Music beyond Ethics

Author(s): Albrecht Riethmller

Source: Archiv fr Musikwissenschaft, 65. Jahrg., H. 3. (2008), pp. 169-176
Published by: Franz Steiner Verlag
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Music

beyond Ethics
by

ALBRECHT RIETHMULLER

theories concerning music?whether

musical,
philosophical,
theological,
history many
or tangibly influences
or political?share
thatmusic moves
the conviction
its audience
sociological,
in an ethical or moral way. In modern
the embodiment
times Beethoven's
music became
of this belief.

Throughout

in Greek antiquity, a small group of philosophers

rejected this linkage between music
Beginning
in 1997 at the IMS congress
in London,
ethics. The essay, a revised version of a paper delivered
tomusic.
reminder of this all-but-lost, alternative theoretical approach

and
is a

The two conflicting concepts underpinning music, present since Greek antiquity?ethics
and enjoyment?are not recognized on equal terms.While audiences of both elite- and
popular culture allow that enjoyment is one ofmusic's central features, a vast majority
of music

theorists, educators, and aestheticians throughout history have linked music

to ethical improvement. The title "Music beyond Ethics" focuses on the less dominant
standpoint?the rebuttal of the interface between music and ethics?as
exemplified by
several ancient writers who advocated

This brief outline examines the possible

tional and new musicology.

the disassociation

between music

and morals.

effects of thisminority position on both tradi

I. The doctrine: Music

refinesmorals

Replete with itsbaffling definitions and explanations, Gustave Flaubert's Dictionnaire

des idees regues does not fail tomention music: "Musique. Fait penser a un tas de choses.

lesmceurs. Ex.: 'laMarseillaise'"

(Music. Causes one to think ofmany things.
'theMarseillaise').
This is perhaps one of themore curious
Refines morals. Example:
one
can
characterizations ofmusic
find.1 Since Flaubert's collection is largely based on

Adoucit

quoted opinions, one is right to question whether Flaubert himself was convinced of the
The quote itself has at its core the proximity of
ennobling power of theMarseillaise.
1

See A. Riethmuller,
"Stationen des Begriffs Musik"
(1985), Anndherung
and F. Hentschel
(Stuttgart, 2007), pp. 11-45. The Dictionnaire
or montage
of quoted statements rather than definitions.
Itwas written before

M.

Custodis,

an Musik,
ed. I. Bernds,
ismore of an assemblage
1880.

Archiv fur
Musikwissenschaft, Jahrgang65, Heft 3 (2008)
? Franz SteinerVerlag, Stuttgart

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170AlbrechtRiethmuller
and ethics. Flaubert's model is not from an operatic or symphonic masterpiece,
as could be expected, but is a national anthem?a highly symbolic song, as simple as
it is popular, a true example of musica politica, which throughout history and together

music

education2 was indeed the central battlefield in the alliance between music
and morals. We do not know how his annotation on music satwith his readers at the end

with music

of the nineteenth century. Suggesting such a song as a musical paradigm?the

ancient
nomos
Greeks would have called it
(vojuog: 'master tune,' homonymic with 'law')?or
defining music by combining itwith ethics is not merely a witty hypothesis but is the

expression of a conviction stemming from antiquity and spanning over two-and-a-half

centuries, a belief shared by both amateur and professional musicians, by music en
thusiasts and non-musicians alike. Philosophers, political scientists, politicians, and in
particular theologians and educators have throughout history contended thatmusic and
ethics belong together and, more
to believe this as well.

importantly, they have persistently encouraged others

improves throughmusic; music not only trains

fit for a life of community. Music is spiritual
them
but educates
and mental food, an edifying and educational power. In comparison with sports (the
motion of bodies), music (themotion of sounds) belongs to a higher sphere. In extreme
cases, one encounters the tenet thatmusic actually elevates man into a higher realm,
It is said that the state of mankind
individuals and makes

transforming him into a new form of the human species.

Plato and others designated Damon ofAthens as the specialist ofwhat we today refer
to as the "theory of ethos inmusic,"3 a theory concerned with music in general and, in

particular, with those aspects dealing with its inner functioning. Plato mainly addressed
this topic in his political writings Politeia and Nomoi. One generation later,Aristotle
clearly states at the beginning of book iii of his Politica (1337 a 10) that the legislator,

not themusician or themusicologist,

is primarily in charge of educating and forming
a citizen's ethos.4 In Aristotle's writings, the theory of ethos inmusic is contextual

ized in the role itplays inman's existence and in its use in education within the state,
or, the power of music's effects. In a word, the doctrine assumes thatmusic imitates,
represents, and expresses "characters" (rjOrj) in its scales and rhythms, throughwhich

it then forms, educates, and ennobles (i.e. refines) the character of man. (Commonly,
translated intomodern languages by another Greek
theGreek term "ethos"?f\Qoq?is
that
fulfills
these goals is considered valuable, useful, and
word, "character.") Music

ethical, whereas melodies and rhythms thatdo not are deemed injurious. For twenty-five
centuries this belief has been subjected to a myriad of representations in ever-chang
ing variations, parameters, and paradigms. All moralistic views of music and western
conceptions of ethics inmusic have their roots in this early doctrine. Neither church
2

Cf. W. D. Anderson,

Ethos

and Education

1966).
(Cambridge, Mass,
3
Cf. A. Neubecker,
Altgriechische Musik
4
"Die Musiksoziologie
Cf. A. Riethmuller,
i (Laaber,
Handbuch
der Musikwissenschaft,

in Greek Music:

The Evidence

of Poetry

and Philosophy

(Darmstadt,
1977), pp. 18f and 130f.
in: Die Musik
des Altertums
des Aristoteles,"
1989), pp. 216-37.

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in:Neues

Music beyondEthics 171

nor state institutions have felt obliged to abandon it,and music theory,music education,
and musicology have dared not oppose or doubt it on a broader front.

Tyrannical and fundamentalist state systems, regardless of how perverted they are,
hold the ethical concept ofmusic in particularly high esteem; democracies are less apt
to rely on itdue tomaintaining freedom of artistic expression. Those systems requiring
an adherence to the ethical character ofmusic are often prepared to forbid types of so
called unethical music. This has occured in state and church structures from ancient and

times to the present, as witnessed in communist countries, inNazi Germany,

in areas ruled by the Taliban. On the other hand, twentieth-century catastro
and
Iran,
cause tomany artists and composers
phies?both world wars and theHolocaust?gave

medieval

to examine the ethical possibilities

ofmusic with renewed intensity.

II. The refutation of the doctrine

is not only considered to be beautiful but also noble and good, hardly anyone
dared to contradict its emphatically accepted ethical qualities. Soon after the doctrine was
established, however, a barely recognized and rarely acknowledged minority refused to
Since music

subscribe to it (possibly initiated by the sophists). Although opposition to the doctrine

itself perhaps most vividly in ancient times,Kant postulated a separation of
morals and ethics on the one hand and aesthetics on the other, albeit a clear demarca

manifested

tion between music and its supposed ethical character was not his intention.Nietzsche
placed music, to some extent, "beyond good and evil" in his later years.5 And among

the dandies and bards offin de siecle European decadence one finds indications for a
renunciation of ethics inmusic. Despite these instances of revolt, mainstream music
ology has seen no reason to doubt, criticize, or re-evaluate the original tenet.
Hermann Abert referred to thosewho rejected an affiliation between music and ethics
as "ancient Greek formalists." The subtitle "A Contribution to theAesthetics ofMusic
in Classical Antiquity" of his dissertation Die Lehre vom Ethos in der griechischen

In
(1899) reflects his awareness of the deep schism in aesthetics?between
halts- and Formaldsthetik?in
the second half of the nineteenth century and his active
involvement in this critical debate. He points out the deplorable lack of scrutiny on the

Musik

issue and claims that "a moody

stroke of destiny" is responsible for the discrepancy

primary sources supporting the ethical theory and the exist
ing "meager fragments" from later sources backing the formalists' position.6 A similar
pattern is exhibited in another case: Plato's idealistic philosophy is preserved more or
between well-documented

less completely while writings on ancient Greek materialism are almost entirely lost; of
the dozens of books his powerful rival Democritus wrote, only a few fragments exist.

5
Bose,
6

Cf. A. Riethmuller,
"Nietzsches
Zweifel am Nutzen der Ethik fiir die Musik
(Jenseits von Gut und
in: Intermedialitdt,
ed. G. Schnitzler and E. Spaude
? 255),"
(Freiburg i.Br., 2004), pp. 373-81.
in der griechischen Musik
H. Abert, Die Lehre vom Ethos
1899), p. 39.
(Leipzig,

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172 AlbrechtRiethmuller
Power structures throughout history, however, not mere chance or the arbitrary caprice
of fate are responsible for this state of affairs.

Although scholars often quote Abert (most people are unable to obtain the original
Greek texts), themajority ignore the formalists' text sources altogether. Up to today
musicologists, including ancient Greek music specialists, inquire into the one and, for the
most part, ignore the other. Justhow little attention the texts of the so-called formalist
excellent source catalogue
group have received is illustrated inThomas J.Mathiesen's
forRISM (B XI, 1988); whether intentional or not, the formalists are excluded.7 The
relevant texts are also not included inAndrew Barker's two-volume English translation,
Greek Musical Writings (Cambridge University Press, 1984 and 1989),8 one of today's
prominent collections. It is as thoughwe still live under patristic patronage?opponents
are practically censored, declared alien to thefield, or brandmarked as non-experts. Eth
ics committees seem to pop up everywhere nowadays. Are experts forunethical musical

activites waiting in thewings?

Three main sources provide the pivotal resistance to the theory of ethos with respect
tomusic. The oldest source, though only a small fragment, is theHibeh Papyros on
Music from approximately 400 B.C. The second is Philodemos's De musica (so poorly
preserved that a full reconstruction of this first century B.C. text is impossible), while
the third isBook vi of Adversus mathematicos ("Against the professors"), entitled Ad
versus musicos

by the ancient skeptic philosopher, Sextus

("Against themusicians"),
Empiricus, who lived in the second half of the second centuryA.D. Strangely, this fully
preserved book is the least known or examined of all three sources. As far as I am aware,
only a fewmusicologists

have read the book and some do not even know of the author's

existence.

III. Denial

of "Music and/as ethos"

In this short discussion it is not possible to adequately outline the differentmethods

and philosophical contexts of the ancient schools. The following three points provide a
condensed overview of the neglected theorists, above all of Sextus Empiricus.
logos (^oyoq) in itsmultiple meanings of word, ratio, and reason was of
paramount importance inGreek music theory, and inmodern times it formed the basis
formany concepts, including musical
logic (J.N. Forkel and H. Riemann). Through
sense
all
the
of
word)
logos (in
thoughts,meanings, and semantics are communicated,
1. The word

is the general editor of the book series Greek and Latin Music
Theory (Uni
Conversely, Matheisen
source material, edited and published
Press) inwhich D. D. Greaves, using additional
versity of Nebraska
in 1986.
her translation of Sextus Empiricus's
Adversus musicos
8
are considered.
From
Neither Philodemos's
De musica nor Sextus Empiricus's
Adversus musicos
12 lines are translated. They do not represent the arguments of Sextus
i, p. 30, a mere
on Music
but refer to views of the Pythagoreans.
is translated
Only the short Hibeh Papyrus

the latter in vol.

Empiricus
(vol.

i, pp.

184f.).

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Music beyondEthics 173

resulting in the concept thatword and language take precendence over sound and music.
The word was and remains the essential cornerstone on which pedagogy and educa
tion rest. The formalists maintained firstand foremost thatwords (Wyoi), not sounds
or melodies,

melody,

are what shape human character. Philodemos argued thatmelos (jueAog:

tune, song, or in the broader sense, music) is alogos, which literallymeans

wordless, speechless, or unutterable but is primarily used in the sense of unreasonable

and irrational. The building of character, for better or forworse, is guaranteed through
word and speech, not melos or music. Continuing more precisely, he states: peXog,
KctQopeXog aXoyov ("melody, because of being melody, is alogos").9 Put another way,
it is not in the nature (ov (f>vaei) of melos ormusic to be a part of the process of ethos
and its values. To impose concerns of character (rjOog) on music ismerely a matter of
one's beliefs and opinions (86%ai). (Sensual perception?aiaOrjcrig?was
generally
assumed by the Epicureans to be alogos.) Undoubtedly, this is one of themost cardinal
and logical arguments against ethics inmusic.

2. Inmoving away frommusic as ethics, the formalists emphasized instead enjoyment,

delight, and pleasure (repy/ig, rfSovrj)10.Since antiquity, hedonistic principles as they
relate tomusic have led to innumerable arguments and perceptions thatwaver in and
out of focus from century to century. For various reasons, the vast majority of theorists
and aestheticians have preferred to disregard them and in so doing have underestimated

In their efforts to relegate the assumption of superhu

even
man,
divine, powers tomusic, thus rendering it capable of liftingman mentally
and spiritually into higher realms of existence, they have tended to avoid reflecting on
such things as themusical tastes and pleasures ofmass audiences, sensuality and base
this controversial dimension.

emotions, the human body, dance halls, discotheques, the techno scene, even sexual
energies freed by certain rhythms.Only by way of ethical sublimation have austere and

rigorous theorists tolerated sublime modes of pleasure to be a part of sacred, folk, and
artmusic. The unreconciled dichotomies of art and entertainment and of classical and
popular music bears witness to the persistence of the conflict. The fight against hedone
(enjoyment) as the aim ofmusic reaches back to Plato, and it is precisely this conflict,
sociologically no less important than aesthetically, thatprompted theminority status of

the opponents of "ethics inmusic." Disciples of the ethical doctrine viewed certain types
ofmusic (inmedieval times,musica lasciva) as devilish, condemning theirperpetrators
to thewhipping-post, and in the early nineteenth century the accelerated waltz became
a matter of concern for the inspector ofmoral customs. Due to the fact that "music as
enjoyment" falls short of being a needful or useful force in life and society, Abert went

9
De musica,
ed. I. Kemke
Philodemos,
(Leipzig,
versus musicos
vi
of
Adversus
(Book
mathematicos),

1884), p. 65 (line llf.); cf. Sextus Empiricus, Ad

ed. and transl. R.G. Bury (London and Cambridge,

1949), section 20.

10 Cf. G.
zwischen Unterhaltung
Lob, Terpsis und Ethos. Antikes Musikverstdndnis
M.A.
thesis (University of Freiburg i. Br., Philosophische
Fakultat I, 1989, unpublished).

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und Erbauung,

174 AlbrechtRiethmuller
on to assign the formalists as the founders of a purely aesthetic theory ofmusic,11 in the
sense of a consequential aesthetic conception of artistic autonomy.
3. The most striking aspect of Sextus Empiricus's Adversus musicos is his application
of the aporetic method of ancient skepticism tomusic?a
unique exercise in all ofmu
sic history. Differing from those who dogmatically have tried "to show thatmusic is a

subject not necessary for happiness, but harmful rather,and to prove this both by finding
faultwith the statements made by themusicians and by claiming to refute their leading
arguments," Sextus Empiricus dispelled music theorists' principal assertions {dpxiKcti

vKoOeaeig), thus upsetting music as a whole.12 In so doing, his intentwas not to de

stroymusic as a phenomenon (the skeptics accepted the existence of phenomenological
things), but to dismantle the theories and speculations related to it.He offers scores of

examples that, deal with the significant role of the emotions and that question whether
trainedmusicians possess more judgement and a deeper understanding of or feeling for
music than ordinary people (iSicoreig). As can be expected, his arguments deny music's
ability to improveman ethically or transformhis character for the better. He doubts that
certain kinds ofmelodies

form the character of the soul (f)Qonoielv rrjv y/vxjjv)13 and

refutes the theory that only people reared by musicians are good.14 Citing the quote that
music causes themind to emulate virtue because music is not only a delightful sound
but employed in the solemn praise of the gods,15 he goes on to reject this implicitely by
presenting the following argument: "Just as the crash of thunder?as the followers of
of a god (but to the common
Epicurus say?does not signify amanifestation (em^dveia)
people and the superstitious it is supposed to be such) since when other bodies likewise

strike one against another, a crash is similarly produced (just as when a millstone is
turned round or hands clap), in the same manner, some of themele of music (ret Kara
juovcjiKrjv jueln) are not by nature (ov <j>vaei) of one sort and others of another sort but

are presumed so to be by us."16 One should keep thesewords inmind when reading texts
included, are
pertaining to the theory of ethos inmusic. Many individuals, musicologists
still inclined to hear the epiphany of the gods when juxtaposing their ethical ideas onto

music. Under the auspices of "art religion," sacred and secular music of the nineteenth
and twentieth centuries were considered in thismanner. Associations of every color and
kind were superimposed onto music. These opinions (S6%ai) and convictions based on

arbitrary assumptions would be called ideologies today. They were based on that certain
type of symbolism referred to by Sextus Empiricus as superstition.

11
H.Abert,
op. cit., p. 43.
Sextus Empiricus, Adversus
13
Cf. ibid., vi, 30 and 36.
14
Cf. ibid., vi, 29.
15 Cf.
18.
ibid.,vi,
16
Ibid., vi, 15, transl. by D.D.
12

mathematicos

Greaves,

vi, 4-5,

op. cit., pp.

transl. by R.G.

141 and

Bury.

143.

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Music beyondEthics 175

IV. Dead

end

Richard Wagner's
antisemitic writings do not, diplomatically speaking, show him in
an ethically favorable light. Two weeks after having been confronted in the classroom
with the initial paragraphs ofDas Judentum in derMusik (1850, second edition 1869),
a young musicology student declared that she could no longer bear to listen to Tristan
and Isolde. Unable to separate Wagner's convictions and behaviors from his musical
creativity, she could not fathom the coexistence of his musical genius and this character

flaw. The fairlywidespread linkage between the two is no doubt dependent on the cele
brated, nonetheless precarious, interface between biography and work. Or it subcon
sciously rests on the irrational fear that someone who publishes antisemitic pamphlets
would also compose antisemitic music, which leads to yet another common, erroneous
assumption about artists and theirwork. To contend that antisemitic notes exist is as
preposterous as believing philosemitic ones do. But ifnotes are unable to express this,
then the concept that sounds in and of themselves are ethical begins to totter.
A German proverb says: "Wo Musik ist,da lass' dich ruhig nieder, /bose Menschen

singen [kennen] keine Lieder" (where music is, you may abide, / evil people do not
sing [know] songs). But we have to agree thatHitler and Stalin, despite theirwicked
natures, were both music lovers, just as millions of listeners and amateurs are. Most

likely, they enjoyed music as all others do, yetmusic was unable to transform them into
better individuals or hinder them from their crimes. Even the SS had itsown Liederbuch.
But the proverb alludes to something else: in order to be a good person, you yourself
have to sing, not just listen.While it is true barking dogs do not bite, one cannot sing
continually every day of one's life.But if the emotions excited by music actually could
empower man to improve ethically, one would have to assume that two countries so

proud of theirmusical tradition reaching from Bach, Mozart, and Haydn to Beethoven,
Schubert, and Brahms would have benefited from it.Or to put itmore bluntly, if the effect
ofmusic was ethical at all, then the countries producing so many musical masterpieces
for two centuries, Germany and Austria, could hardly have organized and carried out the
Holocaust. Seeing Dr. Goebbels in a propaganda film shaking hands with Furtwangler,

his star conductor, after a performance of Beethoven's Ninth in a hall festively adorned
with the swastika leaves one with second thoughts.All thewhile, theNazis never tired
of stressing the ethical nature ofmusic.

To doubt the ethical qualities of music by no means diminishes, for example, the
important efforts and remarkable improvenents music therapy has been able to achieve
with autistic children. But thismedical assistance, helping individuals in some cases to
react to a few sounds, lies far beyond music as an art form, centering rather on music
as a trigger for emotions. Thus, the use of music in therapy is an ethical act without
proving thatmusic has ethical powers. One may actually disavow an inherent bond
between music and goodness or reject the unprovable belief thatmusic as such can
influence human character for better or worse for ethical reasons. When scholars play

unwittingly with these emotional issues, one should at least cast a wary glance, which

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176 AlbrechtRiethmuller
is not to say that one should scold the poets for doing so. At least the best ones count
both sides of the coin, as inMeasure for Measure
(iv, 1): "Music oft hath such a charm
/To make bad good, and good provoke to harm."

Anschrift: Freie Universitat Berlin, Seminar furMusikwissenschaft,

Grunewaldstr. 35, 12165 Berlin

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