Hausegger, Friedrich von (EN)

Hausegger Friedrich von, *26 April 1837 St. Andrä (Carinthia), †23 February 1899 Graz, Austrian music theorist and writer. He graduated in law from the University of Graz and worked as a barrister. His musical education, which he received from O. Dessoff, among others, and his admiration for Wagner’s works steered his interests towards music theory, especially aesthetics. In 1872 he habilitated at the University of Graz with the thesis Über die neue Entwicklungsphase der Musik, obtaining the title of Privatdozent in the field of music history and theory, and at the same time opening the way for the development of this field as an independent academic discipline at the university. By stimulating interest in musicology, Friedrich von Hausegger had a significant influence on the musical and intellectual community of Graz; he collaborated with the Styrian Music Society, was a member of the Wagner Society, and wrote articles for local magazines as a music critic.

Friedrich von Hausegger, a leading representative of musical expression aesthetics, presented his concept of music as an alternative to Hanslick’s theory, which was dominant at the time. He revived the Romantic thesis, previously rejected by Hanslick, according to which emotions constitute the content of music. In Die Musik als Ausdruck, Hausegger, drawing on the genetic–biological theories popular at the time, locates the origins of music in primordial expressive sound movements, and the source of dance in expressive bodily movements. Voice and gesture – two means of human expression that also serve as means of communication – gave rise to speech and song (originally combined) as well as to dance. This came about through humanity’s innate need to refine and intensify its means of expression so as to awaken in others an understanding of expression through shared emotional experience of the communicated content. According to Hausegger, this is the deepest source of the need to create and to experience art. The creation of a musical work takes place in a state of subconsciousness; the artist creates impulsively, thanks to a natural urge to externalise expression. However, the work only comes to life at the moment of performance and aesthetic reception. The aesthetic pleasure that a work gives is the measure and test of its value. The score serves as a guide to the aesthetic effect, through which the performer develops an internal conception of the work’s expression. The clearer and more intense this conception, the more perceptible the expression will be to the listener, and the fuller their empathic experience of the work. Understanding expression depends on organic and physiological conditions. In Friedrich von Hausegger’s theory, the history of art, and especially music, is closely linked to the history of the expression of human personality.

Literature: E.-J. Danz Die objektlose Kunst: Untersuchungen zur Musikästhetik Friedrich von Hauseggers, Regensburg 1981; R. Flotzinger Friedrich v. Hauseggers Begriff von Musikwissenschaft, “Musicologica Austriaca” No. 6, 1986; J. Crummenerl Wesen, Ursprung und Zweck der Musik: Untersuchung zur Ästhetik von Friedrich von Hausegger, thesis, Cologne 2000; J. Crummenerl, K. Marsoner Hausegger, Familie, in: Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart, ed. L. Finscher, vol. 8, 2nd edition Kassel 2002; R. Flotzinger Hausegger zwischen Hanslick und Adler, in: Musikwissenschaft als Kulturwissenschaft, damals und heute, ed. Th. Antonicek, G. Gruber, Tutzing 2005.