MUSIC [MUSIK] (vol. III, pp. 421–26)

If we wish to have a correct idea concerning the essence and true nature of this delightful art, we must try to study its origins in nature. This can be made easier if we are able to observe how it is composed and perhaps see its first, crude beginnings in the songs of primitive peoples. {422}

Nature has established a direct connection between the ear and heart. Each emotion suggests particular sounds, while these sounds may in turn awaken in the heart those deep-felt emotions from which they sprang. A cry of fear terrifies us; joyful sounds awaken happiness. The cruder senses of smell, taste, and touch can only stimulate feelings of blind enjoyment or disagreeableness; sometimes they may consume us with pleasure, sometimes with revulsion; but they can never elevate the soul since their effect is mainly corporeal. But that which we sense through the ear and eye can affect the spirit and heart. In these two noble senses lie the mainsprings of rational and moral behavior. And of the two, hearing has by far the greater power. An out-of-tune note is incomparably more disagreeable and disturbing than is a clashing color; likewise, the most lovely concordance in the colors of a rainbow cannot affect us as strongly as perfectly harmonized tones such as a triad played on a justly tuned organ.