Autonoomiaesteetikast ja tema genealoogiast

Abstract

In the Western art music paradigm, music is understood and interpreted primarily as an autonomous musical work based on the concept of autonomy aesthetics. The ideas derived from autonomy aesthetics influence music culture in almost all its forms, from composing and performing to music criticism and historiography. Since both the emergence of philosophical aesthetics and broader changes in social conditions played an important role in the development of autonomy aesthetics at the end of the 18th century, this article focuses on examining these different contexts in the spirit of philosophical genealogy inspired by Friedrich Nietzsche and Michel Foucault. Starting from the present as a problem situation, I will first examine how autonomy aesthetics is expressed in today’s music culture. By offering a concise context and analysis of autonomy aesthetics and its genealogy, tracing its roots in the broader social, philosophical, and cultural-historical space, I will then show that the understanding of music based on autonomy aesthetics is often taken for granted as a historical construct, while it is actually just one possible narrative among others. Consequently, but also in the light of new developments in music culture, it is thus important to critically examine this concept anew.