Keio University Mita Philosophy Society Lecture Series
Event Date
Event Venue
Spirit as Sound: Rethinking Modernity Through Music, Part 6: The World of the Theater
May 2, 2023
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Date and Time | Wednesday, May 24, 2023, 3:00 PM–5:30 PM (Doors open at 2:45 PM) |
Venue | North Hall, Mita Campus, Keio University |
How to Participate |
・Free admission. Registration required (please register at the URL below).
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Speakers | Ikuyo Nakamichi (Pianist) × Yoshinori Saito (Professor Emeritus, Keio University) |
Organizer |
Mita Philosophy Society
Seminars and Lectures | Keio University Mita Philosophy Society Homepage
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Co-organizer | mandala musica, a Keio University Art Center (KUAC) study group |
Contact |
Lecture Overview:
"Life does not always go as planned.
That is why it is compared to a drama.
How did Beethoven and Schumann confront these uncontrollable feelings?
Beethoven, whose inner world becomes visible in the drama he himself forged.
Schumann, who searched for himself by introducing various characters as if in a kaleidoscope.
In their dramas, we may also be able to find ourselves.
And surely, this unpredictable life will come to seem precious.
—Ikuyo Nakamichi"
The "modern West" in the history of philosophy and thought can be seen as having its foundations laid by Immanuel Kant and reaching its zenith with G.W.F. Hegel of German Idealism. Inheriting and further developing Kant's rigorous thinking on how "experience" through "consciousness" is possible and what kind of situation it entails, Hegel came to view our reality as a series of processes in which "spirit" "phenomenalizes." Ludwig van Beethoven, born in the same year as Hegel, developed Western music of the same period as thought through sound, thereby opening up entirely new dimensions for both the forms of thought and the possibilities of musical expression.
With these two figures as the main axes of reference, this series takes up various related philosophers, thinkers, and composers under a different theme each time, as a philosopher and a performer attempt to approach from their respective viewpoints both the cultural background of philosophy and thought surrounding musical works and the inner substance of the individual works themselves. Through this endeavor, the ultimate goal is to reconsider what kind of era "modernity" was and what we in the present should inherit from it. The ten-part lecture series will cover themes such as "Passion and Reason," "The Power of Sorrow," "The Philosophy of Music," "The Fluctuation of Life and Death," and "The Fountain of Knowledge." This sixth installment, titled "The World of the Theater," will address the following works.
●Musical Program to be Discussed
Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 19
Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 20
Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 18
Schumann: Papillons, Op. 2
Schumann: Carnaval, Op. 9
(Full performances of the pieces will not be given.)