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The Path of the Human Character
in the Musical Form

The Inner Logic of the Melody

In the melody, the motif expresses through its changes and disguises the course of development of the human character in a manifold musical form.
In classical composition, the melody logically represents the reasonable inner: cosmic process of development of the individual, and it is the lively description of the development of his character.

The Integrated Wholeness of the Cosmic Human Forces in the Universal Musical Performance

During the expansion of the motif, i. e. during the structuring of the melody, an interlacing of motif transformations takes place to the extent that the parts, the individual motif-faces, the individual qualities of the character, become less prominent, and the integrated wholeness of the comprehensive picture of the human character, in the form of the melody, becomes more prominent in the musical-human event.

“The Mozartian melody –
detached from any earthly form –
is the thing as such,
hovers between heaven and earth like Platon’s eros,
between mortal and immortal –
freed from 'will' –,
deepest penetrating of the artistic imagination,
of the unconscious,
into final mysteries,
into the realm of the 'archetypes' ”.
Richard Strauss

The Task of the Melody

Contrary to conventional notion, it is not the purpose of the melody to describe something particularly pleasant.

The melody describes the truth of the formation of character.

Therefore, it is not at all “sweetish” as we know it in exaggerated form from the entertainment music.

In classical music, it was never the purpose of the melody to flatly lull someone, or to inebriate him, but it was meant to lead the listener, by way of its inner unfoldment, directly to the cognition of more comprehensive cosmic human values – thereby to greater personal inner purity, to greater personal inner universal beauty, to greater personal inner cosmic power.

The Impulse of the Creative Power in the Melody

Just as a man, at different times, allows one of his manifold characteristics to dominate (his fellow-men would say he is always changing, showing a different face), likewise the motif presents itself in its various transformations and thus appears as the melody in the musical process.

Owing to the impulse of the universal creative power within the melody, the inner-human cosmic qualities rush outwards into the world of the sound-space, and bring about the changing musical picture of the acting traits of character of individuals, of human beings, of the world.