MUSIC AND THE TEMPTATION OF THE UNIVERSAL

Abstract

Music has been understood, since the time of Orpheus, as an art of the universal, capable of reaching eternity and moving the entire cosmos. Pythagoras saw in it a sacred harmony born from the movement of the celestial bodies, while the human soul reflects these divine vibrations. For Plato, artistic inspiration comes from the “sacred madness” sent by the Muses. Schopenhauer considers music the most metaphysical art, independent of words or images, mirroring the universal evolution of life. Nietzsche describes it as the supreme Dionysian art, a universal language revealing primordial suffering and the truth beyond appearances, lamenting the loss of its metaphysical dimension with the decline of Greek tragedy.