Hermeneutics

Musical hermeneutics, the interpretation of the meaning of musical works, genres, or performances, has traditionally been limited by the assumption that any meaning music might have must derive from the intrinsically musical dimension of form, technique, or structure. This assumption is a mistake. Understanding why it goes wrong may lead to a more robust and revealing understanding of music. A more genuinely musical hermeneutics is possible in light of two modern philosophical concepts—care (from Heidegger) and aspect-change (from Husserl and Wittgenstein)—combined with two new ones: hermeneutic delay as an essential feature in the generation of meaning and paraphrase as a fundamental condition of language in particular and communications media, including music, in general. The interpretive practice thus made possible, illustrated with examples from Haydn and Debussy, extends humanistic knowledge and is consistent (but not compliant) with advances in neuroscience and digital technology that have broadened the concept of cognition beyond conscious thinking.

THE ROLE OF MUSICAL HERMENEUTICS IN THE FORMATION OF A CULTURE OF INTERPRETATION IN PERFORMERS

Purpose of the study: The purpose of this work is to consider the possibilities of hermeneutics in developing the skill of understanding a musical text as one of the main mental abilities of musician-performers. Methodology: The study is based on the method of hermeneutics, the method of analyzing a musical text, which is widely used in the humanities and social sciences in general and plays an essential role in art criticism. Unlike other methods, text analysis uses the point of view of the author of the text. Interpretative and content analysis are the two primary forms of textual analysis of cultural artifacts. Interpreting textual analysis seeks to go beyond the surface of the meaning and explore the hidden "message" of the author. Main Findings: The main findings of the study are that the role of musical hermeneutics is important in the professional training of contemporary performers in connection with the need to develop their ability to understand a musical text and form a culture of interpretation. Applications of this study: This research can be used in musicological analysis and the process of professional education of musician-performers and theorists. The novelty of the work consists in proving the effectiveness of the method of musical hermeneutics in the formation of a culture of interpretation in performers. Novelty/Originality of this study: The method turned out to be effective for not only the theory of literature, hermeneutics, and semiotics, but also for musicology and the work of composers and performers directly working with intertexts.

Shostakovich’s Music as an Object for Hermeneutics

The article considers different models of musical hermeneutics; their productivity is assessed with respect to the music of Shostakovich, the very nature of which makes it a favourite object of hermeneutical interpretations. A comparative analysis of various essays in finding out hidden meanings in Shostakovich’s works allows us to draw some conclusions regarding the scholarly and informative value of different approaches to the hermeneutics of Shostakovich’s oeuvre and to the hermeneutics of music in general. A special attention is paid to the decryption of enigmatic associations in two works by Shostakovich, the Tenth Symphony and the Viola Sonata.

Musical Image and Musical Hermeneutics

Considering that many students do not let their imaginative potential fully develop during their formation years we will demonstrate in this paper that Intonasiya/Musical Image paired with Musical Hermeneutics may be an interesting alternative for a creative approach in piano teaching. To achieve that we’ll plunge into the 19th century debate about the possibility of music to be able to represent, to have meaning, discuss the concepts of Intonasiya/Musical Image and Hermeneutical Windows and last but not least, advocate that these tools can be useful for Piano and music instruction stimulating creativity