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: A
Philosophical Appraisal of Musicology According to Jean Molino &Jean-Jacques Nattiez
Author(s): Fionn Bennett
Source: International Review of the Aesthetics and Sociology of Music, Vol. 44, No. 1 (JUNE
2013), pp. 119-136
Published by: Croatian Musicological Society
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41955494 .
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Fionn Bennett
de Reims
Université
Champagne-Ardenne
Cirlep
(EA-4299)
Can an »Anthropological 57,ruePierre
Taittinger
51096REIMSCedex
Ontology« Supply Music France
E-mail:
with an Acceptable fionn_bennett53@hotmail.com
Semiology?: A Philosophical UDC:78.01NATTIEZ,J.-J.,
of MOLINO,J.
Appraisal Musicology Research
Paper
to Jean Molino Izvorni
znanstveni
rad
According Received:
September 3,2012
& Jean-Jacques Nattiez 3.rujna
Primljeno: 2012.
March
Accepted: 15,2013
Prihvačeno:
15.ožujka2013.
Abstract- Résumé
Music theoristsJ.Molino and
J.-J.
Nattiez believe music has
a »unity«anda »universality«.
They arefounded upon man's
biologyandhis»neuro-cogni-
Introduction tive
faculties«.Onthebasisof
this
assumption they affirm that
| music hasmeaning ifa human
Confrontedby theblooming,buzzing profusion »interprétant«isaround to
confermeaning onitanddeny
ofeverythingthathas been going on in music theory thatmusic canbemeaningful in
anyother way. Toassessthe
forthe last decade or so, the casual observermight andcreditworthiness
feasibility
be forgivenforthinkingthereis no longeranything ofsucha theory, thispaper
adopts anessentially eco-criti-
sui generisabout it. He or she might even suspect calperspective. Thecaseis
thatcentrifugaltendencieshave alreadypropelled it made that founding musical
symbolism exclusively onan
beyond the disintegrationpoint.But that- pace Pat- »anthropological
problematic
ontology«
anddisserves
is
the
rickMcCreless (MCCRELESS 1997:295) - is just an ofanthropos,
interests the
intended beneficiary.Instead of
appearance. In any event,thereexist factorswhich itsupposes
that, that itwould
lend it a discursiveunicityand impose discernable bebetter tofollow theadvice of
orientationsupon it. One such is the »Ouverture«of eco-musicologist R.Murray
Schafer andusemusic togive
Claude Levi-Strauss's 1964 opus Le Cru et le Cuit. naturea voice anda language
andusetheintelligence it
This work in effectfaced music theorywith a stark communicates as a resource
choice. forrestoringanentente cordiale
withourmore-than-human
The firstwas to accept Lévi-Strauss'sview that surroundings.
it is music's vocation and finalityto be in a subser- Keywords: Musicand
Ontology • Eco-Critical
vient,'homological' and 'referential'relationshipto Musicology • Musicand
Reference • Musical
'structures'in non-musicalmedia and that thereis Narratology • Criticism of
somethingsubversiveabout any attemptto deny it Post-modern Musicology
• MusicTheory ofJean
(LÉVI-STRAUSS 1964:29ff. & LÉVI-STRAUSS Molino
119
1Forexample,
absolutists
subdivide whomaintain
into»formalists«, thataffectandemotion
playnoroleinmusical whomaintain
and»expressionists«
meaning, do(cf.NATTIEZ
they 1990:107ff.,
COOK2001:174-75& DAVIES,2003:65-67, referentialists
Likewise,
126ff.). subdivideinto»structural-
ists«wholinkmusical
meaningtodenotataintheexternal
worldandthosewhomakemusicrefer to
theinterpretive ofanauthor
activity orlistener
(asperRiffaterre
andKivy)orofsociety
(asperAdorno
andKramer).
120
121
2Inaddition
tothisbiologico-physiological
andaesthetic there
rationale, isa utilitarian
rationale:
withsymbols(musical,artistic
orother),
manliberateshimself
from theconditionof»animality«to
which hewouldotherwise becondemnedbecausewithhissymbols
heisthemaster nottheslaveof
the»immédiateté
deVicietdumaintenant«
(MOLINO2009:121-22).
122
123
124
125
126
An Anti-Ecological Semiology?
127
128
129
130
This, of course, could be done in any numberof ways and Molino no doubt
knows it.In any event,we refuseto believe thatMolino themanis unaware of and
unappalled by how widespread human inhumanityto humans is and, alas, is
likelyto remain.But ifMolino themanknows about thissortof thingand recog-
, Molino thetheorist
nises how it constitutesa threatanthroposposes to anthropos
131
132
133
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