Ehrenfels, H\uf6fler, Witasek. Zur Musik\ue4sthetik der Grazer Schule

Ehrenfels, H\uf6fler and Witasek competently contributed to a musical aesthetics based upon the principles of the Graz school. In spite of a shared general psychological framework, they deeply differ in applying it to the aesthetics of music. A double tendency can be pointed out. Ehrenfels and H\uf6fler enthusiastically supported Richard Wagner and vindicated the aesthetic value of his music. Accordingly, they made large use of analogies between musical and organic Gestalten. In a platonic vein, H\uf6fler also thinks of melodies as timeless objects, which are discovered rather than created by great artists. On the contrary, Witasek\u2019s approach is quite rationalistic. Avoiding any intrusion of metaphysics, he describes the intellectual and emotional processes involved in hearing a piece of music. Wholly independently of Wagnerism, Witasek explains the complexity of musical experience in the general terms of Meinongian psychology