"The end of art"
the contemporary interest in Hegel
pp. 139-165
in: , Thinking art, Berlin, Springer, 2009Abstract
In an interview the celebrated French composer and conductor Pierre Boulez summed up his own vision of art as follows: One can no longer write stupid music. To me, composing remains an intellectual activity, not a spontaneous one. There can be no doubt about this: a pen is required. Those who say that no thought is needed, that simply writing is sufficient, are talking nonsense. This attitude will only produce boring, oversimplified music that is not really important. With this, Boulez meant to say that the contemporary composer has to justify himself theoretically. And in his additional comments, it is clear to see how much this theoretical justification determines one's position with regard to the history of music: You have a responsibility to your predecessors. You should no longer write stupid music sixty years after Schönberg wrote Erwartung ("Expectation"). You cannot stay at an inferior level. Those who are not aware of this should not find fault with Schönberg but with themselves. And they should question the necessity of Schönberg's work. This is not a matter of progress, but an elementary moral attitude: I cannot do less than my predecessors.