Simone Weil and Music
Publication Type |
Book Chapter |
Year of Publication |
1996 |
Author |
|
Editor |
Dunaway, John M. Springsted, Eric O. |
Book |
The Beauty That Saves: Essays on Aesthetics and Language in Simone Weil |
Pages |
123-148 |
Publisher |
Mercer University Press |
Place Published |
Macon, Georgia |
Language |
English |
Translator |
Dunaway, John M. |
Keywords |
art |
Annotation |
Sourisse begins with a discussion of distance in art, noting how in music the distance between the music and the person listening to it cannot be maintained in the way that occurs between visual art and the viewer. It is for this reason, he will argue, Weil had a mistrust of music. Sourisse goes on to discuss Plato’s ambivalence towards poetry and music, seeing them as existing on two levels. The lower level is sensory, the physical pleasure one experiences in listening while on the higher level music is understood as a combination of numerical relationships. It is on this level, Sourisse claims, Weil ‘situates’ herself. He goes on to give several examples of the concern for harmony in Plato’s and other Greek texts. Such harmony he argues, can be seen as reflecting the ‘order of the world’, making music akin to astronomy. Sourisse notes Weil’s references to a number of Greek texts, especially those of Plato and the Pythagoreans, in her discussion of harmony (p. 129). He then looks at Weil’s contention that “music bears up prayer to God’. He presents several examples of a connection between religion and artistic beauty in Weil’s religious experiences. He next turns to look at Weil’s reflections on the relationships between beauty, music and time noting the influence of Hume and Kant on these reflections. Here he pays particular attention to Weil’s “Essay on Time” published in 1929 where the influence of Kant is very apparent, especially in the paradoxes she identifies in this work. He also explores Weil’s love of Monteverdi, Mozart and Bach. Finally Sourisse goes on to explore Weil’s understanding of the relationship between music and silence, situating this understanding within the context of her larger theological view. |
Notes |
Previously published in French as "Simone Weil et la musique" Cahiers Simone Weil 17.3 (1994): 231-55. Significant content is available through Google Books |