Zur Suche nach Logik und Bedeutung von Musik. Geschichte und Gegenwart von Interdisziplinarität im Bereich musiktheoretischer Forschung

Abstract

This essay reviews the impact of (music) psychology on music theory from the late 19th century until the present. From the beginning, music psychology’s focus on musical listening has been the main reason for this impact. The changes in Hugo Riemann’s theory from physical explanations (especially for major-minor-polarity), derived, amongst others, from Hermann von Helmholtz’ research, to a phenomenological model has been deeply influenced by the “Tonpsychologie” of Carl Stumpf who, in turn, can be termed one of the founders of gestalt theory. For Riemann, the idea that “facts of consciousness” had priority over physical conditions gained paramount importance. In particular, it seemed to explain the impression of consonance as release and dissonance as striving force more feasibly than ratios of oscillation speeds. Ernst Kurth took up this idea. His work relies on the gestalt experience, more specifically on the experience of energetic force, another foundation derived from Arthur Schopenhauer’s philosophy. Kurth’s music theory introduced a novel spatial, dynamic principle of form. Although Robert Hatten’s idea of an “energetic shaping through time” and his theory of gestures reference Kurth’s ideas, the linguistic roots of his “topic”-oriented concept betray substantial differences to Kurth’s process-based idea of musical form. Fred Lerdahl’s and Ray Jackendoff’s Generative Theory of Tonal Music connects to gestalt theoretical principles, linked, however, as only in early gestalt theory, to the idea of perceptual universals, presupposing that gestalt formations (e. g., the grouping of durations) are processed “automatically”. More recent gestalt theory has replaced this universalist idea by a stronger focus on learning. Subsequent theories of musical cognition retain the gestalt term as a prominent model. The focus of research, however, is usually not derived from questions about the cognition of musical structure alone, but guided by the intention to formalize cognition models with the help of computer programming languages, often without properly reflecting the modes of thinking and listening that such models presuppose.