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PawełMajewski
tantly,text-centredstudiesandtheirdiscoursesmissedwhatWalterBenjamin
referredtoalreadyahundredyearsagoastheGaura’–aunique,non-discurs-
ible,non-reproducible,elusivequalityofthework’sfunctioning,whichhas
abearingonitsreceptionbylisteners/spectators,whoperceivethework
ofartnotonlybymeansofanalyticintellectexpressedthroughlanguage.
WhatinawayjustifiesalltheseGrigid’textualapproachestothework
ofartisthattheywerelargelyareactiontotheoversensitive,evenmawkish
Romanticandpost-Romantictypeofperception.WhenEduardHanslick
publishedhisground-breakingtreatiseOntheMusicallyBeautiful(Germ.
orig.VomMusikalisch-Schönen,1sted.1854),whichlaidthefoundationfor
formalisminmusicology,hisaimwastocounteracttheflowerystylethat
characterisedthemusiccriticsoftheday.Thoughheneverquiteachieved
thisgoal,hedidoutlinethefundamentaloppositionwhichwastodefine
allthemodernstylesandwaysofwritingaboutmusic.GMusic’wastobe
conceivedasinspiringeitheremotionsorthehumanreason,andcouldthere-
forebediscussedineitheremotionalorrationalterms.Notably,itwasonly
extremelyrarelythatscholarsconsideredthepossibilityofafruitfulcombi-
nationofthesetwo,orofgoingbeyondsuchbipolarmodelsandconceiving
ofmusic(especiallyclassicalone)asacorrelateofthehumancorporeality,
andnot–oftheemotionalandmentalspheres.
Thechangeofapproachattheturnofthenewmillenniumtherefore
provedtoenrichthefield,butalsomaderesearchfarmoredifficult.Howare
wesupposedtoGstudyinwords’one-timeactions,fleetingsoundsandshort-
livedimages?Wheninthe1970sand80sMcLuhan’ssuccessorsinitiated
thedebateonthemutualrelationsbetweentheoralandtheliterateinthe
languagecommunicationofhumancultures,intheheatoftheirdiscussions
aboutthesuperiorityoftheoraltotheliteraryorviceversatheyforgot
aboutonesignificantelement–namely,thatoralandwrittentransmission
oflinguisticmessagesaresodifferentfromeachotherthattryingtoapply
thesamemodelofinterpretationtobothofthemandGweighing’themon
thesamescalesofculturalvaluesimplymakesnosense.Onefundamental
differenceistheGdifferenceintime’,ofwhichalreadyPlatoandsomeother
ancientswereevidentlyaware.Verbavolant,scriptamanent;whatisspoken
existsonlyatthemomentofspeechandonlyforthosepresent,whoare
awareoftheactofspeech.Whatiswrittenlastsintimeandspace.
Thesamedifference(andalltherelatedintellectualproblems)canbe
observedwhencomparingtheGtextual’andGphenomenal’approachesto
performingarts.TheGtextual’stancemissestheaura,butthisisthepriceit
paysfortheluxuryofdealingwiththelastingtracesofeventsintheform
oftheirverbaloraudio-visual(butapproachedasquasi-verbal)records.The
Gphenomenal’stanceisanattempttorecapturetheaura,inthesenseofall
thenon-textual(sensualandemotional)qualitiesofthephenomenon,but
