Empty Pleasure to the Ear
Empty Pleasure to the Ear
This chapter argues that the feeling of ecstasy, exaltation, or passionate enthusiasm that absolute music in its highest manifestations calls forth in its devotees, is of an intrinsic worth beyond price, and during the time one is experiencing it one is, on that account, a better person. It may not be an enduring moral force in the world, or a revelation of a deeper reality, but it is great while it lasts. And if it makes us better in the moment, by affecting us in the way that it does, then this is more than can be said for most human experience, and more than enough to justify the esteem in which it is held.
Keywords: musical formalism, absolute music, pleasure, passion
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