A new book by Prof. Kristina Yapova: Music and Logos. Schoenberg’s Moses and Aaron

Prof. Kristina Yapova’s book, Music and Logos. Schoenberg’s Moses and Aaron deals with the relationship between music and logos, two words that seemingly are foreign to each other. To justify its presence in the field of music, the word logos should be referred to another one, unambiguously relating to music: the word tone. The relationship between tone and logos shows in what is defined as intoned logos (Part 1). As the sole area where the act of the intoned logos could be traced is that of hearing, a definition of hearing is needed (Part 2). The term hearing is extended to a degree where it is able to express its content on an existential position. Schoenberg’s opera Moses and Aaron (Part 3) has been given as an example of the development of the main assumption of this study: music bears the logos by virtue of its nature. Moses’ phrase ‘I can think, but not speak’ contrasts two human faculties, which are deemed to be impossible without each other. We have to search for the solution making one move back towards the attentive human hearing of the voice of existence so that to see music as a possible way to bridge the gap.