Event

Lecture Prof. Dr. Alfred Nordmann (TU Darmstadt)
Helmholtz and the Music

Introduction and presentation of the interdisciplinary seminar project Helmholtz's Aesthetics of Music (Brüllmann/Wiesenfeldt) by the Departments of Philosophy and Musicology, by Prof. Dr. Philipp Brüllmann

Panel Discussion and Composer Talk:

Prof. Dr. Philipp Brüllmann, Prof. Dr. Alfred Nordmann, Prof. Dr. Manfred Salmhofer, Elnaz Seyedi, Prof. Caspar Johannes Walter

"... In contrast to the natural philosophical views of vitalism prevalent in his time, Helmholtz advocates a theory of force – which he later terms ‘energy’ – and the theory of the impossibility of a perpetual motion machine, a conclusion that necessarily follows from vitalism.

In current political processes, we are witnessing phenomena that certainly appear to be self-sustaining perpetual motion machines. The original idea behind the composition was to join Helmholtz in searching for hidden forces that keep this seemingly perpetual self-movement in motion by invoking an alleged vitality and metaphors of health, and to track down the counterforces capable of halting these phenomena and give them their own space.

In practice, it didn’t work. The cruelty of recent events has reached such extremes that, for me, no search – no hope of a search – was possible. The speechlessness in the face of the world situation has pushed itself to the forefront of the work. The piece has begun to grapple with the perception of the burden of bearing witness and to seek ways to endure this burden."

Elnaz Seyedi, on the comissioned work witnessing... – aushalten (2024)