“Sound is the
basic matter of
the primordial world.” [1]
music
as embodied will
Arthur Schopenhauer, 1788–1860.
In Schopenhauer’s The World as Will and Idea, the philosopher takes on the question of art, and reserves for the art of sound — of music — its highest order.
Whereas most human art is a copy of the phenomena of the world, only the art of sound has its origins in the will, the substance of the universe itself.
music as will
[1] “Sound is the basic matter of the primordial world.” This quote has been attributed to Marius Schneider, 1903–1982, who compared the origin myths and symbolism across the world’s written and oral traditions, where he discovered this common theme.