Die Autonomie des Klangs: Eine Philosophie der Musik - Hindrichs, Gunnar -1971 (Berlin Suhrkamp Verlag GmbH, 2014)
In 'Die Autonomie des Klangs', Hindrichs develops the categories of the musical work of art. Unlike the linguistic-analytical philosophy of music, the book does not provide a definition of the concept of the work, but unfolds it in a series of basic terms. According to him, a musical work of art is an autonomous sound complex. Its what-ness is designated by the category of musical material, which also includes the "tendency of the material" (Adorno); through this, the autonomous sound complex is related to the musical avant-garde. Its 'what-ness' (the musical form in the philosophical sense) is in turn designated by the categories of sound, time, space and sense. The sounds of the musical artwork stand in the forms of intense time, which attains simultaneity in the forms of intense space, and are intelligible in four ways: inner-musical functionality (literal sense), reference to other than music (allegorical sense), application to the listeners (tropological sense) and reference to a not-yet-being (anagogical sense). Importantly, each of the four musical senses emerges from the autonomy of sound. The sound's reference to the world is therefore not imposed on it from outside either, but is determined by its own implicit axioms. This book has been received in various ways and has provoked a discussion and defensive reactions in musicological circles.
Keywords: Music philosophy and esthetics