Worked through in 1 video · 3 passages.
Dominique Pagani defines pure music as instrumental music, without text or scenery1. He points out that the epithet comes from chemistry: just as pure water is nothing but H2O, pure music is music without text or programme, with no religious, political or choreographic purpose2. He traces its history: for a long time, music is merely an auxiliary to song and serves to celebrate collective events. With the piano set up in the bourgeois home, music becomes internalised and can be practised through repetition3. In the 2021 session that contrasts programme music with pure music, he reduces the expression to its simplest sense: pure music is simply music, what is musical in music4. He accepts the notion, provided the concept is made precise. It then means a purely musical interest, which remains compatible with other purposes5.
Summary produced automatically from 5 of the passages below, to be reviewed; the numbers link to the moment in the session.
Series · 10 Mar 2021Musicosophy 16. Programme music / Pure music