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University of Southampton Faculty of Humanities Department of Philosophy ‘On Hanslick and the Musically Beautiful’ By Maria Mjaaland Sele Thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy January 2018 iv UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON ABSTRACT FACULTY OF HUMANITIES Philosophy Doctor of Philosophy ‘ON HANSLICK AND THE MUSICALLY BEAUTIFUL’ By Maria Mjaaland Sele The content of music is not the representation of specific feelings, rather the content of music is forms realised in tone. Eduard Hanslick is known for his negative story and formalistic claims. After having discussed the claims of the negative story the main emphasis of this thesis is to enable a proper reading of Hanslick’s positive story. Hanslick’s main aim is to find what can stand as a foundation of a principle of the musically beautiful, and concludes that this foundation cannot be feeling. This negation of feeling as the content and purpose of music is founded on a belief of music as contentless. It is concluded that this idea of contentlessness is merely another way to claim that there is no form and content distinction in art, as there is no independent content. This distinction, as will be shown with the help of R.G. Collingwood, is what separates art from craft, as art has two kinds of ends, a technical end and an expressive end. Hanslick offers a similar distinction between Inhalt and Gehalt. This distinction is essential to understanding the picture Hanslick offers, as this distinction not only suggests the way in which we understand music by alluding to different aspects of understanding, but furthermore it offers a different way to read and interpret the main positive thesis of the content of music. Furthermore, this distinction stands as the foundation for how we should consider and value the process of the composer, the relation music has to nature, the musical system and the value of the listener. And last but by no means least, this distinction offers justification for an alternative reading of Hanslick where Hanslick is indeed a formalist but where he does not exclude everything that goes by the name of feeling. v vi To Julie, Filip, Tiril, Oskar and Endre. May this be proof of how what seems impossible, can be possible. - Never give up on your dreams. vii viii Table of Contents Figures................................................................................................................................................. xi Academic Thesis: Declaration Of Authorship ................................................................................... xiii Acknowledgements .......................................................................................................................... xiv Helpful overview of words and phrases used: ................................................................................. xvi Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... xix Chapter I: Eduard Hanslick.................................................................................................................. 1 I.I ‘On the Musically Beautiful’ .............................................................................................. 2 I.II A principle of aesthetics ................................................................................................... 5 Chapter II: The Negative Story ............................................................................................................ 9 II.I Aesthetics of Imagination and Beauty. ........................................................................... 10 II.II Feeling cannot be content ............................................................................................. 20 II.III The content of music is… .............................................................................................. 32 Chapter III: ‘Form’ and ‘Content’ ...................................................................................................... 37 III.I The Principles of Art ...................................................................................................... 38 III.II The quintessential distinction ...................................................................................... 50 III.III Music is contentless..................................................................................................... 56 III.IV Inhalt, Gehalt and Geist. .............................................................................................. 60 Chapter IV: Aspects of Understanding ............................................................................................. 69 IV.I The Art distinction ......................................................................................................... 70 IV.II Music’s relation to nature and musical understanding ............................................... 86 IV.III Musical Perception .................................................................................................... 101 Chapter V: The positive story ......................................................................................................... 108 V.I The content of music is forms realised in tone. ........................................................... 109 V.II The musical system ..................................................................................................... 113 V.III Forming process ......................................................................................................... 119 V.IV Musical Value ............................................................................................................. 132 Chapter VI: The particularly musically beautiful ............................................................................ 140 VI.I Traditional reading ‘music does not have to do with feeling’. ................................... 141 ix V.II Alternative reading ‘music is expressive of something that goes by the name of feeling’ ................................................................................................................................150 Concluding remarks .........................................................................................................................170 Bibliography: ....................................................................................................................................178 x Figures Figure 1. ‘Duck Rabbit’ (Wittgenstein PI: 166) xi xii Academic Thesis: Declaration of Authorship I, Maria Mjaaland Sele, declare that this thesis and the work presented in it are my own and has been generated by me as the result of my own original research. ‘On Hanslick and the Musically Beautiful’ I confirm that: 1. This work was done wholly or mainly while in candidature for a research degree at this University; 2. Where any part of this thesis has previously been submitted for a degree or any other qualification at this University or any other institution, this has been clearly stated; 3. Where I have consulted the published work of others, this is always clearly attributed; 4. Where I have quoted from the work of others, the source is always given. With the exception of such quotations, this thesis is entirely my own work; 5. I have acknowledged all main sources of help; 6. Where the thesis is based on work done by myself jointly with others, I have made clear exactly what was done by others and what I have contributed myself; 7. None of this work has been published before submission xiii Acknowledgements From the moment I started this journey, I had this whole great speech in mind for this section of my thesis. However, unknowing as I was of what I was about to embark on the speech I had in mind has changed, as have I. My thesis, as a work of art, has become what it is whilst it was being formed, it is not close to what I originally set out to do, but it is done. And as any artist, I can now only sit back and hope that what I have tried to express will be intelligible and understood by whomever reads it. There are many I should thank, and to those who feel like they deserve it, thank you. To those who think they don’t but who still deserve it; thanks to Benjamin, for support, discussion and editing. Any spelling mistakes are thusly his fault. Thanks to Jon Sverre and Marit, who have endured countless hours of rambling, for hospitality and for hugs. To Pål, for always lending an ear. To my mum and dad for always believing and supporting me and for always letting me come home. To Einar and Hanne,