Abstract

A central tenet of Hans-Georg Gadamer’s philosophical hermeneutics is that we are interpreters. What is at issue in hermeneutics is our own being as interpreters. Despite this, Gadamer’s hermeneutics is commonly applied as a tool or means to understand the way in which we interpret particular things, be they texts, artworks, or conversations with our peers. This is especially clear in music studies where, for example, scholars often concern themselves with the ways in which performers interpret a score, and the relationship between the score and the performance. The fact that Gadamer’s hermeneutics attempts to approach the basic phenomenon of human existence, perhaps not surprisingly, rarely comes up in the music literature, to the detriment of both music and philosophical hermeneutics. Music offers important insights into Gadamer’s fundamental ontology that is worth exploring. Indeed, by approaching hermeneutics through music we gain insight into the movement, attunement, and presentation at issue in hermeneutic engagement. Working through key ideas from Gadamer’s philosophy such as the festival, conversation, and mimesis, the way in which the musical offers insight into the hermeneutical is illuminated. This chapter offers a renewed understanding of what it means to think with music, while making apparent elements of Gadamer’s hermeneutics that are sometimes obscured or overlooked.