Philosophical Ideas in Music - Excerpts From an Essay

How may life be summed up in a scientific equation?

It seems that whilst scientists are thoroughly fascinated by the workings of a TV and how such an invention can broadcast amazing pictures from all around the world into our living rooms, they may be missing the pictures on the screen

The same analogy can be drawn when considering a record player. For example, if scientists could focus their attention from the complex system of music amplification, they may hear that even in the rigid laws of music notation, there are elements of music that do not add up. A composer must fit a beautiful sound heard in his or her soul to theorectical rules and in doing so may experiment with the rules and find novel ways of applying them in order to 'make the music fit'.

In order to explore the parallels between scientific thought (materialsim) and the world of music, I will briefly relate the correlated histories of what is known as Baroque, Classical and Romantic music.

Within a piece of music, there may be two or more time signatures. This practice certainly would have been frowned upon in the Classical Era of music that flourished in the 18th century - a time referred to as the Age of Enlightenment or the Age of Reason. During this period, scientific thinking enjoyed a renaissance as a backlash to the more spiritual Baroque Era before, and this is indeed reflected in the music of the time.

The music reflects a classical ideal, an agreed system of working conventions (as in science). Reasoning and intellect are the motivating forces in Classical music. Classical composers sought to establish a state of balance of opposed urges. There was a demand for music that would entertain the senses, satisfy the intellect and embody the emotions of a new middle class audience. Baroque music was seen to be too complex and dramatic instead of being pleasing, elegant and entertaining. During the second half of the 18th century there was music for dancing, to accompany meals, to be listened to in gardens - music to fill every social need.

Common sense and rational thought triumphed over ignorance and superstition. Baroque composers were seen to be over-absorbed with contrapuntal music tricks and devices. One of the most important creations of the Baroque Era was the concept of contrast, contrast that could exist on various planes: loud and soft; one colour and another; solo and tutti; high and low; fast and slow. The logical melodic patterns in classical music are rather predictable and are easily identifiable, whereas the melody in a Baroque piece is harder to pinpoint and this is partly due to the use of an ambiguous time signature known as compound time.

"Music ought to not be an effort, an occult science, a sort of black magic" (Telemann)

Fundamental to the baroque style were the teachings of humanisn. Music was written to heighten the words of sacred texts or secular texts so that the music became crystallations of emtions, such as tenderness, fear or anger.

The method of composition in the classical style was to give music an almost tangible architectural shape, where corresponding sections could be felt to balance eachother whilst driving through a chain of logically connected keys.

In classical music there is an emphasis on melody - the driving Baroque baselines became background and inner parts were neglected.

The rise and fall of the melody line in any classical piece are composed with a scientific and extremely logical mentality, with a constant aim for symmetry and design.

But logic and common sense soon gave way to fantasy and the wild imagination of writers such as Lord Byron and Schumann. Grin

By the end of the Classical Era reason and restraint walked hand in hand with folly and excess. This seemingly serene century came to an end under the shadow of the guillotine. The measured elegance of the Age of Reason was swept away with the political system of which it was a product.

Who provides the funding for the scientists?

Enter the Era of Romanticism in music that rejected the cool logic of the intellect and placed its trust in the instinctive truths of emotion. It was an Age of Unreason to counterbalance the Age of Reason. Wheras Classicism depended upon the conscious mind, Romanticism fed upon the unconscious.

The Romantic Movement showed a dominant concern for humankind - its inner nature, feelings and emotions, expressed in a highly personal style. This interest in personal feelings produced a constant striving for originality in music and a rebellion against the traditonal in style and form. In fact, conventional forms and formulas could no longer contain the range of emotion composers wished to express and so were modified accordingly.

The music of the Romantic Era was remarkable for its constant exploration of sound. By the end of the century the classical system of concords and discords, related harmonies and keys had all but collapsed. The disruption of the scientific classical theory came about through a romantic determinsim to make music express ideas and emotions.

In classical music, the listener is conscious of the formal elemments of the musical structure, the balanced themes, their consistency, the symmetry of the compositon - the emphasis is on precision and equillibrium. Indeed, it is reflected in the false reality of the aristocracy who were blind to the starvation and suffering of the masses outside their palatial homes. What if Marie Antoinette had had music that would have compelled her to delve into the depths of her conscience?

The Romantic composer was not attracted by balance (x = y), but by the tension that lay behind it. The Romantic artist turned away from reality to explore his dreams. Beethoven was the central figure betwen Classical and Romantic music. Beethoven was the first composer to regard music as a force which might change the pattern of men's lives. Beethoven was the first artist to break away from the harness of having a wealthy patron. He accepted suffering as a fact of life - with this acceptance went a strength for endurance and a power of self-assertion. This spiritual struggle lends Beethoven's music much of its unique emotional intensity. Thus, Beethoven revolutionised the status of the composer. In the past, the composer had supplied a need. From now on, they became inspired messengers bearing gifts.

The highest ideal of Romanticism was the all embracing, transcendant artictic experience. Whilst the classical composer was content to conform with existing standards and models, the Romantic artist was seen as a visionary. For example, opera was used to deal with big issues of existance, like the destiny of humankind.

Significant to the Romantic Era was the rebellion against the traditional in style and form. Romantic composers invented a way to manipulate time as well as make it add up by pushing existing boundaries.

Whilst science is unable to provide answers explaining human conflict and wars, and instead readily provides weapons and inventions to fuel them - Wladyslaw Szpilman - offers enlightenment expressed in musical terms:

We all knew the germans were just outside Paris, but no one felt too much concern. After all, there was the marne - that classic line of defence where verything must come to a stanstill, the way it does in the fermata of the second section of Chopin's B Minor Scherzo, in a stormy tempo of quavers going on and on, more and more tempestuously, until the closing chord - at which the Germans would retreat to their own border as vigorously as they had advanced, leading to the end of the war and an Allied victory

Romantic artists paved the way for the myriad of possibility in music as we know it today. The artists escaped reality in order to understand it better. The 1960s saw many artists embarce Romantic ideals with man flying to the moon, another war and horrific race riots. It too was a decade of change and Revolution.

(If you have enjoyed the read thus far, I will post what I wrote about Hendrix later........) Tongue