Name: Aljosja Mietus
Main Subject: Harpsichord Research Supervisor: Bert Mooiman
Title of Research:
Johann Sebastian Bach - a religious-philosophical approach to the beauty of his music
Research Question:
Is it possible, with the help of philosophical concepts, to pinpoint a universal dimension in music that can, at least partly, explain its beauty?
Summary of Results:
In this research paper, the author investigates if it is possible, with the help of philosophical concepts, to pinpoint a universal dimension in music that can, at least partly, explain its beauty. He defines music with the help of contemporary thinker R. Welten as more than a phenomenon that can be accurately described in a purely scientific way, but as something that transcends it because it has the ability to move, to affect people. Consequently he studies passages from the philosophical works of the writers F.W.J. Schelling (1775-1854), A. Schopenhauer (1788-1860) and H. Cohen (1842-1918), who all gave musical art a fundamental role in their philosophical reflections. The author comes to the conclusion that all thinkers agree in their own way on the idea that ‘true’ musical art originates in the mastery of strict forms (e.g. harmony, or musical styles such as fugues or dances) and the overcoming of these forms without losing freedom. In the last part of the paper, this temporary conclusion is put to the test in existing music, namely J.S. Bach’s Ouvertüre nach Französischer Art and Goldberg variations. In these works, the author sees a confirmation of his temporary conclusion in the way Bach merges the forms of strict counterpoint and rich harmony with the forms of the different French dances, and in the limiting boundaries the overarching idea behind the Goldberg variations imposes without limiting the expressiveness of the work. As a final conclusion, the author states that the use of philosophical concepts in musical reality can be challenging since thinking about music often seems farfetched from musical reality, but that this research shows that philosophy can help to shed some light on one of mankind’s many mysteries: the beauty of music.
Biography:
Aljosja Mietus (The Netherlands, 1990) received his first piano lessons when he was eight years old, but switched to the harpsichord at the age of twelve, having lessons with Menno van Delft and later with Tilman Gey. After finishing his secondary education at the Barlaeus Gymnasium in Amsterdam, he started his Theology studies at Leiden University where he graduated in 2012. During his Theology studies he started his Harpsichord and Basso Continuo studies at the Royal Conservatoire of The Hague with Jacques Ogg and Patrick Ayrton. He finished his Bachelor’s in 2014 and started his Master’s at the same institute with Jacques Ogg and Kris Verhelst. He also started a Master of Theology at the PThU in Amsterdam in that same year.