{"id":1082,"date":"2016-10-05T11:05:01","date_gmt":"2016-10-05T11:05:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/projects.history.qmul.ac.uk\/emotions\/?p=1082"},"modified":"2016-10-05T11:05:01","modified_gmt":"2016-10-05T11:05:01","slug":"lunchtime-work-in-progress-seminar-pathological-versus-aesthetic-listening-from-a-philosophical-medical-and-psychiatric-perspective-around-1850","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/projects.history.qmul.ac.uk\/emotions\/events\/lunchtime-work-in-progress-seminar-pathological-versus-aesthetic-listening-from-a-philosophical-medical-and-psychiatric-perspective-around-1850\/","title":{"rendered":"Lunchtime work-in-progress seminar: Pathological versus Aesthetic Listening: From a Philosophical, Medical and Psychiatric Perspective around 1850"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pathological versus Aesthetic Listening: From a Philosophical, Medical and Psychiatric Perspective around 1850
\n<\/em>Andrea Korenjak (Austrian Academy of Sciences).<\/p>\n

Without doubt, Eduard Hanslick (1825\u20131904) is regarded as one of the most influential music critics and pivotal musical thinkers of the 19th century. In his famous book On the Musically-Beautiful (1st edition in 1854), Hanslick devotes a whole chapter to the \u201caesthetic comprehension of music\u201d, which he differentiates sharply from \u201cpathological listening\u201d. Remarkably enough, he refers far more frequently to a \u201cpathological form\u201d of music perception than to \u201cpathogenic music\u201d.<\/p>\n

Whereas the \u201caesthetic listener\u201d would listen for the sake of music or the composition, respectively, according to Hanslick, the \u201cpathological listener\u201d would enjoy music \u201chalf-awake\u201d and \u201csnuggled into an armchair\u201d rather than follow music\u2019s structure or compositional technique. Essentially, \u201cpathological listening\u201d is characterized by Hanslick as a kind of \u201centhusiastic hearing\u201d, in other words, hearing with passion or passionate listening. According to Hanslick, however, the purpose of music is neither to express nor to provoke emotions.<\/p>\n

Apart from his reflections on a \u201cpathological form of listening\u201d, Hanslick is also aware of the many successful attempts to integrate music into psychiatry around 1850, even though he doubts its compelling evidence. Hanslick deems these attempts rich in \u201cinteresting curiosities\u201d, but unreliable in observation and nonscientific in explanation.<\/p>\n

In my paper I want to bring up the following themes and questions for discussion:<\/p>\n