RIJKSUNIVERSITEIT GRONINGEN THE MUSICALLY SUBLIME INFINITY, INDETERMINACY, IRRESOLVABILITY PROEFSCHRIFT ter verkrijging van het doctoraat in de Letteren aan de Rijksuniversiteit Groningen op gezag van de Rector Magnificus, Dr. F. Zwarts, in het openbaar te verdedigen op donderdag 5 december 2002 om 16.00 uur door Catharina Anna Wilhelmina Brillenburg Wurth geboren op 31 augustus 1966 te ’s Gravenhage Promotores: Prof. dr. F.R. Ankersmit Prof. dr. J. Neubauer Beoordelingscommissie: Prof. dr. A.J. Vanderjagt Prof. dr. W.E. Krul Prof. dr. W.M. Verhoeven The musically sublime Infinity, indeterminacy, irresolvability Kiene brillenburg wurth ⋐gabw⋑ For Gwen, Roderick, and Kiene CONTENTS Acknowledgements i Introduction v Orientations The Sublime as Elevation The Sublime as Intensification The Sublime as Inspiration Alternatives Approaching the Musically Sublime Overview I. Sublimation 1 ‘No Object Without a Subject’ Imagination and Reason The Mathematical Sublime I, Sublimity The Dynamical Sublime Heroism and Humility Harmonizing the Sublime The Narrative Structure of Kantian Sublime Experience Aesthetic Ideas and Instrumental Music II. Indeterminacy 35 Sublime Relief Obscurity Not-Showing Imitation and Substitution A Reference to Music As in Music, So in Poetry? Imperfection Incompleteness Suggestiveness Infinity A Mighty Unknown Want Intimation III. Might 74 Pathos Pathos, Music, and the Sublime A Second Nature Difficulty Totality Symphony Beethoven Oppressive Beethoven Sublime IV. Desire 110 Sehnsucht Lacking an Ear Naming a Lack Fragments and Aesthetic Ideas Expectation Without End A Performance of Infinity Hoffmann’s Sublime-as-Sehnsucht V. (Un)Forgetfulness 142 Schopenhauer’s Aimless Will Schopenhauer and the Sublime The World-as-Will-as-Music The Musically Sublime Wagner and Schopenhauer Music as Ruin Forgetfulness Dionysus and Apollo The Urgency of Transfiguration The Beautiful and Sublime The Visual and Musical VI. Excess 176 Countering Hanslick The Sublime in Music The Sublime of Music Problems and Prospects Sound Hands Virtuosity Machinery Strange Sounds Ungeheuer Uncanny The New VII. Materiality 212 Minimal Formation Newman and the Instant Lyotard’s Formalism Plastic Indeterminacy Sounding Creativity Transpositions Differend VIII. Anxiety 246 Mental Suspension Psychic Trauma Music and Trauma Interruption and Repetition The Traumatic Break of the Sublime Broken Listening Repetition and Repetition Beyond Pleasure Awakening as Return Vacillation Repetitive Music and the Sublime Forward-Backward Conclusions 290 Appendix A Kant’s Triple Synthesis 305 Appendix B Dangerous Beauty 314 Bibliography 319 Summary in Dutch 332 Acknowledgements It has been a long and tumultuous road from the conception to the completion of this book. It would, perhaps, never have evolved beyond being on its way, and surely would not have crystallized in its present form had it not been for professor Frank Ankersmit. After two years of trouble and fruitless toil, he took over the overall supervision of my research project and directed it into its proper course. A music lover, but most of all a daring thinker and an inspiring theorist of the sublime, he was there every step of the way. Learned, lively, and unceasingly interested, he would read my drafts within days after submission, teach me the ins and outs of philosophical thought, and generously share insights. He liked to stimulate intense debates that found their way into the text, constantly encouraged me to formulate my own position in the current debate on the sublime, and generally directed me beyond my limited scope. More than a mere doctoral supervision, his involvement has triggered and nourished an intellectual development that I will benefit from for a long time to come. I am grateful in every possible way and hope to continue our collaboration in the future. With his expertise in the field of philosophy, music, and music aesthetics, professor John Neubauer’s guidance and support has been crucial. Inspired by his book on the emancipation of music from language, and his contributions to our NGE music philosophy group, I was happy to benefit from John’s extensive knowledge and open, creative mind. He has saved me from more than one lapse, thoroughly edited my writing, and in the midst of his own, huge research project always found the time for extensive discussions of my chapters. Enthusiastic but careful, he has guided me through eighteenth- century theories of musical expression, Kant, aesthetics ideas, Beethoven, Hoffmann, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Lyotard – the line is virtually endless. Especially valuable to me was a long-afternoon discussion about Nietzsche, Rausch, music, and traumatic experience, which set off a speedy completion of the book. Professor Arjo Vanderjagt was there from the beginning. In fact, without him this research project would not even have existed. I thoroughly enjoyed the monthly meetings of the Groningen history of ideas group, to which he so generously invited me, and which versed me in such diverse topics as Descartes, cheese, the history of science, Anselmus, my grandfather, and knick-knacks. From the beginning, too, he was confident that the project would come to a good ending, and never ceased to show his support. Due to his extensive knowledge across the entire range of philosophy as well as his critical mind, I always felt confident once Arjo had given the green light. We found each other in a shared preference for Burke and travelling, as well as the music of Dufay. Particularly insightful for me were our discussions about Burke, Kant, Otto, and Lyotard – Arjo’s suggestions always found their way into the text. I am thankful for his encouragement and his willingness to conduct me ahead in the field. i Professor Wessel Krul has been my proverbial rock in both troubling and enthusiastic times. He refereed the cultural-historical aspects of the book, but it turned out that he had an almost encyclopaedic knowledge of Burke, eighteenth-century music, and just about any topic in the history of art. He saved me from quite a few slips, provided me with one creative suggestion after an other, and taught me to write with more ironic distance. Especially inspiring were our talks about the general make-up of the book, which for long had posed a serious problem. Sharp but never insistent he co-directed the book into its present form. With humour, he took it on himself to defend Kant from my attacks, presenting him as a good burger and an entertaining table host, rather than a philosopher of totalitarian ideas and sternly autonomous subjects. He effectively deconstructed my attacks in the process. Wessel also took it on himself to stand by me in difficult situations and pull me out of many despairing visions, always being open, helpful, and dependable. I am grateful both to him and his wife Josine – without their support and interest I would not have found the energy to continue. Professor Wil Verhoeven formally entered the project in its later stage. In a way, however, it could never have started without him. I am indebted to Wil for an education of a very special kind, which has taught me all the aspects of (creative) textual analysis, critical theory, and a particular liking for discarded, un- or de-canonized texts. I could not have embarked on this project without his prior teachings in Romanticism, Gothic novels and postmodernism – and perhaps most of all without his prior drills in academic writing in English. He has helped me through the application process, continued to show his interest while I worked on the sublime, prepared glorious dinners at his home, and included my papers in almost every conference he organized. I am thankful that, in the midst of all his activities, he accepted to referee the manuscript – it made full circle. Next, I thank Sander van Maas, who changed my life and my outlook on the musically sublime in the process. I am indebted to him more than he knows, with our daily – or rather, nightly – white-wine-and-chocolate talks about music, sound, timbre, Lyotard, Derrida, aporetics, and his lectures on theological (music) aesthetics. He has taught me a healthy suspicion of faith in art, and the way such faith tends to saturate present-day analyses and theories of art, yet gave me a whole lot of other faith. My years in Groningen would never have been the same without my fellow junior researchers Eric Jorink, Eelke Muller, and Jan-Hein Furnée. Not only their intellectual inspiration but most of all their personal friendship changed what I feared would be a rather lonesome time into an exciting, inspiring, and intense period that I would never have missed. Sabien(os) Engelenburg and Gerdien Blom were my neighbours. Living in-between them was both fun, reassuring, and sobering. I also greatly benefited from my friendship with Harold van Dijk and Nico van der Sijde, with whom I could endlessly debate music and philosophy respectively. Barend(os) van Heusden has been a cherished friend, in Holland as well as in Mexico, and always showed me, so to speak, a light at the end of the tunnel. The interest and ii support of Patrick Everhard and Anne Wolff has been of vital significance to me over the last years. The Rudolf Agricola Institute of Groningen University not only made possible the financial realization of this research project but also provided a fertile intellectual basis. I particularly thank Klaas van Berkel – for whose interference I am still grateful – Amanda Gilroy, Helen Wilcox, Huub Hermans, Joost van Baak, Henk van Veen, Herman Ridderbos, Hans Mooij, Gillis Dorleijn, Caroline Ayers, Els Jongeneel, and Marijke Wubbolts. I also wholeheartedly thank the entire staff of the lending counter of the University Library – I have been a nightmare to them, yet they forgave me. At Utrecht, I am specially grateful to Harald Hendrix, who has opened up doors that would otherwise have remained firmly shut. In this respect I also thank Liedeke Plate, Frank Brandsma, Joost Kloek, Joachim von der Thüsen, Jeroen Bons, and Yvonne van der Valk for welcoming me in their midst.