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Introduction
Esti Sheinberg

The Universe of Musical Meaning
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1   Viktor Emil Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning: An Introduction to Logotherapy. Translated by Ilse Leach (Boston, 1962). 2   Raymond’s choice of Dr Strabismus of Utrecht honoured J.B. Morton’s imaginary eccentric inventor, famous for his plethora of ineffective innovations (elliptically implying that, while some may still find the usefulness of music semiotics a rather challenging matter, its aesthetic and intellectual purport stand intact).

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The area of meaning that the writers of this collection address is music, and the most important element that unites them all is their indebtedness, in one way or another, to the scholarship of Raymond Monelle. Were it not for the risk of being deemed banal (and lacking in keywords for search engines), this book could be titled The Posthumous Papers of the Dr Strabismus of Utrecht (whom God preserve) Club. Such title would honour Raymond Monelle’s literary persona,2 his love for Charles Dickens and his rare gift of combining earnest (and razor-sharp unforgiving) analyses with a self-ironizing Doppelgänger’s gaze at his own work. Indirectly, it would also allude to his diverse taste and overwhelming knowledge of literature, philosophy, history, art and music; in other words, of his being, first and foremost, a truly open-minded scholar.
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Viktor Frankl’s groundbreaking research into the Self is published in English under the title Man’s Search for Meaning.1 Its original title, … trotzdem Ja zum Leben sagen is, nevertheless, more telling about this painfully meticulous portrayal of a persistent quest. This description of a psychological struggle with suffering, its transcendence and final transfiguration into a renewed and courageous existential stance, produced a new term: Logotherapy – healing by meaning. We live in a universe of meanings that we create and according to which we live. Paraphrasing Frankl, our life depends on our constantly challenging these meanings with questions, interpretations and analyses, all surrounded by infinite doubts. Certainties divide humankind; questions unite us. The constant search for signification, the very process of inquiry, makes our existence intentional – and therefore meaningful.
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Chapter 1

a sh ga te. pp. was not quite right. co m ww w.a sh ga te. showing Tintin walking down a street and muttering to himself: ‘this is indeed very strange!’. I still find this one the most inspiring. co m ww w.a sh ga te. 2008). obvious. Raymond Monelle cherished search. he built his story.a sh ga te.a sh ga te. ‘The Absent Meaning of Music’. Derrida and Tintin5 – Monelle investigated the nature of texts in literature. co m The original subtitle of this collection was Texts on Music Semiotics. and of music texts set to literature and poetry. in Eero Tarasti. 1996). co m ww w. Of all the slogans and cartoons displayed in many offices. scholarly integrity and unfashionable insistence on a civilized.a sh ga te. co m © Copyrighted Material ww w. it highlighted a main keyword of his scholarship. His early thesis was written precisely on ww w. Earlier discussions at various seminars and conferences sum up to almost 10 years of study. developing a characteristically transparent narrative of the inquiry. Never underestimating his readers. pp. a ‘something’ that no one had noticed before.a sh ga te. in Raymond Monelle. Musical Semiotics in Growth (Imatra. However. thought and analysis devoted to this subject. the one who juggled the ever-moving. no! Not again!’. he argued. became Fascinating. co m ww w.a sh ga te. and his admirable determination to calmly stare into the abyss of music’s ‘absent meaning’3 became thus a lesson in confronting Life. née Obvious.a sh ga te. this particular little detail did not quite fit in. His courage to contemplate music as a signifying system reminded us of the true meaning of our own work. and inviting us to a mental dialogue that offered no intellectual concession. the specific element. Its first part was published as ‘What is a Musical Text?’. co m In an academic world divided by findings. 67–89. Puzzled by this ostensibly simple concept and inspired by French-thinking inquisitive minds such as Rousseau.a sh ga te. pp. This volume presents some phases of this dialogue. 245–260. co m . Acta Semiotica Fennica XXX (Imatra. co m   Raymond Monelle. Once defamiliarized. co m Texts ww w. Hatten. His relentless study. in Robert S. one must first define what is a text. while his loyal fox-terrier Milou looks up at his master thinking: ‘Oh. Harri Veivo and Irma Vierimaa (eds). co m ww w. Monelle’s articles often started with a faint spotlight – a teaser. co m 3 ww w. respectful discourse inspired a generation of scholars. The Sense of Music (Princeton. 2000). 4   ‘Text and Subjectivity’. just by his desk. Culture and Philosophy. ww w. well. mainly because it was. a starting point for a new Thinking-Adventure.a sh ga te. Pirjo Kukkonen. ever-changing spaces that weave the endless glass-beads of human thought. A Sounding of Signs: Modalities and Moments in Music. 147–169.2 Music Semiotics: A Network of Significations © Copyrighted Material ww w.a sh ga te. Reading his work meant engaging in an exciting game in which he was the Magister Ludi. Borrowed from one of Monelle’s most intricate essays. ww w. Paul Forsell and Richard Littlefield (eds). 5   A cartoon of Hergé’s hero was stuck to the wall in Monelle’s office. the narrow beam implied. maybe – directed at some obscure corner of a musical work. poetry and music.4 To understand the nature of a musical text. Richard Littlefield.

‘Opera Seria as Drama: The Musical Dramas of Hasse and Metastasio’ (University of Edinburgh. Acta semiotica fennica XXIII (Imatra. co m 6 ww w. semiotics is based on speculative and deductive thought rather ww w. The following decade produced ‘Levels of Rhythm in Vocal Music’. Texts are communications between human minds. 65/3 (1984): pp. Music and the Arts: Proceedings of ICMS 7. co m The theory of semiotics stipulates the principles of signification. Even his earliest paper.a sh ga te. ww w.a sh ga te. co m Theory ww w. or texts. connecting between periods.7 What is a text? ‘A text is a semiosis. 29/2 (1968): pp. 10   Raymond Monelle. 7   Raymond Monelle. co m ww w. The second opposition differentiates semiotics from any set of principles that carry value judgments.. ‘semiotics threatens no one’. Unlike hermeneutics or any other type of interpretation.a sh ga te. 229–236. places and people. 8   Monelle. Monelle positions it at one pole of two different oppositions: in the first. ad infinitum renewed and renewable. p.Introduction © Copyrighted Material ww w. on Bartók’s purely instrumental Fourth String Quartet. no agenda. British Journal of Aesthetics. ww w. eternal semiosis. p. focused on the meaningfulness of its musical structure. but as understood. It exists only when interpreted.a sh ga te. it opposes all particular manifestations of readings. it is an interpretant.6 and many of his later projects display this interest. Music & Letters. co m this relationship. 1969).a sh ga te. the two minds of one originator) – any one message can become an infinite number of texts. it becomes one only when it is read and understood. 17–36. 22/1 (1982): pp. co m ww w. 2006). 31–44. ‘Semiotics is innocent’: its queries and statements follow no ideology. While its existence requires the meeting of two minds – the originator of a message and its reader (or.a sh ga te. was followed by a period of quiet study (then still allowed within academic circles). tied by an infinite number of threads to an infinite number of other texts and other minds.a sh ga te.10 As a theory. pp. as all of us well know. 9   Ibid. co m 3   Monelle’s doctoral thesis. something understood’. The book you hold is not a text.8 A score can become a musical text ‘not as performed. ‘Text and Subjectivity’. semiotics does not look at what is signified as much as it looks at how the signification process takes place. The Music Review. Therefore. ‘Notes on Bartók’s Fourth Quartet’. 123–129. co m ww w.a sh ga te. a part of a process. and therefore it does not necessarily prescribe any particular method of communication or of sign reading. Semiotics is a theory. A message is a promise for an ever-expanding web of possible significations: of perpetual. Furthermore: a text is never a text. 149.a sh ga te. ‘Semiotics Threatens No One …’.9 A text is not a thing. Paul Forsell and Richard Littlefield (eds). in Eero Tarasti.a sh ga te.a sh ga te. performances. co m . co m ww w. co m © Copyrighted Material ww w. and the later ‘Word-Setting in the Strophic Lied’. co m ww w. 147. interpretants produced by semiotic processes.a sh ga te. argues Monelle. its dialectics [between the signifier and signified – ES] resolved into intelligibility’.

Our research is geared precisely against entering that tempting comfort-zone. Focusing on facts and ideas. political and social narratives.a sh ga te.a sh ga te. which must remain clear of any a-priori values. Being open to discussion and to criticism is. theoretical thought must be verified through critical processes. first and foremost. musical works are by their very nature interconnected with other systems: dramatic. co m ww w. The only way in which we can hone our analyses and improve our research is by exposing our thoughts and deliberations to comments and constructive criticism. co m ww w. for example. therefore.a sh ga te. which so often are ww w. The simplest pairing of a signifier and signified. While the phenomenon of music signification is intuitively familiar to each one of us. poetry. co m than on inductive processes that characterize. ww w. the semiotics of music explains how music signifies. mythology. historical contexts and rhetorical devices.a sh ga te. impartiality and transparency are respected and followed at each step. co m ww w. Insisting on scholarly rigour keeps us from falling into the deepest (and most cynically abused) pit of postmodern theory: the false claim that ‘anything goes since everything is just an interpretation’. co m ww w. a main postulate of this collection.4 Music Semiotics: A Network of Significations © Copyrighted Material ww w. our aim is clarity of expression and thought. In a field that is murky with overlapping and confusing terminologies.a sh ga te. Reading and writing semiotics is a merciless enterprise. While our conviction that music signifies is indeed primarily based on intuition and observation.a sh ga te. Musicians writing about music need to be acquainted not only with literature. history or sociology. co m ww w. particularly when the writers are. co m Meaning is intermodal. musicians. co m © Copyrighted Material . is still unfinalized. making sure that the principles of accuracy. psychology. art and history. While acknowledging that no eye – and no mind – is innocent. co m Networks ww w. co m ww w. If a text is ‘something that is understood’.a sh ga te. the fact that no Grail of Innocence awaits us at the end of this road does not invalidate what this quest stands for.a sh ga te. inherent in the very idea of a sign. our strategy is based on the ethos of rationality. inter-systematic correlations become interdisciplinary networks. then all the chapters in this volume are not only intermodal but also intertextual.a sh ga te. co m ww w. Each point must – and should – be debatable. we are called to set aside our opinions. feelings.a sh ga te. implies a web of inter-systemic correlations. the theoretical basis on which its principles. and any immediate ‘gut reactions’ we were trained to trust in our musical encounters. natural prejudices.a sh ga te. forming the subject of our quest for accurate definitions and lucid descriptions. As systems complicate. Ignoring that music semiotics is based on intermodality necessarily misleads music interpretation. ideas and postulates. Examples and particular texts serve as case studies to validate and corroborate (or refute) its stipulations.a sh ga te. co m ww w. Being aural sign-systems that develop in time. as well as the criteria for their formation into sets or schemes. Being a series of principles that offer explanations for the phenomenon of signification.

mathematics. theological. 2000). ‘Word-Setting in the Strophic Lied’.a sh ga te.a sh ga te. co m ww w. co m 5 11   For example. we are lucky and grateful to encounter sympathetic minds. Mahler. 2006). linguistic and sociological studies. Greimas. and Tropes: Mozart. psychological. co m ww w. literary. We engage in the study of opera. literature. computers. Grabócz and Tarasti developed studies of music’s narrativity. Schumann. Monelle’s interest in the dramatic power of music expanded to its relation to lyrical poetry. narrativité. but also with a quite expansive array of philosophical. Esti Sheinberg. psychological. Michael Spitzer. ‘A Narrative Grammar of Chopin’s G minor Ballade’. More often than not. looking for ways in which these systems of signification might relate to ours. 1994) and his Interpreting Musical Gestures.11 Meanwhile. Barthes. 2009) and Morphlogie des oeuvres pour piano de Liszt: Influence du programme sur l’évolution des formes instrumentales (Budapest. ‘A Semantic Approach to Debussy’s Songs’. pp.a sh ga te. in Marie-Laure Ryan (ed. his later writings are often related to music’s own semantic meaning. we tend to roam through various fields of inquiry. co m ww w. in Chopin Studies 5 (Warsaw. Metastasio. 193–207. co m ww w.a sh ga te. pp.13 The acceptance of these areas into music scholarship ww w. Topics.a sh ga te.a sh ga te. Monelle. 2004). history. Bartók. The interrelationship between music and literature was among the first to be explored in studies of music signification. 1986). Correlation and Interpretation (Bloomington. Márta Grabócz’s chapter in this volume (Chapter 10). in Pauline Fairclough and David Fanning (eds). Baudelaire. Its centuries-old roots lie in poetic verse theories.a sh ga te. co m ww w. and her ‘Jewish Existential Irony as Musical Ethos in the Music of Shostakovich’. Wagner and Žižek – to mention only a few. Led by the nature of music no less than by our – slightly arrogant. Musique. Schubert (Bloomington. Peirce. like those by Hatten.a sh ga te.a sh ga te. and his ‘Music as a Narrative Art’.). Spitzer and myself. 11–19. Tchaikovsky. let’s admit – curiosity. 51 (1992): pp.Introduction © Copyrighted Material ww w. Parody and the Grotesque in the Music of Shostakovich: A Theory of Musical Incongruities (Aldershot. Nattiez. in The Musical Topic (Bloomington. co m ww w. focused on specific areas of the intermodal semantic universe: theories of musical markedness. Metaphor and Musical Thought (Chicago. Narrative Across Media: The Languages of Storytelling (London.a sh ga te. Jakobson. 12   For example. The Cambridge Companion to Shostakovich (Cambridge. is staggering. and his Music as Philosophy: Adorno and Beethoven’s Late Style (Bloomington. Monelle wrote on works by Bach. co m an inseparable part of a musical work. Satire. 2004). Molino. co m ww w. Beethoven. 1995). signification (Paris. linguistic and ethnological studies. See also Chapters 18 and 19 in this volume. but the evolution of these studies ‘from so simple a beginning’ (as Darwin might have said). our own Virgils and Beatrices. The Music Review. pp. but never neglect the manifold interconnections of music with the literary arts. We write about music and poetry and learn about the connection between music and movement while wondering about the relationship between music and facial expressions.12 Other studies. 233–249. co m © Copyrighted Material ww w. Eero Tarasti. Irony. based on literary theories of Greimas and Propp. and ‘The Literary Source of Topic Theory’. 13   Robert Hatten.a sh ga te. 2004). Debussy. 283–304. 2008).a sh ga te. Musical Meaning in Beethoven: Markedness. co m ww w. metaphor and incongruities are related to philosophical. 2006). Derrida. co m . film and what not. as well as her comprehensive study. Maxwell-Davies. ww w. zoology.

co m . co m ww w. 36–37. co m ww w. 6 and 12 in this volume. 3. ‘The Postmodern Project in Music Theory’. dare I say. are affected by) our understanding of music signification.a sh ga te. sociological. Those who knew Raymond could not avoid noticing his absolute fairness. thus shaking off the responsibility to differ between an interpretation and a misinterpretation.a sh ga te. Equally. society and politics. social and ethical values of both its creators and its audience. © Copyrighted Material 14 ww w. Semiotics must remain innocent. shaded by its questionable reputation as ‘positivistic’. for Monelle. 16 and 21 in this volume. as his critique of the New Musicology might imply?17 Definitely not. co m ww w. thus freeing the mind from the fetters of prejudice.a sh ga te. he did object to analyses that were dictated by preconceived agendas. both of which contribute to the signification of music. he constantly did just that. Looking into the interrelationship between music and poetry.a sh ga te. He claimed that such interpretations are not semiotic. 18   Raymond Monelle. 16   See Chapters 2. the studies of vocal music in this volume render a wealth of new food for thought. pp.a sh ga te. co m ww w.). co m ww w.a sh ga te. meant that every interpretation is legitimate as long as it stays clear of agendas. he fully realized the great curse of opening the door to all interpretations as equally legitimate. psychological or ethnological factors into semiotic analysis. co m ww w. 15. 4. Musical Semiotics in Growth (Imatra. allowing a recent re-introduction of a semiotic field that was somewhat neglected in the last decade: syntactics.14 Highly complex sign-systems as multimedia genres offer an obvious area for intermodal explorations. Monelle did not mind the incorporation of historical. Agendas lead to misinterpretations. Postmodernism. and eradicating any hope for communication. 1996). it is regaining its deserved position by the side of semantics. ‘Semiotics Threatens No One …’. in Eero Tarasti (ed.6 Music Semiotics: A Network of Significations © Copyrighted Material ww w.15 Others went beyond the specific genre. 9. is opera. The oldest among them. 17   Monelle.a sh ga te. co m released some former tensions. mythology. but political statements.a sh ga te.16 Would Raymond Monelle reject studies that incorporate history. literature and poetry. co m ww w. pp. 15   See Chapters 7. Monelle was a great admirer of postmodern thought. looking into historical processes and philosophical thought that affect (and. and a most fertile ground for semiotic inquiry. sociology or psychology into music analysis. 37–56.a sh ga te. ww w. it also reflects political. co m ww w. co m   For two completely different aspects of the incorporation of syntactics into music semiotics see Chapters 8 and 11 in this volume. co m ww w.a sh ga te.a sh ga te. annoying impartiality and complete open-mindedness.18 He fully realized the great blessing of opening the door to all interpretations as equally legitimate. Related to drama. labelling them as ‘non-semiotic’. However.a sh ga te. Always hovering in the background of semiotic studies. In fact.

co m ww w. Oakland.20 it developed into manifold research projects. 4/1–2 (2007): www. using topics as a primary example. She passed away on 15 July 2010. co m ww w. 1980). and to Robert Samuels’ work on Mahler. the ‘hunt’ and the ‘pastoral’ topics. Wendy Allanbrook had kindly agreed to contribute a chapter for the present volume as a tribute to Raymond Monelle. CA. Starting with a few pages of Leonard Ratner’s Classic Music. His generous open-mindedness and ability to learn from approaches different from his own is apparent in his choice of dedicatee to his last book: the musicologist Joseph Kerman.24 Musical topics change emphases ww w.a sh ga te. Form and Style (New York. the study of musical topics has gained the status of an independent theory. 20   Wye Jamison Allanbrook. Throughout the last three decades.23 musical topics are discussed under various terminologies in different countries and cultures: in East European countries they are referred to as intonatsia.a sh ga te. 1988. co m . co m ww w. 21   Raymond Monelle.a sh ga te.Introduction © Copyrighted Material ww w. co m ww w. 9. Robert Hatten.gmth.21 While the terminology of musical topics is relatively new. co m ww w. Sadly. 22   Robert Hatten. Rhythmic Gesture in Mozart: ‘Le Nozze di Figaro’ and ‘Don Giovanni’ (Chicago. who first applied the literary concept of trope to music semiotics. paper presented at the Second International Congress on Musical Signification. and still await a clear differentiation and definition.a sh ga te. and exp. Zeitschrift der Gesellschaft für Musiktheorie.a sh ga te.19 and followed by Wye Jamison Allanbrook’s book that became a milestone in this area. In his analyses of musical topics Monelle often expressed his indebtedness to the eighteenth-century music studies of Kofi Agawu and of Elaine Sisman. rev. in cultures influenced by French studies they are known as genres or stylemes. The Musical Topic: Hunt. co m ww w. 1983). 109–110 (2002): pp. 23   Márta Grabócz. as ‘The Proper Role of Metaphor in a Theory of Musical Expressive Meaning’. as often happens in translations. presented at the 1990 Society for Music Theory national meeting. awareness of ‘characteristic figures’ that would point to a variety of signifieds is neither new nor consistent.de/zeitschrift/artikel/251. Degrés. climaxing with Monelle’s comprehensive analysis of the ‘military’. while in English-speaking countries the term topics is the prevalent one. Nevertheless. 2006).22 As Márta Grabócz mentions in an earlier article.a sh ga te. had demonstrated as early as 1988 that tropes of topics deserve separate studies. this was not to be. cultural and musical references. Classic Music: Expression. deepening the loss suffered by the international music community. ww w. co m ww w. co m The interdisciplinary nature of music semiotics leads naturally to the study of musical topics. 24   See Nicholas McKay. ‘“Topos et dramaturgie”: analyse des signifiés et de la stratégie dans deux mouvements symphoniques de Béla Bartók’.aspx.a sh ga te. the division and the range of phenomena covered by each one of these terms is not absolutely consistent. co m 7 Topics 19   Leonard Ratner.a sh ga te. co m © Copyrighted Material ww w. Musical topics are mentioned for the first time on p.a sh ga te. Military and Pastoral (Bloomington.a sh ga te. ‘On Topics Today’. j1– j18.a sh ga te. each with its meticulously detailed historical.a sh ga te. ‘The Troping of Meaning in Music’. co m ww w.

and new musical significations emerge through a subtle honing of existing musical topics. p.a sh ga te.a sh ga te. doing precisely this. co m © Copyrighted Material ww w. after gaining an independent profile recognizable by a stylistically competent audience. modify. a topic is a cultural unit that exists only in texts. co m ww w. iconographies and other cultural constructs gain meaning only when it has ceased to carry any practical signification. 28   Monelle. is based on such a topic.a sh ga te. co m not all signifying items are topics.26 ww w. functioning only in intertextual relations. In order to describe musical topics. both based on negation. stating that with time. co m ww w. a topic can be inflected toward more complex significations.27 ww w. a unicorn is no less real than a lion. it is pure meaning. co m Monelle supplied clear indications for the identification of a topic: ww w. and it does not need to be rooted in reality. ww w. forming an intricate web of significations.a sh ga te.a sh ga te. and society operates within history. says Monelle. The ‘pastoral’. First. The second trait that Monelle attributes to a topic is its reference to the past. it does not belong to contemporary culture. and of social history. creating ‘topical layers’: some have their roots in very early times. 27   Monelle. 80. co m and character throughout history and between cultures. co m . already appearing in mythologies.a sh ga te.a sh ga te.a sh ga te.a sh ga te. although the latter exists in physical reality and the former does not. Monelle himself called for an expansion of his topic theory and its application to a wider scope of musical types and genres. Cultural units combine to form a culture. The Sense of Music. See also McKay’s contribution to this volume. for example. a topic has two features. 68. ‘The Absent Meaning of Music’. While the basic meaning of a topic does not change. p. second.8 Music Semiotics: A Network of Significations © Copyrighted Material ww w.28 Characteristically.a sh ga te. p. then. is there a level of conventionality in the sign? If the answers are positive. Culture defines society. In the cultural realm. whatever the period of the music studied. co m According to Monelle. enrich and complicate older ones. 80. The topic develops along the axis of time. co m Musical topics mean by virtue of their correlation to cultural units … this meaning is not ‘referential’. its later layers add. chapter 20. co m 25   Monelle. of literary genre and symbolism. as words combine to form a language.a sh ga te. there must be a full account of cultural mythology. co m ww w. co m ww w. p. The central questions of the topic theorists are: Has this musical sign passed from literal imitation (iconism) or stylistic reference (indexicality) into signification by association (the indexicality of the object)? And. 26. Grouping different views of the term point at a variety of ways for its analysis and interpretation.25 Topics continue to form throughout history. its reincarnations in literary texts. ww w. The Musical Topic. The Sense of Music. then a new topic has been revealed. 26   Monelle. ww w.a sh ga te.

A comprehensive analysis of a topic.a sh ga te. Several chapters in this collection embark on such explorations. His call for such enquiries is answered in several chapters in this volume.a sh ga te.a sh ga te. providing means for universal communication of signification. It must investigate each and every layer of meaning that composes its intricate structure. music performance. music obviously included. co m .a sh ga te. co m ww w. trying to connect between culture and nature.a sh ga te. cannot stop at the stage of artificiality. indeed. topics are interpretants: signifieds that become new signifiers in the endless semiotic chain of interpretations. for example. © Copyrighted Material ww w.a sh ga te. beyond asking ‘how does music signify?’. is attracting increasing attention. where non-arbitrary components contribute to music as a signifying system. not all produced intentionally to function as signs. What are the other sources of musical conventions? A constant undercurrent of semiotic studies delves into these less tangible areas. it also responds to physical laws of gravity and balance. partially conventional. Studies of topics appear to explore either historical developments of topics-as-signifieds or synchronic functions of topics-as-signifiers within a given culture. co m ww w. and for further thoughts on the place of music in the wider cultural frame. conventions and modes of thinking. Yet. while communicating cultural units bound to specific times and spaces. it also rests on universal laws that dictate the forms of our deepest urges and emotional responses. but it also resonates through our basic instincts. Music stimulates our most refined analytical powers.Introduction © Copyrighted Material ww w. Our minds and bodies are flooded with sounds. However.29 ww w. co m ww w. therefore. While being. needs to take into account its double nature. co m ww w. Characteristically.a sh ga te. focusing on the artificiality and conventionality of topics as subjects of interpretation may run the danger of ignoring other aspects of text production. Monelle’s high standards require both approaches: studies that will delve into history and also analyze the interrelationships of signifiers and signifieds in a given time and place. thus.a sh ga te. co m 9 Beyond Topics ww w. inspects the area of ‘what does this music signify?’. all sounds are submitted to the same organs of perception and go through similar interpretation procedures.a sh ga te. A theory of music signification. Musical gesture. 5 and 14 in this volume. topics reside at the heart of music signification. While it pretends to obey Aristotelian aesthetic teleology. 21 and 22 in this volume.   See Chapters 4. as a signifier and as a signified (that becomes a new signifier). 20.a sh ga te. trying to find and define the delicate connecting tissue between psychological – and even biological – motivations and musical conventions. co m ww w. co m ww w. co m ww w. exposing a wealth of ways to interpret the significance of musical topics for music analysis.30 29 30   See Chapters 13. co m ww w. it is also based on brain functions and natural motions of the human body. For the latter. but must explore further into the natural laws that affect semiosis. co m Topic theory is one of the areas of music semiotics that. co m In Peircean terms.a sh ga te.a sh ga te.

drawing a time-span margin.a sh ga te. Derrida displayed less interest in core significations. co m ww w. by focusing on margins.31 In fact. © Copyrighted Material . co m ww w.a sh ga te.a sh ga te. declaring the meaning of music as absent. albeit without naïveté. on one hand. throughout the 1990s. non-topical musical signs signify. to get up and recall lines written years ago. co m ww w. From the perspective of that last presentation. In his Of Grammatology. co m ww w. Derrida introduced into the structuralist concepts of signifier and signified the element of time. Monelle once embraced this approach. Monelle moved beyond deconstruction. co m Thus.a sh ga te. facing the abyss of absolute meaninglessness. co m ww w.a sh ga te. to purely philosophical writings: Derrida. a void – différance – in which semiosis occurs.   Monelle. Monelle was fascinated by the meaningful lack of meaning in music. co m 31 32   See Chapters 17 and 19 in this volume. to the border of the cliff. the last time that Raymond Monelle spoke at the International Congress of Music Signification. a mid-term challenge that needed to be overcome on his way toward his real goal: understanding the way in which nonconventional. co m ww w.a sh ga te. co m ww w. only to fall Gloucester-like into the indifferent sand. sharper analysis of musical meaning.10 Music Semiotics: A Network of Significations © Copyrighted Material ww w. in contrast to what Saussure had implied.a sh ga te. or in the reactions of the listener. most of his references are. because these emotions are not real emotions. With their help he tries to look into the non-topical. was probably related to the particular breakthrough that the French philosopher seemed to offer to music semiotics. the theory of topics could. ww w. be connected to other aspects of human communication: modes of thought organization.a sh ga te. Peirce. a project to which he was devoted for 20 years. However. hoping to find in it the inspiration for a subtler. Unsurprisingly. because meaning has to be ww w. Frege. It is not to be found in the fabric of the music. He pointed out that. Loyal to his constant quest for the Grail of Semiotic Innocence. co m ww w. and emotional expression. Merleau-Ponty. creating a time lapse between the two. Deleuze and Guattari and. The appearance of the signified is thus deferred.a sh ga te. perhaps.32 This was his Farewell.a sh ga te. indeed.a sh ga te. on the other. co m Beyond Deconstruction: The Abyss of the Absent Meaning Monelle’s fascination with Jacques Derrida. those musical texts which mean while seemingly not having any finalized signification. the reader is led toward the terrifying domains of the sublime. to describe the indescribable: what is signified by the unique memory of a madeleine dipped in tea? What is the personal meaning of ‘the scent’ of a musical phrase? Carried by Monelle’s rational narrative. co m ww w. in a humble textbook: Meaning is not to be found in the emotions of the composer or performer. it seems that this was precisely the direction that Monelle would have taken as his next scholarly adventure.a sh ga te. the elements in a signifier/signified pair are not simultaneous: the signified appears after the signifier. it almost seems as if he regarded the musical topic as an interim project. ‘The Absent Meaning of Music’. of course.

33 ww w. existential value of music. co m ww w.a sh ga te. 103–122.a sh ga te. or in psychological or neurological sympathies. but we cannot explain the meaning of the beloved’s face or the meaning of a unique.   Raymond Monelle. is tangible and clear. instruction. as we can analyse a beloved musical work. to be found anywhere.a sh ga te.a sh ga te.a sh ga te. ww w. this alleged contradiction disappears when the depersonalized generality of ‘music’ is opposed to the unique specificity of ‘the musical work’. We can describe faces and analyse musical topics. co m ww w.Introduction © Copyrighted Material ww w. This volume is just one possible signifier of our gratitude for Raymond Monelle’s inspiration.a sh ga te. describing the indescribable? Stravinsky’s repeated statements about the meaninglessness of music contradict his own music. What was his secret. too specific to be confined into a verbal description based generalizing terminology. must remain absent. Modernism and Beyond (Bern. it is absent. Following Merleau-Ponty and Boris de Schloezer. However.a sh ga te. We can even describe the face of the beloved. So precise it is. Monelle did not give in to the potential nihilistic repercussions of absence. It is not to be found in the imitations of anything in nature. then. co m ww w. Its meaning is unique because it is itself. co m ww w.a sh ga te. It is precisely its uniqueness that deprives us of words to express it. he writes (quoting Mendelssohn). Such meanings. beloved work of art. co m . which is extremely evocative and utterly personal to the point of a self-revealing eroticism.a sh ga te. Deleuze and a Musical Phrase’. 21. ‘Proust. pp. 2010). Its existence. Linguistics and Semiotics in Music (Chur. co m ww w.a sh ga te. co m The impeccably lucid style does not cover the scent of a Kierkegaardian leap of faith into years of research and of quest for a meaning declared absent. a value that is worth a lifetime of struggle that was deemed by many to be futile. Phenomenology. © Copyrighted Material   Raymond Monelle. p. co m ww w. The meaning of music may be absent. collegial support and friendship.a sh ga te. co m ww w. in fact. Marginalia are welcome. all ready for infinite semiosis. It is not. Monelle’s unquestioning trust in the moral. co m 11 attributed to music.a sh ga te. Monelle did indeed compare the meaning of a musical work with erotic love:34 no one can specify the meaning of a beloved’s face or being. co m 33 34 Carole Bourne-Taylor and Ariane Mildenberg (eds). in ww w. but it lives. 1992). that it cannot be described by language. Merleau-Ponty. A number of interpretants are present in the following pages. co m ww w. and how could he use words in his three books and dozens of articles.