The Marginalian
The Marginalian

Search results for “music”

Walt Whitman on Beethoven and Music as the Profoundest Expression of Nature
Walt Whitman on Beethoven and Music as the Profoundest Expression of Nature

In praise of the “dainty abandon” that awakens us to wonder and carries us outside ourselves.

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Kafka on the Power of Music and the Point of Making Art
Kafka on the Power of Music and the Point of Making Art

“Art like prayer is a hand outstretched in the darkness, seeking for some touch of grace which will transform it into a hand that bestows gifts.”

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The Joy of Suffering Overcome: Young Beethoven’s Stirring Letter to His Brothers About the Loneliness of Living with Deafness and How Music Saved His Life
The Joy of Suffering Overcome: Young Beethoven’s Stirring Letter to His Brothers About the Loneliness of Living with Deafness and How Music Saved His Life

“Ah! how could I possibly quit the world before bringing forth all that I felt it was my vocation to produce?”

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The Trans-Sensory Transcendence of Music: Helen Keller’s Electrifying Letter About “Hearing” Beethoven’s Ode to Joy
The Trans-Sensory Transcendence of Music: Helen Keller’s Electrifying Letter About “Hearing” Beethoven’s Ode to Joy

“I felt the chorus grow more exultant, more ecstatic, upcurving swift and flame-like, until my heart almost stood still.”

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Schopenhauer on the Power of Music
Schopenhauer on the Power of Music

“The effect of music is so very much more powerful and penetrating than is that of the other arts, for these others speak only of the shadow, but music of the essence.”

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How Bach Will Save Your Soul: German Philosopher Josef Pieper on the Hidden Source of Music’s Supreme Power
How Bach Will Save Your Soul: German Philosopher Josef Pieper on the Hidden Source of Music’s Supreme Power

“Music opens a path into the realm of silence.”

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A Laboratory for Feeling and Time: Pioneering Philosopher Susanne Langer on What Gives Music Its Power and How It Illuminates the Other Arts
A Laboratory for Feeling and Time: Pioneering Philosopher Susanne Langer on What Gives Music Its Power and How It Illuminates the Other Arts

“Music is ‘significant form,’ and its significance is that of a symbol, a highly articulated sensuous object… Feeling, life, motion and emotion constitute its import.”

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The Monarchs, Music, and the Meaning of Life: The Most Touching Deathbed Love Letter Ever Written
The Monarchs, Music, and the Meaning of Life: The Most Touching Deathbed Love Letter Ever Written

From butterflies to Beethoven, an ode to the heart’s uncontainable dimensions.

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The Final Word Is Love: Dorothy Day on Human Connection, Music, and the Power of Community
The Final Word Is Love: Dorothy Day on Human Connection, Music, and the Power of Community

“We have all known the long loneliness and we have learned that the only solution is love and that love comes with community.”

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How Music Helps Us Grieve
How Music Helps Us Grieve

“The springs of our reaction to music lie deeper than thought.”

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