Hearing Religious Music. The Subject-Object Relationship of the Listener and the Piece of Music in a Consumption Era
In a concert hall, the attitude of the audience focusses on the formalistic aspects of music. In religious rituals, music is a means of leading the hearer to a spiritual experience. What happens when music, meant originally for a liturgical purpose, is played in a concert setting? Gadamer shows, wit...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Sciendo
2020-07-01
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| Series: | Perichoresis: The Theological Journal of Emanuel University |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.2478/perc-2020-0017 |
| _version_ | 1819108656767041536 |
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| author | Reitsma Oane |
| author_facet | Reitsma Oane |
| author_sort | Reitsma Oane |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In a concert hall, the attitude of the audience focusses on the formalistic aspects of music. In religious rituals, music is a means of leading the hearer to a spiritual experience. What happens when music, meant originally for a liturgical purpose, is played in a concert setting? Gadamer shows, with his conception of Verwandlung ins Gebilde, that an art work is never static, but carries a depth in itself, which is connected to an artistic ingenuity throughout centuries. In this ‘depth’ lies the connection to the listener, which is broader than a mere aesthetical one. On the other hand, music in itself has a strong ‘theatrical’ side, which can easily surpass its contemplative aspect in consumer culture. It appears that this aspect, in combination with the formalistic-aesthetic approach of modern museum culture, of which concert culture is a part, made the hearer become almost ‘deaf ’ to the religious content; because a concert practice focusses primarily on entertaining the hearer, s/he is not able to engage in the music as a source of spiritual edification of the soul. Nevertheless, Gadamer’s conception of play makes us be aware that there will always be new, unexpected ways in which the truth comes into being in the interaction of a piece of music and its hearer. In order to create such a reality, it is necessary to turn to new and renewing hearing practices, where the play between music and the hearer has a wider range of musical experience than the mere formalistic aspect. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-22T03:13:24Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-603cd030696c4afd9cc41795297dda4e |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2284-7308 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-22T03:13:24Z |
| publishDate | 2020-07-01 |
| publisher | Sciendo |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Perichoresis: The Theological Journal of Emanuel University |
| spelling | doaj.art-603cd030696c4afd9cc41795297dda4e2022-12-21T18:40:53ZengSciendoPerichoresis: The Theological Journal of Emanuel University2284-73082020-07-01183637510.2478/perc-2020-0017perc-2020-0017Hearing Religious Music. The Subject-Object Relationship of the Listener and the Piece of Music in a Consumption EraReitsma Oane0Protestant Theological University, Amsterdam & GroningenIn a concert hall, the attitude of the audience focusses on the formalistic aspects of music. In religious rituals, music is a means of leading the hearer to a spiritual experience. What happens when music, meant originally for a liturgical purpose, is played in a concert setting? Gadamer shows, with his conception of Verwandlung ins Gebilde, that an art work is never static, but carries a depth in itself, which is connected to an artistic ingenuity throughout centuries. In this ‘depth’ lies the connection to the listener, which is broader than a mere aesthetical one. On the other hand, music in itself has a strong ‘theatrical’ side, which can easily surpass its contemplative aspect in consumer culture. It appears that this aspect, in combination with the formalistic-aesthetic approach of modern museum culture, of which concert culture is a part, made the hearer become almost ‘deaf ’ to the religious content; because a concert practice focusses primarily on entertaining the hearer, s/he is not able to engage in the music as a source of spiritual edification of the soul. Nevertheless, Gadamer’s conception of play makes us be aware that there will always be new, unexpected ways in which the truth comes into being in the interaction of a piece of music and its hearer. In order to create such a reality, it is necessary to turn to new and renewing hearing practices, where the play between music and the hearer has a wider range of musical experience than the mere formalistic aspect.https://doi.org/10.2478/perc-2020-0017artreligionreligious musicplaygadamer |
| spellingShingle | Reitsma Oane Hearing Religious Music. The Subject-Object Relationship of the Listener and the Piece of Music in a Consumption Era Perichoresis: The Theological Journal of Emanuel University art religion religious music play gadamer |
| title | Hearing Religious Music. The Subject-Object Relationship of the Listener and the Piece of Music in a Consumption Era |
| title_full | Hearing Religious Music. The Subject-Object Relationship of the Listener and the Piece of Music in a Consumption Era |
| title_fullStr | Hearing Religious Music. The Subject-Object Relationship of the Listener and the Piece of Music in a Consumption Era |
| title_full_unstemmed | Hearing Religious Music. The Subject-Object Relationship of the Listener and the Piece of Music in a Consumption Era |
| title_short | Hearing Religious Music. The Subject-Object Relationship of the Listener and the Piece of Music in a Consumption Era |
| title_sort | hearing religious music the subject object relationship of the listener and the piece of music in a consumption era |
| topic | art religion religious music play gadamer |
| url | https://doi.org/10.2478/perc-2020-0017 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT reitsmaoane hearingreligiousmusicthesubjectobjectrelationshipofthelistenerandthepieceofmusicinaconsumptionera |