Project
The project “Music and Psychoanalysis (c. 1910–1970)” examines psychoanalytic approaches to music in the twentieth century. With its founder Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) and his early followers, psychoanalysis engaged intensely with literature and the arts from the very beginning, seeking to uncover the “unconscious” both within artistic works and within the artists themselves. Yet Freud himself showed little interest in music throughout his life. Even so, a number of his followers began early on to explore music through the lens of psychoanalytic thought.
The project provides a discourse-critical insight into the foundations and key concepts of psychoanalysis that go far beyond Freud’s “structural model” of the psyche and are essential for understanding psychoanalytic literature related to music. In addition, it examines the cultural and musical context as well as the ruptures during the Nazi era – such as the expulsion, persecution, and murder of Jewish psychoanalysts, including students at the University of Vienna – and traces their repercussions into the present day.
Fig.: Max Klinger, Brahms-Phantasie (1894)
To this day, psychoanalytic interpretations of music remain remarkably varied. Music has been understood, among other things, as the sublimation of the composer’s instinctual drives; as a dark and potentially threatening force (“id”) that must tamed by reason (“ego” and “superego”); as a structured composition whose internal laws (“superego”) the “ego” willingly submits to while deriving pleasure; as a medium that enables a pleasurable dissolution of ego boundaries (“regression in the service of the ego”); and as a reminiscence of pre- or non-verbal forms of dialogue.
This project will provide the hitherto missing historical description, contextualization, and analysis of psychoanalytic interpretations of music, with a particular focus on the time span from c. 1910–1970.
Research Questions
The project asks how music was interpreted within psychoanalytic discourse between c. 1910 and 1970 and how these interpretations were shaped by concepts of subjectivity, affect, body, gender, religion, culture, and the unconscious.
- What are the fundamental components of the psychoanalytic theory of the arts in general and of music in particular?
- On which core writings, theories and assumptions are psychoanalytic theories of music based?
- How did the persecution, expulsion and emigration of psychoanalysts impact the development of psychoanalytic discourse in music (including knowledge transfer)?
- What role do gender and religion play in psychoanalytical music interpretation?
- Who challenged the psychoanalytic discourse on music?
- How have psychoanalytic conceptions impacted music theory and the work of composers?
- How did psychoanalytic theories influence music-therapeutic concepts (and vice versa)?
Theoretical Framework
This project employs several different methodological means and perspectives:
- Cultural-historical frameworks
- Psychoanalytic discourse
- Historical discourse
- Oral history
- Source- and discourse-critical approach
Expected Outcomes
The project aims to provide a historically grounded account of psychoanalytic interpretations of music between c. 1910 and 1970. Its results will be made accessible through scholarly publications, lectures, teaching, interviews, and public events.
In addition, the project seeks to establish a foundation for further research on music, psychoanalysis, gender, trauma, affect, exile history, and music therapy.