Begriffsloses Verstehen, Autonomie und Kritik: Zum qualitativen Moment künstlerischer Sprachlichkeit

Responding to criticism of his Versuch über Musik und Sprache, Albrecht Wellmer has discussed critically semiotic and symbolic approaches to music. Following Theodor W. Adorno, Wellmer emphasised art’s materiality alongside critical reflections concerning the subject and the idea of autonomy as found in new music. Taking up these views, this essay aims at completing Wellmer’s notion of understanding, which is strongly oriented towards verbal explication, by autonomous and nonverbal aspects. As far as Wellmer’s discussion of the subject’s crisis in new music is concerned, the nonverbal dimensions of artistic language are crucial: art that is conceived as a critique of verbal language comprises critical reflections of a specific form of subjectivity. Interest in the socio-critical dimensions inherent in art’s critique of verbal language not only unites critical theory and poststructuralist philosophy, but can also be found in the work of contemporary composers such as Helmut Lachenmann and Clemens Gadenstätter. By taking their music as an example, the essay demonstrates that the critical nonverbal aspect of musical language brings its specific aesthetic quality to the fore