Form

Summary

Dominique Pagani approaches form by two paths, Greek philosophy and music. He points out that the same Greek term, eidos, is translated as "idea" in Plato and as "form" in Aristotle1. In Aristotle, form is distinct from matter but cannot be separated from it2. He also describes it as the end made legible in a matter that man has informed1. In music, form is for him the inside of the work, its construction, what he calls its Beschaffenheit: fugue or sonata form3. It orders the musical discourse from within, so that a work in the sonata genre can contain a contrapuntal form4. He adds that music works sounds according to an ever-moving form, because it unfolds in time5. In a 2023 session, he links form to the Gestalt: when a body detaches itself, a figure, a contour, a structure stands out against an infinite background6.

1. 1#2.7 Between crisis and war: philosophising?1 Aug 2017 · 1:36:03
2. 2#15 Plato, Rousseau, Hegel and music9 Feb 2021 · 1:20:52
3. 3#6 The jazz variation… by Beethoven15 Dec 2020 · 9:48
4. 4#6 The jazz variation… by Beethoven15 Dec 2020 · 1:30:59
5. 5#15 Plato, Rousseau, Hegel and music9 Feb 2021 · 1:25:35
6. 6Roots or migration? From analytical reverie to current events, from Hölderlin to the war17 Feb 2023 · 29:39

Summary produced automatically from 6 of the passages below, to be reviewed; the numbers link to the moment in the session.