Yearning for the Infinite A Study of the Capacity of Music to Mediate a Sense of Transcendence A thesis submitted to the University of Manchester for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Humanities 2019 Hannah Burton School of Arts, Languages and Cultures Contents Abstract …………………………..….…………….…………...………...…… 4 Declaration ……………………………………………………………...….…. 5 Copyright Statement …………………………………………………………... 5 Acknowledgements …………………………………………………………… 6 The Author ……………………………………………………………….……. 6 1. Introduction: Music as a Medium of Transcendence ............................. 7 Transcendence and the Infinite ………………………………...................................... 8 Yearning and the Infinite ………………………...……...………….…..……........… 10 Instrumental Music and the Infinite ..…………………….…….………..................... 11 Conversational Partners …………………………………….………….................…. 14 A Musical Reading of Theology: Begbie, Peacocke and Pederson, and MacMillan ………………………………………………………………...…………………...…. 17 Music as Identity- and Community-forming: Clarke and Beckford ...…..................... 25 A Theological Reading of Music: Hardie, Watson, and Brown …………………..… 28 Music as Expressing or Evoking Emotion: Bowie, Balthasar, Stoltzfus, and Heaney…………………………………………………………………..………....… 34 Conclusions ............................................................................................................................. 49 2. E.T.A. Hoffmann’s Theory of Music and the Infinite ........................... 52 The Infinite in Hoffmann’s Writing on Music ……………………………………..... 52 Yearning as a Key Element in Hoffmann’s Discussion of Music …………………... 57 Music as Personal, Individual, and Internal ………...……………………………….. 59 Music as Language and Communicator ……….………………………….…………. 61 Unity and Simplicity ……………………………………..……………….…………. 63 Sublime and Romantic…………………………………………………….…………. 64 Hoffmann’s Review of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony: A Close Reading ................... 65 Conclusions ................................................................................................................... 78 3. Religion as Experience in Schleiermacher’s Thought ……...………... 81 On Religion: Speeches to its Cultured Despisers ……………………….………...… 81 The Christian Faith ………………………………………………………………… 113 A Hoffmannian-Schleiermacherian Approach to Music and the Infinite ………..… 123 A Hoffmannian-Schleiermacherian Approach to Music and the Infinite in Practice…………………………………………………………………...…………. 129 2 4. Identifying Yearning in Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony .................. 133 First Movement …………………………………………………………………….. 134 Second Movement ……………………………………………….………...………. 139 Third Movement ……………………………………………………………....…… 144 Fourth Movement …………………………………………………………………... 147 Yearning for the Infinite in Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony ……………………... 150 5. Tension, Yearning, and Anticipation in Schubert’s Ninth Symphony .................................................................................................................. 154 First Movement ………………………………………………………………….…. 154 Second Movement ………………………………………...……………..……….... 165 Third Movement …………………………………………...…………………….… 173 Fourth Movement …………………………………………………………………... 177 Yearning for the Infinite in Schubert’s Ninth Symphony ………………………….. 183 6. Conclusion: Yearning for the Infinite as a Path to Transcendence ... 186 Sense Perception over Knowledge ……………………………………..................... 189 The Self and a Sense for the Infinite ……………………………………………….. 192 Yearning and Incompleteness …………………………………………………........ 193 Nostalgia and Hope …………………………………………………................…… 197 Opening the Door to an Experience of the Infinite ………………………………… 202 Areas for Further Study ………………………………………………….……….... 205 Bibliography…………………………………………...………………......… 207 Word count: 79,974 3 Abstract There is a significant amount of scholarship debating the relationship between music and theology, primarily concerned either with how music might be used as part of prayer and worship or as a conceptual model for understanding certain aspects of doctrine. However, very little consideration is given to the question of how music might facilitate in some way an experience of something transcendent. This study aims, therefore, to discover how music might open the door for listeners to an experience of religion or transcendence through its forms and features. It relies on an understanding of religion that is not based on practice or doctrine, and so uses the work of Friedrich Schleiermacher to outline a conception of religion as an experience of the ‘infinite,’ which is beyond immediate experience. We notice a similar experience of the infinite highlighted in E.T.A Hoffmann’s writing on music, which emphasises music’s ability to point its listeners toward the infinite. Central to this experience for both scholars is the feeling of yearning on the part of the individual to reach out toward the infinite, having being made aware of the possibility of this experience. For Schleiermacher, some kind of vehicle is necessary to create this feeling of yearning in order to prompt an experience of the infinite; for Hoffmann, music acts as such a vehicle. An analysis of two orchestral works by Beethoven and Schubert as case studies demonstrates how musical features can create for the listener this feeling of yearning that creates the context for an experience of the infinite. Unlike Hoffmann, for whom the link between music and the infinite is rather too direct, this study concludes that, though music might create the context for an experience of the infinite, the onus is ultimately on the listener to take up the opportunity of such an experience and to appropriate it as an experience of faith. This study addresses an under-developed area of research in terms of theology and music by examining how it is that music might create the context for its listeners for an experience of the infinite. In doing so, it goes beyond ideas of how music might speak to those who already have faith to explore the role music might play in creating an experience that might lead to faith, and it is hoped that the analysis of the case studies in this study might create a model by which other styles and genres of music can be similarly analysed. 4 Declaration No portion of the work referred to in this thesis has been submitted in support of an application for another degree or qualification of this or any other university or other institute of learning. Copyright Statement i. The author of this thesis (including any appendices and/or schedules to this thesis) owns certain copyright or related rights in it (the “Copyright”) and s/he has given The University of Manchester certain rights to use such Copyright, including for administrative purposes. ii. Copies of this thesis, either in full or in extracts and whether in hard or electronic copy, may be made only in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (as amended) and regulations issued under it or, where appropriate, in accordance with licensing agreements which the University has from time to time. This page must form part of any such copies made. iii. The ownership of certain Copyright, patents, designs, trademarks and other intellectual property (the “Intellectual Property”) and any reproductions of copyright works in the thesis, for example graphs and tables (“Reproductions”), which may be described in this thesis, may not be owned by the author and may be owned by third parties. Such Intellectual Property and Reproductions cannot and must not be made available for use without the prior written permission of the owner(s) of the relevant Intellectual Property and/or Reproductions. iv. Further information on the conditions under which disclosure, publication and commercialisation of this thesis, the Copyright and any Intellectual Property and/or Reproductions described in it may take place is available in the University IP Policy (see http://documents.manchester.ac.uk/DocuInfo.aspx?DocID=2442 0), in any relevant Thesis restriction declarations deposited in the University Library, The University Library’s regulations (see http://www.library.manchester.ac.uk/about/regulations/) and in The University’s policy on Presentation of Theses. 5 Acknowledgements With grateful thanks to Prof. David Law, who not only supervised this thesis but also lent me the book by Jeremy Begbie that inspired it. Thank you for your endless patience when I had lost focus, and your confidence that I could succeed. Thanks also to Prof. Thomas Schmidt, who co-supervised this thesis and provided valuable insight and advice. Special thanks to the Humanities Researcher Development team for their practical and emotional support in bringing this thesis to completion. Most of this thesis was written at home, and so thanks must go to those whose spaces I have invaded with books, binders, and stationery. To my mum, my sister and my nana – I could achieve very little without you behind and beside me. And finally, to my husband, for everything you are and everything you do. This thesis is dedicated to my grandad, who certainly would have proof-read it. The Author This project is inspired by two decades of music making, and my particular fascination with how music can express so much more than the notes on the page. I studied music at undergraduate level at the University of Liverpool before undertaking a Master’s degree in Religion and Theology at the University of Manchester. 6 1 Introduction: Music as a Medium of Transcendence For centuries, music has been used by religious