"Leer el periódico temprano en la mañana es una especie de plegaria realista matutina.Uno orienta su disposición en contra del mundo y hacia Dios (en un caso), o hacia aquello que es el mundo (en el otro).El primero da la misma seguridad que el segundo, al saber dónde se está parado."
W. F. Hegel
"Solamente arriesgando la vida se mantiene la libertad [...] El individuo que no ha arriesgado la vida puede sin duda ser reconocido como persona [¡la agenda de los abolicionistas!]; pero no ha alcanzado la verdad de este reconocimiento como autoconciencia independiente"
Hegel (Fenomenología del Espíritu)
A story about Hegel visiting a concert by Sergei Rachmaninoff
[To listen to the Elegie in E Flat Minor, please click here]
Better known for his explosive preludes rather than contemplative elegies, Sergei Rachmaninoff was a philosopher of music. The unexpected softness and fluidity of Elegie in E Flat Minor, Op. 3, No 1 sets itself apart from other, typical to Rachmaninoff, creations. The Elegie does not boast the dramatic, virtuoso feel of the famous Prelude in C Sharp Minor; rather, its sophisticated laconism of feeling -- sweet melancholy � invites a quiet reflection.
Music, according to Hegel, is in the center of the Romantic Arts, along with painting and poetry. It treats the sensuous as ideal, and does so by “negating and idealizing the indifferent externality of space into the individual isolation of a single point,” (Hegel 94). Rachmaninoff and his Steinway[1] transform the indifference of space surrounding the audience, creating a closed-in, self-contained world, in which the mind is invited to explore and reflect. Elegie does not win the listener with a catchy tune; rather, it captivates the heart with a combination of waterfall and airiness, which is masterfully translated into music by the virtuoso technique of the pianist and his genius as a composer.
In the Elegie, the sensuousness of the melody is captivating and liberating at the same time. Being a multifaceted pianist with an astute emotionality and grandiose technique, Rachmaninoff is capable of capturing more than an emotion or passion in the music; he seems to share a part of a human experience.
We follow changing ‘voices’ of the Elegie with anticipation, never certain about the outcome until the end. Characteristic of Rachmaninoff, the piece modifies our expectations, often changing the keys and rhythmical patterns. The Elegie does not allow for easy framing: it is sad without being depressing; it is melancholic without being banal. According to Rachmaninoff, our emotions are in a constant movement. Not accidentally, the Elegie, with its almost sublime sadness throughout, ends on a forte in a major key.
Music, in Hegel’s words, forms the point of transition between “abstract spatial sensuousness, such as painting employs, and the abstract spirituality of poetry” (94). The sensuousness of the artist, however, never slips into a trivial, trite mode. The passion, the experience, about which we are being told in the Elegie, is elevated, almost sublime in its nature. The left hand melody does not overshadow the right hand; it echoes and supports it. The tapestry of the music is never broken, and yet, one is breathless waiting the melody to unfold.
The narrative of the Elegie, or “the abstract spirituality of poetry”, using Hegel’s terms, is another example of the coherence and fluidity of the piece. During the four minutes of the Elegie, a story begins, continues and ends, pouring onto the audience a variety of emotions, and celebrating the rejuvenating freedom of man’s spirit.
The music, Hegel explains, liberates “the ideal content in its immersion in matter.” Not suprisingly, the Elegie in E Flat Minor ‘paints’ various landscapes by presenting the piece in two distinct parts. Russian vast steppes with mighty rivers, a brutal winter and a long-awaited spring, perhaps, would be one interpretation of the work. A human struggle with violent emotions and a winning optimism could be another. An array of impressions and interpretations constitutes a goal of the artist, for he or she does not create for himself/herself alone.
By presenting an idea in a physical (sound) form, music encourages mental participation by the audience. The inwardness of matter, Hegel writes, and a soul’s inspiration into it “furnish the medium for the mental inwardness … and for the soul into which mind concentrates itself; and finds utterance in its tones for the heart with its whole gamut of feelings” (95). It is important to note the laconism of emotion in the Elegie. Despite its deviations to stronger passions – even joy – in the middle and at the end, the piece is melancholic in its nature throughout. The melancholy thus stands as a self-contained, complex emotion, capable of producing an array of images.
Dripping with profound sensuality, the sound of Elegie in E Flat Minor is nevertheless devoid of kitschy dramatization and baroque-like[2] embellishment. Music, as Hegel notes, has within itself, a “relation of quantity conformable to the understanding, as the antithesis to emotion and inwardness.” Feeling notwithstanding, beautiful music must demonstrate a “solid conformity to law on the part of the tones, of their conjunction.” The participation of the mind, so celebrated by Hegel, constitutes a significant part of the virtuoso pianist and genius composer Rachmaninoff. Music, as the Elegie shows, is a creation of mind as much as it is a creation of heart. Although music in general and Elegie in particular can be likened to a waterfall, rain, storm or another natural occurrence, it cannot be denied a feeling, an emotion, a narrative, an experience, which are, in essence, a creation of the mind, composed in 4:4 time, six flats and calculated measure.
It is true that the beauty of art presents itself, according to Hegel, to “sense, feeling, perception or imagination.” By affecting our emotional sensitivity, music, however, goes beyond simple “relaxation and leisure of the mind,”(Hegel 6). Unless we are prompted with an image (such as, for example during an opera or theatrical performance), we are free to associate the melody with our own life experiences, which presupposes active work of the mind. Thus, not accidentally, music is believed to alleviate pain from a loss of something cherished or to aid in creating an appropriate mood for meditation or reflection. Rachmaninoff’s Elegie in E Flat Minor is just that, an intellectual tour de force, which forces reflection and heals the soul.
Work Cited
Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich. Introductory Lectures on Aesthetics. Trans. By Bernard Bosanquet. London, England: Penguin Books, 1993.
[1] Rachmaninoff played exclusively on Steinway [brand of a piano]. Usually, the instrument traveled with him across the ocean and was tuned by the same specialist. On very rare occasions, when for whatever reason, it was not feasible to transport Rachmaninoff’s instrument, the arrangements were made to provide the best Steinway available.
[2] I apologize in advance to those who enjoy baroque music. My point here is the simplicity versus embellishment.
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