Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T11:10:40.987Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Chapter 39 - On the Metaphysics of Music

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 June 2022

Judith Norman
Affiliation:
Trinity University, Texas
Alistair Welchman
Affiliation:
University of Texas, San Antonio
Christopher Janaway
Affiliation:
University of Southampton
Get access

Summary

In my explanation of the true significance of the wonderful art of music in the passage cited below from the First Volume, a passage which the reader should bear in mind here, I had concluded that although there need be no similarity between its achievements and the world as representation, i.e. nature, there must be a clear parallelism, which I then demonstrated. I will now add some more precise and noteworthy descriptions to that discussion. – The four voices of all harmony, that is bass, tenor, alto, and soprano, or ground note, third, fifth, and octave, correspond to the four levels in the series of beings, which is to say the mineral world, plant kingdom, animal kingdom and human beings. This view receives a striking confirmation in the fundamental musical rule that the bass is supposed to remain at a much greater distance from the three higher voices than these are from each other, so that it is never supposed to get any closer to these than the distance of an octave, and usually remains further, and the proper triad has its place in the third octave above the bass note. Accordingly, the effect of extended harmony, where the bass remains further away, is much more powerful and beautiful than that of close harmony, where it is brought into greater proximity; close harmony is introduced only due to limited instrumental range. This entire rule is however in no way arbitrary but is rooted in the natural origin of the tonal system, insofar as the nearest harmonic intervals are the octave and its fifth, which sound simultaneously by means of the harmonics. In this rule, we recognize the musical analogue of the basic constitution of nature by virtue of which organic creatures are much more closely related to each other than to the lifeless, inorganic masses of the mineral world; between it and them the most decided boundaries and the widest gaps in the whole of nature can be found. –

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2018

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×