Stillheten er lydsinnets himmelhvelving
Lasse Thoresen · 2020
This paper contemplates on music as a dialectic between moving energy and fixed structure, metaphorized by the image of streaming water that rushes against stones in the riverbed and, as a result, produces whirling shapes. As a pattern, this dialectic manifests itself in the mind of the creating artist as the process of condensing fleeting inspiration into fixed forms. Music is described as being a verb, not a noun, in the sense that it presupposes expressive energy; however, through the reification in the concept of a specific work it nevertheless obtains the status of a noun. The notion of energy as the foundation for all sound and sound production is conspicuously absent in current music theory. It is the mission of serious music to awaken the audience to existential and transcendental realization. Serious music is not a particular style or genre, but is universally characterized by depth. Depth can be understood in two ways: It is both structural, referring to the multidimensionality intrinsic to the music itself, and existential, referring to the awakening potential of the music.