Bernd Sponheuer: Postromantische Wandlungen der
„Idee der absoluten Musik“. Eine Skizze
The romantic “idea of
absolute music” links the conception of an autonomous, purely musical
work of art with the conception of its metaphysical significance.
Post-romantically, according to the fundamental hypothesis, these two concepts
drift apart. Modern music culture is characterized by an asymmetrical
relationship between production and reception: twentieth-century composition,
above all aimed at innovation and formal complexity, is confronted by the
quantitatively predominant yet private sphere of music reception that is
crucially marked to this day by romantic (metaphysical and ideological)
conceptions.