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Invariance and variance of motives

a model of musical logic and/as fuzzy logic

Hanns-Werner Heister

pp. 423-450

"Musical Logic" (term 1788 by Johann Nicolaus Forkel) means both the "logicality of music" and the "involvement/participation of musical processes in the laws of reason". Motives, themes, parts of movements, forms are supposedly related to each other: horizontally in time in and vertically in (musical) space. Part of the musical logic and its realization in concrete artworks is the motivic-thematic work ("motivisch-thematische Arbeit"). Musical motives,often combined to more expanded themes, form shapes ("Gestalten") with a fairly stable core and diverse and multiple varied elaborations in the course of the art work as process. Core can be interpreted as the inner kernel, partially subconscious, quasi also the "generative" dimension. To the core as essence correlate as phenomenon respectively phenomena in different variants, the "performative" dimension. The "contours' of these variants for their part are a generalization and a fuzzily identity-establishing commonality of the different various forms and appearances of the kernel. The interrelations between both these entities belong to the general dialectic of essence and appearance (the Hegelian "Wesen" vs. "Erscheinung") - notabene a real dialectic, because both sides or dimensions participate in the constitution of the object, and both belong to the objects of Fuzzy Logic. As a concept, which is valid also for other matters, I propose that of an identity in and as process ("prozessierende Identität"): In a given phase the identical is not invariably "given" and present but develops in time and history. This-relative-identity is the initial point and endpoint of a process and is realized as this process. I will demonstrate this with concrete examples, especially with the BACH-cipher, a historically long lasting and multi-dimensional motif with a remarkable cross-structure (leaving aside the psycho- and socio-logic of music - causes, motivations, functions etc.) Inversely music (and similarly the fine arts) appear as part and concrete elaboration of the aesthetic and sensual perception, which form their own laws, logics, layers and types of cognition, and therewith nothing less than a paradigm of Fuzzy Logic.

Publication details

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-24672-2_22

Full citation:

Heister, H. (2012)., Invariance and variance of motives: a model of musical logic and/as fuzzy logic, in R. Seising & V. Sanz González (eds.), Soft computing in humanities and social sciences, Dordrecht, Springer, pp. 423-450.

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