Wittgenstein As Philosophical Tone-Poet : Philosophy and Music in Dialogue

This book provides the first in-depth exploration of the importance of music for Ludwig Wittgenstein's life and work. Wittgenstein's remarks on music are essential for understanding his philosophy: they are on the nature of musical understanding, the relation of music to language, the concepts of representation and expression, on melody, irony and aspect-perception, and, on the great composers belonging to the Austrian-German tradition. Biography and philosophy, this work suggests that Wittgenstein was a composer of philosophy who used the musical form as a blueprint for his own writing and thought. For Wittgenstein music is not alone, but connects and resonates with our cultural forms of life. His relation to composers, especially to Richard Wagner and Gustav Mahler, enables Wittgenstein to address the question of how to do philosophy and compose music in the breakdown of tradition. Unlike his conservative musical sensibility, Wittgenstein's philosophy is open to musical experiments. Reflecting on his remarks on music makes it possible to compare the therapeutic aim of his philosophical activity with that of music, and thus notice affinities between Wittgenstein and John Cage. Cover 1 Title Page 4 Copyright Page 5 Musicians 7 Table of Contents 8 Acknowledgements 10 Introduction 11 Chapter I. A Life in Music 16 1. An Appetite for Music 16 2. Music's Place: Biography or Philosophy? 17 3. Young Wittgenstein Listens to Music 23 4. Later Listening 28 Chapter II. Early Views: Wittgenstein's Vienna Revisited 36 1. Eduard Hanslick and a Tradition in Music 36 2. Was the Early Wittgenstein a Musical Formalist? Affinities to Hanslick 41 3. Whistling the Inexpressible: Wittgenstein, Hanslick and Schopenhauer 46 Chapter III. Wittgenstein in Transit: A Critique of the Tradition 55 1. Is Beauty All It's Cracked Up to Be? 55 2. Do Works of Art Have an Essence? 61 3. "As If from a Great Distance": Uncovering an Aesthetic Attitude? 68 4. Appreciating Music Naturally 76 Chapter IV. Later Views: A New Era 83 1. Was the Later Wittgenstein a Musical Formalist? A Shift in Perspective 83 2. Wittgenstein and Hanslick: A Kinship with Expressive Difference 90 3. Irony in Music and Language: Face, Gesture, Tone 93 Chapter V. Wittgenstein and the Composers 113 1. Not Only Science But Art Also Teaches 113 2. Wittgenstein's Reception of Wagner 120 3. Wagner As Hearing Aid? Wittgenstein's Remarks on Mendelssohn and Mahler 129 4. A Different Reading: Wittgenstein's Self- Understanding As Music Critic 138 5. Why Was Wagner Absent from the Silents? 147 Chapter VI. Breakdown of Tradition 151 1. Composing Music and Doing Philosophy in a Time of Decline 151 2. The Brothers Wittgenstein and the Musical Journey of the West 155 3. Musical Experiments: Wittgenstein, Cage and Family Resemblance 172 4. Deterioration or Sea Change in the Culture of the West? 187 Chapter VII. Philosophy, Music and Therapy 195 Bibliography 207 Index 214 Bela Szabados. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.