Music and subjectivity Hegel and romantic conceptions of music

Abstract

Hegel’s definition of music as Kunst des Gemüts do not refer to the simple expression of feelings, but to the fact that only the music is directed to the self, the self as such, absolutely. That music is not only expression of particular feelings, but of pure feeling or subjectivity itself, is based on the most decisive feature that share music and soul: the temporality. Music expresses the self in its radically temporal essence. It is not necessary to emphasize the metaphysical function that follows from this conception of music. Far from the romantic origins of Wackenroder, E.T.A. Hoffmann or F. Schlegel, Hegel holds a romantic conception of music.