Chapter 2: Should The Method Define The Tasks?

Marilyn Monroe, By Richard Avedon

The second chapter of Lawrence Ferrara's, "Philosophy and The Analysis of Music," looks at the tasks of defining a musical experience, in ways that I've never really thought would be positive in understanding the meaning of an artistic work.

The chapter begins by discussing what successful musical analysis methods have in common: defining what tasks they plan to use in discovering meaning. Hans-Georg Gadamer is introduced because of his idea of pre-understanding. "Prejudice" Gadamer describes, can be a positive tool to understanding art. Ferrara writes, "Understanding is a fundamental way in which man engages and exists in the world. Prejudice impacts on understanding because as a historical being, man can only understand the standpoint of his time and cultural place" (p.34).

An interesting point about prejudice is that the composer's view point, can inform and provide insight to the meaning of their work but a person's fresh insight of the object under analysis can be helpful-- the balance of view points is crucial.

Also introduced is the impact of music on the listener, "Transforming the music object into an aesthetic object" (p.36). Further differentiating the difference between an aesthetic object and art objects, Ferrara uses the analogy of art as a financial investment versus art as viewed through a guest viewer's eyes. Art then takes on different meaning to the owner than the new house guest appreciating beauty along with the glory of having a Rembrandt in the living room.


Later, Ferrara compares "phenomenological" and "Hermeneutic approaches to understanding, describing these methods with an analogy of being x-rayed as a means to prove hermeneutic methods lack individuality and freedom, favoring phenomenological analysis because object and subject can be used to look at the nature of music as an object.

My Reaction:

Well, I felt a little bit lost as can be seen in this weeks summary. I am mostly intrigued with the ideas of subjectivity and objectivity that "To be objective means to save an object from dominance" (p.46). An idea I find to be ingrained in many of us when we analyze works of art and discuss our interpretations. But also a relief because I get very frustrated when we impose too much of ourselves on a work or try and speak for an artist. This lead me to think about the Marilyn Monroe photograph. I was able to see it in person at an exhibition in Berlin this past winter. It's probably the most beautiful photo I've ever seen because she looks so real... No more hollywood, striped of all glamour. Richard Avedon waited till just the right moment: capturing the person behind the actress. Thinking about this photograph is helping me digest the concepts in this chapter although I'm having a difficult time articulating why I think this photo is a good example of defining such tasks.



I've also been thinking about art as object this evening. I went to a few gallery openings tonight and all three galleries were packed with people drinking free wine and socializing. Very few people were actually looking at the pieces on the wall. One had to push through to even get to the pieces but it was apparent that art was the least important aspect involved in tonights openings.