Abstract

El canto de las sirenas and La imaginación sonora are the last two works that Eugenio Trías has devoted to the study of musical experience –both from the perspective of expression and perception– as a form of knowledge –gnosis– where reason appears powerless. This essay will examine how the instruments of historical, harmonic, formal or aesthetic analysis are not sufficient to understand the significance of musical discourse. To achieve this end, we will first set out the bases of his musical thought within the broad framework of the theory of the limit; secondly, we will confront the musical categories proposed by Trias with the Mass in E minor composed by Anton Bruckner –one of the composers to whom he devoted most attention. We will therefore try to see how the system proposed by the philosopher helps us to understand the ontological and transcendent dimension of a musical work that is still alive, recently performed in the Spanish music scene, and not explicitly mentioned in philosopher’s writings.