ARTHUR

SCHOPENHAUER
ON MUSIC
THE WORLD AS WILL AND REPRESENTATION & ON METAPHYSICS OF MUSIC

BY: RAMON FLORENCIO I. PEREZ JR.

AESTHETIC EXPERIENCE
MUSIC

• For Schopenhauer, music is “the sacred, mysterious,

profound language of tones.”
• Absolute Music / Instrumental Music
SCHOPENHAUER’S EXISTENTIALISM

• “Life is suffering.”
• To live = to suffer
• We are in a sea of frustration.
• We are infinitely striving.
THE WHEEL OF IXION

• Zeus welcomed Ixion.

• Ixion lusted for Hera.
• Zeus punished Ixion.
• Orpheus played his music in the
underworld.
• “…the wheel of Ixion stands still.”
 “…THE WHEEL OF IXION STANDS STILL.”

• The suffering stopped when Orpheus played his music.

• Fine art / true art = grants the viewer aesthetic experience.
• Aesthetic experience is the momentary relief from our
eternal suffering through contemplation of art.
SCHOPENHAUER’S HIERARCHY OF FINE ART

1. MUSIC
2. POETRY
3. SCULPTURE AND PAINTING
4. LANDSCAPE AND GARDENING
5. ARCHITECTURE
AESTHETIC EXPERIENCE

MUSIC IS THE REPRESENTATION OF

THE WILL TO LIVE ITSELF.

“MUSIC REVEALS THE ABSOLUTE.”

COMPOSERS ARE THE HIGH PRIESTS OF THE WILL.

METAPHYSICS OF MUSIC
THE METAPHYSICS OF MUSIC

• “…music is certainly an independent art; in fact, it is the

most powerful of all the arts, and therefore attains its
ends entirely from its own resources. Just as certainly, it
does not require the words of a song or the action of
an opera…”
THE METAPHYSICS OF MUSIC

• “…the vibrations of two tones have a rational relation

to one another expressible in small numbers, they can
be taken together in our apprehension through their
constantly recurring coincidence; the tones are blended
and are thus in harmony. …”
THE METAPHYSICS OF MUSIC

• “On the other hand, if that relation is an irrational one,

or one expressible only in large numbers, no intelligble
coincidence of the vibrations occurs, but obstrepunt sibi
perpetuo, and in this way they resist being taken
together in our apprehension, and accordingly are
called a dissonance.”
THE SATISFACTION OF THE WILL IN MUSIC

• “The effect of the suspension also deserves to be

considered here. It is a dissonance delaying the final
consonance that is with certainty awaited; in this way
the longing for it is strengthened, and its appearance
affords the greater satisfaction.”
“MUSIC IS THE UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE.”
-ARTHUR SCHOPENHAUER

MUSIC IS A BEARER OF MEANING -

PERCEIVED, NOT INFORMED.