Privative and Musical Attributes of the Nocturnal Phenomenon

Abstract

Since its analysis as a mere phenomenon, established with some pretention of neutrality, night is predominantly conceived in terms of privative attributes. These ones are culturally enhanced in Western tradition, which tends to devalue them as signs of an emptiness concerning ontological, epistemological, ethical, and even aesthetical levels. Associated with a sphere of negativity, these privations seem to block or at least to put obstacles to the artistic approach of the nocturnal experience, especially when it pretends to be built in a model of art that follows a visual and illuminist proposal. Based on our doctoral dissertation, entitled The nocturnal motif: from unspeakable sterility to ineffable musicality, this paper intends to analyze in which sense the privative attributes related to the night not only put obstacles to its mimesis but are also present, under a new interpretation, in contexts that positively revalue the nocturnal experience, in a way that increases its potential as an artistic motive. Among these contexts, it will be given a particular attention to musical art, which coincidently manifests, both for the theorist and the listener, some of the same privative attributes which are identified in the primary analysis of the nocturne. In order to undertake this study, it will be necessary to recur to the thought of Vladimir Jankélévitch, main theoretical ground of the dissertation whose itinerary will be overviewed in this article.