On the Musically Beautiful

Slovak readers interested in the aesthetics of music are presented with one of the most renowned and widely cited works of nineteenth-century musical aesthetics. Since its first publication in 1854, this treatise has inspired both enthusiastic approval and passionate critical debate. Its author, Eduard Hanslick, was one of the most distinguished music critics and scholars of the nineteenth century.

In his approach to the work of art, Hanslick emphasizes a realistic and rational perspective, thereby paving the way for a scholarly approach to the aesthetic analysis of artistic works and the assessment of their value. By rejecting purely emotional criteria, he places the relationship between the aesthetic subject and the aesthetic object on a new foundation, making it possible to understand and justify the concept of beauty through systematic inquiry.

The far-reaching methodological principles for the aesthetic analysis of musical works and music in general, established with remarkable foresight in Hanslick’s treatise, continue to influence music aesthetics and scholarship to the present day.

(Academic collaboration: Miloslav Blahynka; translated by Ladislav Šimon.)