Abstract

The article resumes the discussion on the relation of absolute music and language. Firstly, a critical look is taken at the two current theses: that music bears no meaning, or rather, that music is meaningful analogue to language. The second step describes the concept that processes conferring meaning upon music do not differ from corresponding processes regarding language. In a further step, however, the case is made that the structure of sound concatenations follows different principles concerning music on the one hand and language on the other, so that ›meaning‹ should be considered as a separate category with regard to music and language. Finally, the article tries to shed a new light on the particular affinity of the language of poetry to music.