TY - JOUR
T1 - Absolute music and the death of desire
T2 - Beethoven, Schopenhauer, Wagner and Eliot's Four Quartets
AU - Virkar-Yates, Aakanksha
PY - 2017/1/1
Y1 - 2017/1/1
N2 - The influence of Beethoven on Eliot's Four Quartets is mediated by Wagner and Schopenhauer and relates fundamentally to the philosopher's understanding of instrumental music as expressing a universalised and abstract emotion. Schopenhauer's aesthetics are intimately connected with Wagner's treatment of the idea of absolute music – a discussion that begins in his early prose writings and culminates in his essay 'Beethoven' (1870). At the origin of Wagner's thinking about absolute music is a striking metaphor: that of Beethoven as Columbus, exploring the sea of absolute music. This metaphor is found at the heart of Four Quartets, powerfully connecting the poem with Beethoven's music, and with a Schopenhauerian aesthetics that understands this music as inhabiting a realm beyond human affect and desire.
AB - The influence of Beethoven on Eliot's Four Quartets is mediated by Wagner and Schopenhauer and relates fundamentally to the philosopher's understanding of instrumental music as expressing a universalised and abstract emotion. Schopenhauer's aesthetics are intimately connected with Wagner's treatment of the idea of absolute music – a discussion that begins in his early prose writings and culminates in his essay 'Beethoven' (1870). At the origin of Wagner's thinking about absolute music is a striking metaphor: that of Beethoven as Columbus, exploring the sea of absolute music. This metaphor is found at the heart of Four Quartets, powerfully connecting the poem with Beethoven's music, and with a Schopenhauerian aesthetics that understands this music as inhabiting a realm beyond human affect and desire.
U2 - 10.2979/jmodelite.40.2.05
DO - 10.2979/jmodelite.40.2.05
M3 - Article
VL - 40
SP - 79
EP - 93
JO - Journal of Modern Literature
JF - Journal of Modern Literature
SN - 0022-281X
IS - 2
ER -