Roman Ingarden’s theory of intentional musical work

Abstract

Roman Ingarden (1893-1970) is a representative of the phenomenological trend in philosophy. He pursued his ontological interests in his fundamental treatise Das literarische Kunstwerk that was the starting point for his studies of other areas of art including music. For Ingarden, direct musical experience is a starting point for philosophical reflection, which should be free from any theoretical prejudice. He considers the essence of the musical work in such dimensions as ontological, the work’s structure, its perception and axiology (aesthetics). Ingarden formulates a thesis about a single layer of the musical work, an aspect which distinguishes music from other works of art. A musical work is for him a purely intentional object whose origins spring from creative acts of composers and whose ontological basis rests directly in the score.