
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Again, Celibidache creates a universal and ontological context. The fifth not
unique temporal component of music as well. Because the fifth is the very first
interval of the overtone series that creates opposition, in temporal terms it can be
called the future o f the fundamental. The fifth is the future of its very own origin
(Celibidache 1992i: 64). Celibidache talked during his seminars on several occasions
about undertones as a phenomenon that structurally appears prior to its origin. In this
sense, the fifth is also the past of its own origin. Both the past and the future of the
original fundamental form the basic cadence of subdominant, dom inant, and tonic
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The previously described process of bringing a string into motion and its
extrovert attitude is a quality that desires something to get out of its original state.
extrovert attitude belongs as a quality to the human being, whereas the introvert
attitude belongs to nature or the cosmos. Both qualities form a unified balance. The
introvert quality can only be as strong as the extrovert and vice versa. The
relationship between the extrovert attitude of human will to create something, and
nature’s introvert attitude to always take back what has left its own origin, resembles
nothing else but analogies to all forms of vibration and pulsation o f all existing levels
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Phrasing
Phenomena of a melody can only do two things: a) they can expand (extroversion), or
phenomenon consists of these two aspects which are divided by a turning point or
climax, the point o f maximal expansion (and the point of maximal tension).
Celibidache stresses two important factors. First, the point of maximal expansion can
not be interpreted. Second, the relationship between the two single phenomena that
lead from the beginning to the point of maximal expansion and from the point of
maximal expansion to the end cannot be interpreted. Both the point of maximal
expansion and the coherent relationships that go with it are inseparably connected with
each other. If one part of this structure is changed, automatically the totality of the
structure itself is changed. The point of maximal expansion and its structural
relationships to the whole can either be ignored or witnessed, but they are not subject
expansion within a musical unit only exists once; it is unique (Celibidache 19921: 65).
When Celibidache talks about these relationships between the point of maximal
expansion and its structural relationships, very often he mentions Furtwaengler. For
Celibidache, Furtwaengler was the only conductor who approached music with the
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two following questions: How far does the phase of expansion go? Where is the
turning point where expansion transforms into decrease? Too many times, he says,
people ignored the fact that music has a point where the return starts, and that
potentially the return is the point of departure. The end of a piece is the potential
beginning, because both, beginning and end, are an inseparable unit that
1992i: 65).
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Epiphenomena
However, in his thinking epiphenomena include overtones, but beyond that consist of
far more. The epiphenomena of sound are pre-determined. They create a structure
human will. The sequence of overtones, their quantity and quality are an ontological
fact o f life itself. Ontology categorically excludes human will, interpretation, beauty,
epiphenomena of sound and the formal structure of pieces of music. In both cases, the
return (introversion) from the point of maximal expansion or the climax to the end is
extroversion and introversions, and expansion and decrease, are the same. The
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THE MIND
Pure consciousness
which includes the study o f the mind and consciousness, as well as the study of what
reflects upon itself and transcends the separation between the outside world and itself,
consciousness is its own object. Celibidiache argues that pure consciousness is not
consciousness of something. Consciousness that refers only to its own self and being,
philosophies, which holds that it is the goal to develop an "empty"or pure mind. Pure
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not explain or describe this quality called pure consciousness. For Celibidache, the
ambiguity, or separation of subject and object do not exist. As well, logical structures
do not exist in a pure consciousness. Temporal structures do not exist; the only
1992i:73).
For a pure consciousness, the following is true: the beginning is in the end,
the end is in the beginning, opposites are the same, and nothing but eternal
synchronicity exists. It is only a mind that has developed a pure consciousness that
can potentially experience the beginning and the end of something as a synchronic
Because music is not possible without the overcoming of separation and the
points out that inner peace and balance are essential to become able to experience
experiences truth that has not been touched, influenced, or manipulated by the act of
thinking or will. For Celibidache, pure consciousness and truth always go together. In
keeping with the tradition of Zen, he points out that the truth exists behind and/or
after language and thinking. Truth in this sense cannot be thought, defined,
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passage of a Brahms symphony about its beauty. Celibidache’s response to the student
was, "We do not look for beauty, our ultimate goal is to look for truth. I have no
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Celibidache calls the very first and initial contact of consciousness with a
material (subject - object relationship) the noetic phase. The noetic phase is part of
any rehearsal during which the orchestra rehearses a piece for the first time under the
specific conditions of the present. He states that "noetic is that which comes to me,
which occupies my consciousness" (Celibidache 1992i: 73). That which imprints itself
about the multiplicity of the world as something that can destroy a human being.
Human beings have the natural tendency to turn multiplicity into unity in order to
digest the pressure of chaotic multiplicity. They are forced to somehow organize their
perceptions and the only way they can do that is by reducing chaos and multiplicity
into unity. The mind cannot function without this process: orientation would not be
possible, and thinking would be impossible. Any word, for example, is a form of this
reducing process. The term tree is a unification of all possibilities of trees as well as a
After the initial noetic phase, consciousness begins to turn the formerly
external information into its own. Consciousness incorporates what has occupied
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Thinking
Any analogy between musical process and thought process is not applicable
music are absolutely clear and exist without ambiguity, whereas in language they are
symbolic, ambiguous, and based on the specific past experiences of the individual.
Music does not contain linguistic meaning in a semantic sense. Celibidache points out
that it is a highly profound experience when a musician has liberated himself from the
process of thinking and when there is no separation between sound and being. Sound,
musical process, and being itself can be so identical that a distinction between the
experience and the object of the experience is not possible anymore (Celibidache
1994b: n.p.).
approach, it is not the sound that is experienced. Sound appears as a musical medium,
but what appears (sound) is not what is actually appearing. Celibidache differentiates
between something5 appearing (music) through the appearance (sound). This process
is not logical, yet is true and real (Celibidache 1992j: 2). The world of appearance is
not the world of appearing, or the world of appearance is not the world of being.
5Here, the choice of words becomes difficult. In the distinction between what
appears materially and physically (i.e. the sound) on the one side, and the appearing
the word something is not applicable in the context of the appearing. This is so
because Celibidache refers to an experience that contains no objects: consciousness
that does not want to grasp something.
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oneness, logical thinking must be excluded. Thinking has the tendency to materialize
order for something to be thought, there needs to be a something in the first place.
W ithout the objectification, the mind cannot think what it wants to think. Realities
that are not intelligible are turned into objects, things, items, or subjects in order for
polarities in order for thinking to function. The human being cannot be separated
existence. But thinking is not all that the human being is capable of doing
Celibidache often uses the terms "freedom" and "liberation" in the context of
the elimination o f thinking. Music does not teach one to become free; instead, only
the free person can make music, and by making music he practices being free, "which
rehearsals, thinking is crucial. A rehearsal is not music. The rehearsal ends when
music begins. Rehearsing is thinking. Thinking appears when music has not yet
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Language
which are ambiguous. Language can not be un-ambiguous. With music, it is quite
that takes place through human consciousness (Celibidache 1992i: 66, and Celibidache
1986a: 322).
Celibidache’s view that thinking and language on one side and music on the other
exclude each other, he has never been actively involved in operatic conducting. Music
that is dominated by or originates from language, such as baroque recitatives, are not
music in his point of view. Although Celibidache acknowledges the semantic meaning
once said: "I would rather spend six months in prison than listening to a performance
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Celibidache insists on his point of view that emotion and beauty have no place
in music. Emotional experiences and the concept of beauty are the initial qualities that
draw the human being to music in the first place. In that sense they are necessary,
because if there was no beauty involved in the initial process of perception, no one
would turn to music. However, they are not the final qualities of musical experience.
Anyone who still has not gotten past the stage of the beauty of
music still knows nothing about music. Music is not beautiful. It
has beauty as well, but the beauty is only the bait. Music is
true. (Umbach 1995b: n.p.) [Translation mine, T.Z.]
Beauty and emotion are qualities that are transcended when music appears. The
beauty of music is only the catch to draw people to music in the first place. But
beauty is not its essential goal. Beauty is necessary for someone to be drawn to
separated from language. But music itself is not emotional. Music emerges where
emotions are transcended. Interpretation emerges when sound itself becomes the
center of attention and when sound remains an object of consciousness. In order for
musicians to become liberated from the material aspects of music, they must distance
Absolute identity between being and musical experience, which implies the
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consciousness, where the dichotomy between object and subject is transcended, the
human mind has no choice. To have no choice excludes the choice of interpretation,
having no choice stands for the total elimination of human action. Here, the only
thing a human can do is to become conscious. To say the only thing a human can do
valleys, colors, and structural changes on various levels. All one can do is to become
aware of this landscape to then integrate all information into a single unity. One can
not interpret the landscape itself. Musically speaking, one cannot start to change the
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human mind. The destruction of the ego allows a person to experience reality "as it
is" (Celibidache 1992i: 77). The experience of truth requires the elimination of human
ego and the emergence of pure consciousness. There are infinite possibilities of how
to not experience truth. But there is no alternative for how to experience truth. Truth
the context of pure consciousness, only one single first symphony o f Brahms exists,
symphony exist. W hen Celibidache reduces Brahms’ first symphony to only one
single possible one, he is not referring to the material/physical object that one hears in
performance, and he is not referring to the material/physical conditions (i.e. the notes
Brahms’ first symphony does not exist as an object outside of human consciousness,
re-created as absolute identity between pure consciousness and human being. This is
an explanation for the following statement Celibidache has made on various occasions:
that a first symphony of Brahms never existed, nor exists, but that it can only be re
Music as truth cannot be "made" by a person. Music and truth can appear, can
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happen or can emerge within a person, if he/she establishes the right conditions for
this to happen. The essential condition for this to happen is the destruction of ego
(i.e. identification with the self and body as separated objects; or metaphorically
speaking, becoming a vessel for truth to manifest itself). Human life has no impact on
truth; the only choice human life has to offer is to work on the material conditions so
consciousness manifests itself in this world. It is spontaneity that Celibidache asks for
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Intersubjective objectivity
"When subjectivity (ego) is eliminated two people will find each other within the
other" (Kleinschroth n .d., Zelle 1992: 51, and Celibidache 1992i: 62). Celibidache
often uses the phrase: I find myself in you and you find yourself in me. In this state,
two subjects have eliminated the separation between the "I" and the "You".
consciousness. Any impact of what the ego produces (for example, disappointments,
expectations, wishes, hopes, etc.) and any form of distinction between "I" and "not-I"
(i.e. "You" or "it") leads to interpretation and therefore away from music. Where
interpretation exists, there is ego. What Celibidache calls the ego hinders a person to
qualities onto the phenomenon that belong to the person (ego) but not to the
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Ill
W e can now say the following about the conditions necessary for something
to become music:
Structure and sound together allow the experience of relationships. Relationships and
19921: 62).
2) Sound itself has nothing to do with music. Sound disappears. What remains
is a function and a quality. Once music appears it has nothing to do anymore with
disappearance (death) of sound. Nature does not offer a continuously equal vibration
(sound); only human beings can do that (Celibidache 1992i: 62-63). Sound as it
6Here, sound not only stands for the physical vibration that the human ear
perceives. It includes as well the experience of sound on an internal level, such as
Beethoven composing while already deaf.
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and proportions on all possible levels. The process of structuring sound so that all
reduction.
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REDUCTION
consciousness can only perceive one entity at a time. Therefore, when dealing with
Multiplicity cannot become an experiential part of the mind at a single given moment.
Only one punctual entity can become that. In music, two very basic forms of
various elements are active at the same time simultaneously and exist at one single
point (moment) o f time (for example, counterpoint, or chords o f more than one note).
consists of the various successive vertical points and it exists in time successively.
horizontal flow. Reduction occurs when the mind transcends multiplicity into oneness.
Both forms of multiplicity can be reduced individually and/or together. If this kind of
complete reduction appears, the beginning, end, part, and the whole are all identical;
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114
responsibility to determine and create the material conditions that are necessary so
that duality and multiplicity on all existing levels disappears within the realm of
order to become able to perceive more multiplicity" (Celibidache 1986e: 118). Once
consciousness has achieved the reduction of multiplicity, it is ready to face and reduce
multiplicity then occurs from the outside through time, whereas from the inside
above, the spoken or written sentence itself takes time in the physical dimensions of
time since it can only exist within the four-dimensional realm of spatio temporality.
But the reduced and transcended experience of it does not. The dimensions of pure
consciouss experience are not the same dimensions as those of the physical world with
its spatio temporal structure. If a sentence is truly reduced in this form by pure
consciousness, it can be said that the beginning of the sentence is in the end and the
end is in the beginning, and, furthermore, that the part relates to the whole as the
whole relates to the part. It is crucial to understand that the fact that a sentence is
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spoken does not allow any judgment of whether the execution of that sentence
occurred in the spatio temporal dimensions of the physical world, or if the execution
the principle in music is the same. The four movements of a symphony, are in the
conditions of the musical material and its presentation are realized, and if the mind
liberates itself and realizes a pure consciousness. Here, beginning and end of a
thinking, writing, and or utilization of logic. The partial aspects of music, such as
melody, rhythm, harmony, dynamics, etc. need to be put together through the action
of the mind. The mind reduces complexity continuously and it can do this on an
The basic condition of humans in their confrontation with the universe is the
them through their senses, through the cognitive structures and processes of their
brains. In order to function on a material level, they are genetically forced to utilize
those functions that perpetuate the separation between themselves ("I") and everything
else ("It", "You", "Non-I"). At the same time, multiplicity is against human internal
nature. In order to reduce multiplicity, and to create order, orientation, and to become
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capable of dealing with the world, the human consciousness unifies. This process of
condition is that o f unifying and not that o f separating. He says: "The world
dispersed, scattered, and broke up, for reasons that are not known to us, and every
single human is on his way to put the world together again" (Celibidache 1992i: 73).
The reduction of a sentence is a different problem for the human mind than is
general, the mind needs training to develop this ability. This form of training is not
consciousness.
contrast to that, when making and experiencing music, we are all one and we
quality of our consciousness, we are not one, but instead a sum of players producing
a sum of sounds and rests. Reduction is the act of human consciousness that
the notion o f reduction for the bracketing of the world and consciousness or to put the
world into parentheses. Here, the contents of consciousness are separated from the
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Celibidache first insists on the logical and scientific acquisition of the given material
(score, knowledge, etc.). In this sense, he does not exclude the physical world from
the working process. Next, he does indeed concentrate on the transcendental quality
multiplicity into oneness. Whereas Husserl refused to make any statement about the
physical world, Celibidache does. For Celibidache, reduction does not mean to reduce
something in quality. Rather, it means to establish a new quality that did not exist
before. To reduce in this way is an integral part of human nature that tries to confront
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music, which continuously revitalizes the fight to create sound against the natural
tendency of sound to disappear, introduces the dimension of time into music. Because
polarities in a melody can only appear through time, they are inseparable from time
itself. The degree of tension, opposition, and contrast among the main themes of a
piece very often determines the length of a piece. For example, the degree of contrast
and tension in a minuet of a classic symphony is usually smaller than that of a finale
or first movement. Consequently, minuets are usually smaller than the first or the last
movement of a symphony.
2) The natural tendency of the universe to take back all material phenomena
calls the root of a tone the main-phenomenon {Hauptphaenomeri) and the following
phenomena that occur after the main phenomenon (root) represent the pre-defined
future of that main phenomenon. The first overtone that appears is the octave.
Because the octave contains so little contrast to the root, it is not very strong in its
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119
characteristic. The interval (overtone) that has the strongest structural impact on the
relationship of presence and future is the second overtone: the fifth (Celibidache
1992i: 62-63).
The analogy between the structured process of the appearance of overtones and
Celibidache makes the important point that two different sides of one phenomenon are
time. Any motion of musical form, structure, and harmony is based on the law of
extroversion and introversion. A piece starts its way from the beginning to the point
of maximal tension (climax), and then returns by moving away (back) from the
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120
continuously goes through time during its extrovert phase, but then goes back in time
through its introvert phase. Both phases represent two opposite directions of time. At
the end of a piece of music, both opposites of time (past and future) have outbalanced
each other, and in the totality of the experience, never existed. The only temporal
quality that existed is eternity. Physical time and musical timelessness are two very
different aspects of the conditions of music itself. Physical time belongs to the
n.p.).
exists only on the structural cognitive basis of the distinction between I and not-I is
7For Celibidache, there are compositions that do not fulfill this structural
requirement. Mahler symphonies, for example, do not contain the unity of
extroversion and introversion. Celibidache does not consider these pieces as music
and refuses to conduct them. The compositional process in music requires the non
intellectual utilization of intuitive being and the entering of the dimensions o f pure
consciousness; at the same time, intellectual craftsmanship is required as well.
However, logic and intellectual calculation by itself cannot produce a composition
which later on can be transformed into conditions that allow music to emerge. This
position might explain why Celibidache refused to conduct late Schoenberg pieces that
utilize twelve-tone techniques. For the discussion of the correlation between musical
form, composition and transcendence, see Adkins 1986, Thakar 1987 and Salzer
1962.
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121
The various elements of music, which are more than pitch, length, color, etc.,
But, in addition, all elements that pass by successively in physical time affect pure
and is inseparably connected with the experience of the first note (retention) and with
the following third note (protention).8 This specific double polarity (now/past and
1976: 313).
The tempo is nothing but a condition which is necessary for that double
increases with increasing complexity (three notes as opposed to two) a different time
and horizontal flow (Celibidache 1976: 313). The same is true if the horizontal
pressure increases.
simultaneous relationship of horizontal and vertical elements can stay alive within
human experience. If the tempo is too fast, the various elements cannot be perceived
in their unified relation and meaning (similar to a person speaking too fast and
consequently losing the ability to communicate). If the tempo is too slow, the
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122
relationships fall apart, because the human mind cannot connect elements with each
other anymore (similar to speaking too slow). The relationship of mass, intensity, and
Haydn, for example, stated that the harmonic structure of a finale/presto has to
be rather simple. This is so because too many chromaticism and complexities would
Celibidache states:
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123
outside of music by itself. But instead, tempo is a consequence of several factors that
acoustics, articulation appropriate for the specific piece, etc.). The experience of
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124
CONDUCTING BY MEMORY
memorize the score or the pitches, and to not visualize the score, cues, and all other
means to be able to correlate all aspects of the musical experience into one
reference point, it is possible to always know where one is in reference to, and in
correlation to, the structural and energetic proportion of the beginning, the climax,
and the end (Celibidache 1988:224ff). As indicated before, Celibidache does not
consciousness. The study does not concentrate on the material itself (even though a
1988: 226).
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125
PHENOMENOLOGY
method. Because it is a scientific method, it can only explain what music is not, and
it can only deal with the conditions which are necessary for something to become
becoming aware of what music cannot be, one develops an intuition concerning what
interview that took place in 1985, Celibidache said that he felt that he could not use
does not apply to the experience of pure consciousness, since pure consciousness does
not include objects. Meditation, as practiced in so many various cultural and religious
traditions, attempts to liberate the human being from thinking, objectification, and a
The altered state of consciousness that is the goal of most forms of meditation,
and that appears when a symphony is reduced to a single unit, is not applicable to
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126
121).
the following statements which are essential to his phenomenology: Celibidache states
that while Husserl said that humanity is the subjectivity that constitutes the world,
Husserl also said that humanity is dependently structured by the world outside o f the
consciousness itself is not intentional anymore and therefore does not focus on objects
(pure consciousness even eliminates itself as its own object) (Celibidache 1976: 310).
Intentionality implies duality, which is the duality between a) consciousness and b) the
pointedness; or in other words, as the Hindu tradition calls it: that o f advaita (i.e.
respect for H usserl’s work, without w hich-he believes-he would have never been
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127
able to reach his understanding of music (Celibidache 1986e: 122). Celibidache makes
the teachings on Husserl a fundamental part o f his teachings and his approach to
rehearsals.
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128
MUSIC
appears appropriate to call music a form of nothingness. Music does not exist as a
continuous material or physical form. In that sense, it is wrong to say that music is
something at all. The semantic function of the word is puts music on an objectified
level which consists of the differentiation between subject and object. Celibidache
tried to solve this linguistic problem by saying that something becomes music, always
there is no fifth symphony by Beethoven that exists; it can only be originated and re
wrong to say that music becomes something: rather, it is more correct to say that
something can become music. This something is exclusively mental and conscious
energy of the actual experience (phenomenological reduction). At the same time, the
material conditions for this to happen are absolutely essential (Celibidache 1976: 305-
310).
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129
It is the human mind, spirit, and consciousness that transform the physical,
psychological energy into music, because the human mind correlates and transcends
factors that are materially separated into a unified experience in which separation does
not exist (Celibidache 1976: 305). If this does not happen, hearing remains linear and
backwards into the future and into the past at the very same time (Celibidache 1986a:
321-322).
Steiner, Celibidache says that it is not music that one hears, but that music unfolds in
the realm where one experiences beyond what one hears. Music is not in the notes,
nor between the notes; music is not anywhere, not even nowhere; music is not in
time. Music is not. Something allows something to become music (German: werden)
Now is not anymore the moment after what is experienced as past, nor is it the
moment before what is thought to be the future. Now expands over the totality of the
complete piece of music (Celibidache 1976: 306). In this synchronicity, the past still
becomes future and the future becomes past, until there is neither future nor past.
Music is not a form of searching or quest. Music has to do with the reality of
our being and the conditions into which we were born. In several seminars,
Celibidache expressed his viewpoint that it is natural for a young musician to not
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130
himself did in the beginning o f his career until the age of 42, to ignore the reality in
which music exists. In the evolution of the individual, it is natural to start from the
physical, material, and external aspects of life, and to confuse them with the reality of
Music is not beautiful. Music is not sound; it has nothing to do with sound.
Music has nothing to do with the instrument. All these external factors need to be
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131
Among all conductors that Celibidache has mentioned in the analyzed material,
one person very clearly stands apart from all others: Wilhelm Furtwaengler. The most
obvious reason why Celibidache talks about Furtwaengler quite differently is that he is
one of the very few conductors about whom Celibidache expresses positive judgment
Several times, Celibidache has mentioned die following incident between him
and Furtwaengler: After a rehearsal, Celibidache asked Furtwaengler about the tempo
it sounds" (Celibidache 1986d: 142, Celibidache 93a: 88, and Zelle 1992: 84). As
Celibidache has said many times, Furtwaengler’s answer was a revelation to him. In
intellectual reality that exists independently from the musical experience and that can
experience itself. If the multiplicity that needs to be reduced and correlated is great,
more time will be necessary to realize that. If the multiplicity is small, less time will
comparable to a Mozart symphony, even though physically and materially the pulse
Tempo is not the physical quality of sound, but rather a condition of sound
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132
Berlin. Furtwaengler has been, since their very first meeting, one of the people who
had influenced him most. In the very beginning of his career, Celibidache was driven
by exterior aspects to music (sensation, emotion, sound, beauty). As well, from the
they were realized in the actual musicai experience, and his pragmatic and charismatic
personality.
Celibidache considers Furtwaengler as the only person who has been able to
fully understand what phenomenology calls "vertical pressure," which is the sum of
all factors that are active and that appear in the very present moment (punctual
pressure). Beyond that, Celibidache considers Furtwaengler as the only person who
was able to experience the vertical pressure in relation to the horizontal pressure (or
horizontal flow), which is the sum of all factors what are experienced as active in the
present moment but which do not appear materially/physically in the present moment
(Celibidache 1976; 313). All elements of the horizontal pressure have a lasting impact
on consciousness even though their material representation does not last. If there was
perceived in relation to the impact the first one made on consciousness in the past.
vertical web of the present moment. Music, therefore, structures and determines the
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133
reduce the two dimensions of vertical and horizontal pressure into a single and
absolute unity (Celibidache 1986d: 142-145, and Celibidache 1986b: 106). It appears
rather significant that Celibidache calls Furtwaengler the only person who was able to
method requested: reference of experience unto itself (i.e. pure experience or pure
able to theorize about it or even without being aware of what it is that he was actually
(Celibidache calls him a "lighthouse") who provided guidance and orientation for his
career. "Everything I have done in my life is related to what Furtwaengler has given
me," Celibidache asserts. "Meeting him was pure grace and mercy" (Celibidache
1986d: 143).
(Celibidache 1986b: 107). He points out that Furtwaengler himself was not aware of
what he had passed on to Celibidache. All musical matters of profound impact were
perceived and experienced by Celibidache through Furtwaengler, but they were never
conducted with a naivety and childlike innocence, of which he was not aware
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134
was the very first and only one who disclosed music to him. Although he describes
Furtwaengler as a conductor who had an inadequate and unclear sense of rhythm, and
transcend the material conditions o f his work to rely purely on his own experience
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135
Only very few documents exist that were written autonomously by Celibidache
himself. An article by Celibidache that was published 34 years ago in 1962 in the
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung very clearly shows the influence Far Eastern
philosophies had on him (Celibidache 1962: n.p.). In this article, Celibidache asks the
reader to give more serious attention to Far Eastern philosophies, especially to those
of Zen and Buddhism. In this article, Celibidache refers to M artin Steinke, whose
teachings on Buddha had a profound impact on him in his very early years in Berlin.
of Buddha’s teachings for the W estern world is that understanding the reality o f our
life has nothing to do with any kind o f subject/object relationship, and that life in its
directly experienced experience. All laws o f life are complete and total in the sense
that no aspect of our human life can escape from these realities.
for the actual experience. He also discusses the fact that the contents of Buddha’s
10A good insight into the significance o f Far Eastern philosophies and the
teachings o f M artin Steinke for Celibidache already during his time in Berlin is
provided in the chapter on Sergiu Celibidache in Nicolaus Som bart’s book, Jugend in
Berlin (Sombart 1984: 223-236).
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136
In this article, Celibidache makes a statement that has proven prophetic for his
life. He asks the reader to investigate the difference between static and fixed thinking,
and dynamic thinking. Static thinking consists of ego identification, wanting to grasp
infinitely continuous realization of the continuum of the laws of life, from which we
cannot escape, which we cannot change, but which we can only either ignore or not
ignore. The contents of this article sums up Celibidache’s lifelong quest and
mention that all materials show a rare and convincing consistency in what is being
are necessary for this to happen, is a direct result of his enduring practice of Yoga
performance. This notion is a Far Eastern one, since it does not create a hierarchy
between the active doer and the passive listener. The consciousness of both groups,
the orchestra and the audience, have a significant impact on the performance itself. In
this context, Celibidache believes that Far Eastern audiences have a greater capacity
to listen to his performances than do many W estern audiences. This seems to be one
reason why his present orchestra, the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, so often tours
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137
Asia. In a 1990 interview, he stated that the act of listening with or in pure
Especially Asian audiences, in his opinion, have this capacity. Not only in this
In a Zen experience, the beginning and the end are one, the ego does not
interfere, and life does not consist of separated entities (objects, subjects, I, non-I,
etc.). The experience through Zen is not intelligible; it can only be experienced.
The Zen-quality of the identity of the beginning and the end as one (absolute unity)
music is not a material phenomenon. It is not logic, but it is only true (Celibidache
1991a: 99).
The Zen quality of unity and identity of those things that our perceptive
not only for the musician and the listener. In addition, this quality has to be inherent
in the composition itself. Celibidache, for example, does not see this quality of unity
greatest artists of instrumentation and sound balance, Celibidache calls the form and
structure of Mahler symphonies chaotic and confusing (Celibidache 1991a: 99). For
him, the structure and form of Mahler symphonies did not originate from the freedom
of pure consciousness and complete reduction. This is why Celibidache has refused to
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138
Celibidache talks often about Zen and what an important role Zen has played
in his growth as a conductor, and his career (Zelle 1992: 75). He stresses the fact that
in Zen, the act of thinking is dismissed as trifling, and that, in Zen, teachers
consciously destroy the semantic grammatical structures of language in the poetic Zen
form of Haiku. Celibidache uses Haikus in his seminars and rehearsals; those Haikus
language do not exist. In the poetic form of Japanese Haikus, there is no causality,
Haiku. A Haiku has nothing to do with beauty. One can only experience a Haiku;
meaning of a human who has liberated himself from the acts of thinking,
conditioning, and logic, so that his existence in the presence of the present moment
reaches full and complete identity with the reality and truth of that very moment. This
One personality of the Far Eastern context clearly stands out. Whereas Martin
Steinke was a German Zen master who had spent many years in Asia, Celibidache
mentions in the analyzed material an Indian spiritual leader of the present: Sathya Sai
Baba (Celibidache 1993c: 3). Celibidache has publicaliy mentioned his devotion to
Sathya Sai Baba several times (Celibidache 1994a: 2, Celibidache 1992k: 4, and
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139
Celibidache 1993c: 3). He has also visited Sai Baba several times in South India.
Celibidache asserts his meetings with Sai Baba have been a continuous personal
student of Sai Baba (Celibidache 1992b: 5), and he emphasized that he is a being who
tries to not distance him self from God (Celibidache 1992k: 6, and Celibidache 1992a:
27).
Indeed, Sathya Sai Baba’s teachings are perfectly congruent with the results of
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140
construct the original spontaneity of the original present moment (Celibidache 1992i:
75). He admits a serious conflict that arises when he refuses to make orchestral
recordings. That conflict is a financial one: Recordings are sometimes necessary for
concerned with artistic issues, not economic or financial matters (Celibidache 1986e:
116-120, and Celibidache 1986c: 131-138). He feels that the multiplicity that is
reduced in the actual performance situation can never be identical with the multiplicity
that a recording of that very same performance offers. Therefore, the original
reduction that took place during the performance situation, and that was responsible
for all decisions that were made for the physical/material conditions of that
It is not possible to speak of the same situation and the same multiplicity of a
requires a specific tempo in order for reduction to take place. Tempo, therefore, is
the necessary condition for reduction to take place, and it is this tempo that does not
appears different. The tempo that appeares during the performance and which in that
will, now appears differently in the recording. The tempo of the recording does not
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141
or recorded. Celibidache criticizes the recording industry for being responsible for
training audiences to become insensitive. People are so strongly influenced, that they
n.p., Celibidache 1975: 1066, Celibidache 1993d: 3-4, and Celibidache 1993b: 45-
acoustic setting within which it takes place. The spatio-temporal setting and the given
material are inseparable. The tempo, for example, is the most direct consequence of
the specific acoustic setting. Celibidache calls the acoustic condition a living condition
His point of view on recordings seems to conflict with the fact that for many
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142
years he preferred to work with European radio symphony orchestras which pre
dominantly work in order to record. But the reason for this long-time working
relationship (Italy, Sweden, Germany, and France) was not based on the goal to make
recordings. The reason was that these orchestras guarantee the longest possible
rehearsal times among all professional orchestras of this world (Germany, for
example, 8 - 12 rehearsals can be standard for new and difficult works). One of the
best orchestras in the world, the Orchestre National de l’ORTF, granted Celibidache
14 rehearsals for one single concert (Celibidache 1988: 213). Personality, spontaneity,
and uniqueness of truth cannot be recorded. Art is unique and can not be repeated
itself. Reduction can only take place within that room. Celibidache compared the
of a person and the actual person. The living dimensiona o f music are "killed"
In a time when music recordings play a more and more important role,
consciousness are standardized and cannot be called as free as they used to be.
“ W hen Celibidache speaks of the musical room, he does not only refer to the
performance hall, stage, and building itself. The musical room has a historic, cultural,
and sociological dimension too, which plays an important role in musical experiences.
A Beethoven symphony played in 1945 in Germany appears in a very different
context than if it were played in 1995 in Tokyo.
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143
Sound and tones are not music; they actually have nothing to do with music itself
(Celibidache 1986e: 132). They only represent the material/physical vehicle that
documentary value is secured with the making of recordings (Celibidache 1986e: 134-
136).
Very similar assertions can be made about the concept of so-called repetitions.
repetition does not exist. If consciousness is confronted with subject X for the first
confronted with subject X a second time, it cannot react or function as it did the first
Music, therefore, does not contain repeats. The physical dimension of music does, but
not the phenomenological dimension (Celibidache 1976: 311, and Celibidache 1992k:
n.p.).
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CHAPTER VI
conditions which make music possible (Celibidache 1986e: 128, and Celibidache
1986e: 128). The theoretical analyses o f the previous chapters, of course, have
practical implications. However, it is not possible to define practical rules that could
reduced in motion and expression. The movement of his baton follows fundamental
rules of kinesthetics. To describe his rehearsal technique best, scholars need to focus
on the act of his consciousness, and the consciousness of the musicians. These acts
are not physically perceivable, but can only be experienced. The rehearsal process
itself is an educational and not an exclusively functional one (Celibidache 1980: n.p.).
actual rehearsing, a great deal of time and energy is invested in the education of the
ensembles. The members o f the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, for example, went
Celibidache (Celibidache 1984c: 15, and Zelle 1995: 16). The same is true for his
work with the orchestra of the Curtis Institute of Music (Zelle 1994: 2), and the
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145
orchestra of the Schleswig Holstein Musik Festival 1992 (Zelle 1992: 11). The
motivation for this teaching effort was to give the orchestra the theoretical foundation
that, Celibidache believes that the human capacity and quality to transcend, to
correlate, to reduce, and to utilize a pure consciousness, is the same in all human
beings (Celibidache 1984c: 15). Consequently, he applies the same working ethic and
4). Celibidache never lets the orchestra "read" a piece in rehearsals; he always starts
from the very beginning in detail. The essence of his conducting style, which he has
also taught during his seminars on phenomenology and music, consists of the
proportion of the arm/baton movement and the movement of the musical energy
has studied in order for spontaneity to emerge (Celibidache 1993c: 2-3). He believes
that, music can only be lived; it cannot be understood. The score and its material do
not exist anymore in the conductor’s consciousness as stored objects during an ideal
performance. The mind does not recall any objects. Spontaneity is a quality that he
would not have been able to develop without his study of Buddhism, Yoga, Zen, and
phenomenology (Celibidache 1993c: 3). Orchestra and conductor need to become one
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146
The essential ability that a conductor needs is to develop a mind that can
correlate all musical factors from beginning to end into one single unity and
thinking. What appears materially and physically, in a causal linear manner, needs to
to study what is objective in the given material. Objectivity, here, refers to Husserl’s
intersubjective objectiveness means to only focus on what human will, taste, and
interpretation cannot influence. The transcended unity of a piece is a given truth that
can either be experienced or ignored. It can not be changed or influenced. This truth
multiplicity into unity. There is only one possible way to experience that. And there
are infinite numbers of possibilities to not experience that (Celibidache 1978: n.p.).
Many and very long rehearsals are essential for Celibidache. As well, he
believes in a continuous educational process between the conductor and the orchestra
which is one of the reasons why he has not guest conducted very much in recent
years, but instead has only focused on the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra for which
he serves as music director (Celibidache 1991a: 98). The goal of this educational
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147
consciousness to work.
Celibidache never conducts operas. There are two reasons why he never
showed much interest in operas: first, the acoustical situation o f the pit does not allow
him to realize his understanding of music, and second, he feels that the predominance
of language and the word block the realization of transcendence, reduction, and pure
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
SERGIU CELIBIDACHE
__________________ . "He leaves both discord and disciples in his wake," Parts o f an
interview with Daniel W ebster in The Philadelphia Inquirer. 2/25 (1984a):
D01.
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149
_________ . "Alles, was ich will, wird von diesem Orchester geleistet,"
Interview published in Jahrbuch der M uenchner Philharmoniker 1990/91.
Direktion der M uenchner Philharmoniker ed., (1991a): 96-101.
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150
__________ . "Keine Theologie hat fuer mich Gueltigkeit. Das sind Kruecken,
die die Leute als Stuetze benoetigen," Interview in El M ercurio. Santiago de
Chile, 5/5 (1992): no page number. Reprinted in Pressespiegel der Muenchner
Philharmoniker unter der Leitung von Maestro Sergiu Celibidache - Grosse
Suedamerika Tournee - 1. bis 17. Mai 1992 - Gastspiele in Sevilla - 23. und
24. Mai 1992 - Exdpo’ 92. (1992k): no page number.
__________ . "Sergiu Celibidache: Ich habe die Musik nicht im Gedaechnis, ich
lebe sie," Interview in El M ercurio. Santiago de Chile, 5/10 (1992): no page
number.Reprinted in Pressespiegel der Muenchner Philharmoniker unter der
Leitung von Maestro Sergiu Celibidache - Grosse Suedamerika Tournee - 1.
bis 17. Mai 1992 - Gastspiele in Sevilla - 23. und 24. Mai 1992 - Exdpo’ 92.
(1992): no page number.
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151
__________ . "Das Phaenomen Musik hat keine Grenzen- Madrid (2): Ein
Interview aus dem Jahr 1987," Interview with Antonio Morales in Scherzo. 2
(1987): no page number); printed in Jahrbuch der M uenchner Philharmoniker
1992(93. Direktion der Muenchner Philharmoniker ed., (1993a): 49-59.
__________ . "Sie koennen sich jeder Musik anpassen - Auszuege aus einem
Interview einer japanischen Musikzeitschrift mit Celibidache," reprinted in
Barth, Joachim. Die Muenchner Philharmoniker auf Japan-Tournee mit
Maestro Sergiu Celibidache. Beckingen-Haustadt: Verlag J. M. O. Barth,
(1993b): 44-47.
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152
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153
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154
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__________________ . "He leaves both discord and Disciples in his Wake," Parts of an
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Wolfgang Schreiber, Sueddeutsche Zeitung. 10/28 (1984c): 15.
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__________ . "Keine Theologie hat fuer mich Gueltigkeit. Das sind Kruecken,
die die Leute als Stuetze benoetigen," Interview in El M ercurio. Santiago de
Chile, 5/5 (1992): no page number. Reprinted in Pressespiegel der Muenchner
Philharmoniker unter der Leitung von Maestro Sergiu Celibidache - Grosse
Suedamerika Tournee - 1. bis 17. Mai 1992 - Gastspiele in Sevilla - 23. und
24. Mai 1992 - Exdpo’ 92. (1992k): no page number.
__________ . "Sergiu Celibidache: Ich habe die Musik nicht im Gedaechnis, ich
lebe sie," Interview in El M ercurio. Santiago de Chile, 5/10 (1992): no page
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Leitung von Maestro Sergiu Celibidache - Grosse Suedamerika Tournee - 1.
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__________ . "Das Phaenomen Musik hat keine Grenzen- Madrid (2): Ein
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(1987): no page number); printed in Jahrbuch der Muenchner Philharmoniker
1992/93. Direktion der Muenchner Philharmoniker ed., (1993a): 49-59.
__________ . "Sie koennen sich jeder Musik anpassen - Auszuege aus einem
Interview einer japanischen Musikzeitschrift mit Celibidache," reprinted in
Barth, Joachim. Die Muenchner Philharmoniker auf Japan-Tournee mit
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__________________ , "Nur der Freie Kann Musik Machen," in M uellerr, Konrad R.,
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Reissinger, M arianne. "Du wirst ein Koenig ohne Krone sein - Klaus Um bach’s
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______________ . "A Musical Free Spirit Warms Up for Carnegie," The New York
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Schreiber, W olfgang. "Musik ist wahr - Wie der Dirigent Sergiu Celibidache sein
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173
PAPERS
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174
UNPUBLISHED SOURCES
Reverter, Arturo. "Sergiu Celibidache - Auf der Suche nach der Wahrheit - Dossier -
Celibidache ein Sonderfall." Typewritten manuscript, n.d.
________ . Interview with John de Lancie. The interview was held on the topic of
John de Lancie’s experiences with Sergiu Celibidache at the Curtis Institute of
Music. Aspen, Colorado, 1994.
________ . Interview with Klaus Umbach, chief editor of the feuilleton/music of the
Der Speieel/Germanv. The interview was held on the topic of Klaus Umbach’s
experiences with Celibidache at the office of D er Spiegel in Cologne/Germany,
1995.
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175
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176
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ARCHIVES
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