From a „Resounding“ Phenomenon to the Transcendental „Ideal Truth“. Pursuing „Voices“, „Melody“ and „Symphony“ within the Aesthetic System of France Veber

Abstract

Slovene philosopher France Veber (1890–1975), a student of the philosopher Alexius Meinong of Graz, conceived his Estetika (Aesthetics, 1925), Slovenia's sole unified aesthetic system so far, in accord with the contemporary „Austrian variant“ of phenomenology, thus choosing „Gegenstandstheorie“ as its basis. The present paper sheds light on Veber's aesthetic system from the point of view of music. The reason is that Veber's Estetika served as a basis for Slovenia's first attempt at an aesthetic evaluation of music, namely Vurnik's Uvod v glasbo (An Introduction to Music, 1929), and indirectly for a large segment of Slovenia's creative production together with its accompanying reflective-critical „apparatus“. The analysis shows that art in general, as well as music in particular, has never been the focus of Veber's interest. In fact, Veber seems to have had no expressed view on the subject nor the needed musical expertise for any decisive judgement of it. Nevertheless, the present paper goes on to reflect on a number of Veber's aesthetic premises and suggestions which might prove stimulative to a musician and/or musicologist at a time Slovenia witnesses ever more systhematic and methodical endeavours to critically evaluate individual issues in relation to art in all of its different forms.