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First published as Quasi unafantasia by Suhrkamp Verlag 1963This translation first published by Verso 1992

Suhrkamp Verlag 1963l'ranslation Rodrwy Livingstone 1992

All rights reserved

Versol 'K : li 1\l f ~I l l ' 1 '. , "1 d I' 11 1his hook is a vai I able from the Library o f Congress

I'vpcsct by I'ype Study, Scarborough1'11111ed i11 (;real Britain by Rookcraft (Bath) Ltd

C 0 I I h I I ( S

Musi< atHII.anguagc: i\ haglll! ' l l l

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110

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M u s i c a n d L a n g u a g . - : A Fragmtnl

l \ 1 1 1 . ~ i 'n . ~ l ' t l l h l l ' . ~;1 Ltngnagl'. Fxpt I ' S . ~ i o n ~s111 It . 1 ~lllli'lt .d 1d1"'''t t l l t ~ u . t linlottalion, ;tre no t si111plv llii 'Ltphot s. B111 t t t l t ~ l 1. " " 'tdl'nlll ;tl with Ltngu;q.!,c. T h e n'SI'IIlhLIIHI' potnh ' " " ' " w l l 1 1 1 1 ~ ' ., - ~ ~ ~ n t i ; t l ,Inti vague. Anyone who L1k1s it I ll'! ;tllv 1\'dliH ..,,.,,, ofl.hl l l l ~ l l ' d .

1 \ l t L ~ i 'n sembks language in tlw sense tlt.tl 11 ~ ~ .t ' ' ' " ' I " ' ' ""' 'I '" 'IHT o f articulated sounds which an tnontlt . t l t I ' " ' " ' " ' " ' ' l lwv s;ty something, of ten something lttttll;ttl. l lw lwllt ll11

t t l l t ~ i c ,th e 111ore forcefully they say it. 'I'IH - ~ ' "' ' sst ' " '.t " " " " 1. "

ltl,,logic: it Glll be r ight or wrong. But wh;tt1 1 . 1 ~

lwl'n~ - " ' I ,.I I

litI

lw dl' tachcd from th e music. Music crl';tt

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( l u11 \ I t i l l II I r111 I I / ' , II /

'>II< c l l l t t l l l t l ~ ~lc til, 111.11of music as nsc llt lldi llg, .lltiiii.IIC'd l ot ttl, C'llcl-. " I ' 1\ tl It c'tlljll vstirnu i or wi I h I he rncn Lu 1 o f org;nt itC'd so11 11d d < \ oid o I ,.,'I\connection between th e aesthetic fonn an d that nothttsthcticother which turns it into aesthetic form. I1s sim pie-minded andtherefore ever-popular critique o f intentional language is paidfo r by th e sacrifice of art.

Music is more than intentionality, but the opposite is no lesstrue: there is no music which is wholly devoid of expressiveelements. In music even non-expressiveness becomes expression. 'Resounding' and 'animated' are more or less th e samething in music and the concept of ' fo rm' explains nothing of what

lies beneath th e surface, bu t merely pushes the question back astage to what is represented in the 'resounding', 'animated'totality, in short to what goes beyond form. Form can only be th eform of a content. T he specific necessity, th e immanent logic,evaporates: it becomes a mere game in which everything couldliterally be something else. In reality, however, musical content isIhe profusion o f things which obey th e rules of musical grammarand syntax. Every musical phenomenon points to something

beyond itself by reminding us of something, contrasting itselfwith something or arousing ou r expectations. I'he summation ofsuch a transcendence of particulars constitutes th e 'content ' ; it is

what happens in music. Bu t if musical structure or form is to bemore than a se t of didactic systems, it does not jus t embrace th econtent from outside; it is th e thought process by which content is

defined. Music becomes meaningful the more perfectly it definesitself in this sense - and no t because its particular elementsexpress something symbolically. I t is by distancing itself fromlanguage that its resemblance to language finds its fulfilment.

( 1956)

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