On memory, nostalgia, and the temporal expression of Josquin’s Ave Maria… virgo serena

Abstract

I draw upon Edmund Husserl’s classic text, On the Phenomenology of the Consciousness of Internal Time (1893–1917), in order to reframe some of his insight regarding the structures of inner time-consciousness and lay the groundwork for a few claims of my own. First, I show how musical expression is constituted in relation to the flowing movement of absolute subjectivity. Moreover, by carefully distinguishing between retention and recollection, I clarify, on the one hand, music’s ability to support access to memory proper (i.e. memory as a representation of the past) and, on the other hand, its ability to keep the past “in play,” so to speak (i.e. as an experience of nostalgia—as a perception of the past in terms of protentions that pertain to the present). In this way, we come to understand how music offers a unique memorial capacity—it makes possible the life of the past, as the vital movement of absolute subjectivity. Throughout the essay, I refer to Josquin’s motet Ave Maria…virgo serena in order to clarify the specific temporal structures that are at issue.