Music and Context of Thought

A Proposal for a Critical-Interpretative Approach

Abstract

Based on the conception of fantasy, form/idea and sound modeling in Hanslick’s thought; of a quantitative principle according to the Pythagorean tradition in the study of the music/number/cosmos relationship; and, of a qualitative principle according to the critical/philosophical theory of mimesis in Aristotle, this article seeks to propose parameters that can contribute to a critical-interpretative approach to the possible interconnections between music and context of thought. Through the debate between these three authors, it discusses the possibility that the context of thought would tend to influence thinking about music, contributing to the establishment of new propositions regarding the very nature of musical art; that, as a consequence, in making music, the sound material, due to its quantitative/qualitative properties and characteristics, could be valued and combined according to this interconnection.