The Antinomy of Musical Meaning

This dissertation is a philosophical reflection on the interpretation of absolute music, where the latter is understood as music that is independent of any extra-musical adherent, such as text, program, dramatic action, dance, or social function. In particular, the dissertation is concerned with the debate over whether such music can be said to express meaning of the sort expressed by literature. Unnoticed amidst the rancor of this debate is the fact that the disputants share a fundamental premise, which I call linguisticism: absolute music can only express meaning if that meaning has already been expressed in linguistic form. I argue that this premise is false because it leads to category mistakes in the interpretation of absolute music. This falsity, in turn, gives the debate over absolute music's meaning an antinomial character, suggesting that the question of musical meaning is better pursued from a different starting point.

In the opening three chapters of the dissertation I pursue three aims. First, I expose the antinomial structure of the debate over the meaning of absolute music by showing how both Peter Kivy and Susan McClary are committed to linguisticism. Second, I show how linguisticism leads to category mistakes in the philosophy of music. Third and finally, I argue for the legitimacy of the debate itself, and hence my project, by showing that the concept of absolute music does not by itself preclude such music from expressing meaning. The remaining two chapters consider Theodor Adorno's theory of the meaning of absolute music and ask whether it might evade linguisticism. In Chapter Four I argue that while Adorno does not evade linguisticism, his theory of musical meaning offers an interpretation of linguisticism that does not succumb to the category mistakes revealed in prior chapters. Since Adorno's reinterpretation of linguisticism emphasizes the relationship between music and language as sounding phenomena, in Chapter Five I consider how his theory of absolute music's meaning coheres with his theory of musical performance, showing that the confrontation between these two theories issues in a dilemma.