Sound Figures of Modernity: German Music and Philosophy

276 Pages·2006·1.33 MB·English

by  Jost Hermand

   

Sound Figures of
Modernity
German Music and Philosophy
Edited by
  
and
 
    
The publication of this book was supported by grants from
William F. Vilas Trust Estate
Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
The University of Wisconsin Press
1930 Monroe Street
Madison, Wisconsin 53711
www.wisc.edu/wisconsinpress/
3 Henrietta Street
London WC2E 8LU, England
Copyright © 2006
The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System
All rights reserved
1 3 5 4 2
Printed in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Sound figures of modernity: German music and philosophy /
edited by Jost Hermand and Gerhard Richter.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-299-21930-5 (cloth: alk. paper)
1. Music—Germany—Philosophy and aesthetics.
2. Music and literature.
I. Hermand, Jost. II. Richter, Gerhard.
ML3845.S6833 2006
781.1´7—dc22 2006008595

Acknowledgments vii
1. German Music and Philosophy: An Introduction 3
   
and
2. Doppelbewegung:The Musical Movement of Philosophy
and the Philosophical Movement of Music 19
 
3. Brazen Wheels: F. W. J. Schelling on the Origins of
Music and Tragedy 64
  
4. The Will as World and Music: Arthur Schopenhauer’s
Philosophy of Music 92
 
5. The Ringas Deconstruction of Modernity: Reading
Wagner with Benjamin 106
 
6. “Not MereMusic”: Nietzsche and the Problem of
Moral Content in Music 124
    
and
7. Bloch’s Dream, Music’s Traces 141
 
8. Dissonance and Aesthetic Totality: Adorno Reads
Schönberg 181
 
9. Thomas Mann: Pro and Contra Adorno 201
  
v
vi Contents
10.The Composer as Dialectical Thinker: Hanns Eisler’s
Philosophical Reflections on Music 232
 
11. Double Mimesis: Georg Lukács’s Philosophy of Music 244
 
Contributors 261
Index 263

The essays gathered in this book, with the exception of Samuel Weber’s
contribution, first were presented as papers at the international confer-
ence “Elective Affinities: German Music and Philosophy,” the 36th
Wisconsin Workshop, jointly organized by Jost Hermand and Gerhard
Richter at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in October 2003. All of
the texts have been substantially revised and expanded for the present
volume. In addition to the speakers whose essays appear here, modera-
tors from the University of Wisconsin’s Departments of German, Musi-
cology, and Philosophy, along with a lively multidisciplinary audience,
helped to make the three days of the conference a success. Joan Leffler’s
unfailing grace and unparalleled efficiency once again proved invalu-
able to the organization and execution of the event. Special thanks also
are extended to the University of Wisconsin Anonymous Fund, the
Trustees of the William F. Vilas Estate, the Wisconsin Alumni Research
Foundation, the DAAD Center for German and European Studies at
the University of Wisconsin, the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft,
and the University of Wisconsin’s Department of German, all of whom
furnished material support for the conference or for the present volume.
The editors also would like to thank the staff at the University of Wis-
consin Press and the two anonymous reviewers of the manuscript.
An earlier German version of Lydia Goehr’s essay appeared in
Dialektik der Freiheit: Frankfurter Adorno-Konferenz 2003, ed. Axel Honneth
(Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 2005). Portions of David Farrell Krell’s
essay were included in his The Tragic Absolute: German Idealism and the
LanguishingofGod(Bloomington:IndianaUniversityPress,2005).Finally,
a German version of Samuel Weber’s contribution first appeared in
Narben des Gesamtkunstwerks,ed. Richard Klein (Munich: Fink, 2001).
vii

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