How can we understand classical music? It would be wonderful if there was a simple method that would enable anyone to reach the point where they could say they understand classical music. Most people would be satisfied with an outline that would make understanding easier. Unfortunately, we have to say that there is no general method. Although this does not prove the complexity of classical music, it proves the inaccuracy of the question.
Complete understanding does not exist – not even for a single work. Or if it does, it is possible because of the finiteness of the work. Most of the works we encounter in concert halls are opuses that are still included in programmes today because, even after centuries of time, the audience has not been able to fully comprehend them. It is a generally accepted aesthetic fact that there is something closed and infinite about these works. This needs to be emphasised in relation to classical music because many people are deterred from getting to know these works by their complexity. This is also due to the fact that a great deal of analysis has been and continues to be produced about these pieces, the number and layers of which are determined by the presence of aesthetic infinity. We must therefore abandon any notion of a definitive understanding and comprehension.
Numerous analyses have also been written in other branches of art, but in the case of classical music, the general public's alienation from both the analyses and the deeper understanding of the pieces is striking. The fundamental reason for this is that music does not work with such images, concepts, forms or patterns. The medium of music is one that is not found in everyday life. Literature works with language, painting with images, and architecture with forms and patterns. People encounter these every day, and although their interpretation in a work of art may not be obvious, they never strike the recognised medium as alien or novel. All of the media listed can be used in a communicative way. The unambiguous encoding of a message is not foreign to any of the media of the arts. Architecture is capable of communicating through the use of materials and the creation of space. Think of the representation of rulers, or the churches of the Reformation and Baroque. In painting and sculpture, the figures, colours, situations and forms depicted convey a message, all of which originate from everyday life and are imbued with special meaning as a result of the creative process.
Music works with sound. Sound can also be used to convey messages. Great distances can be bridged and news can be communicated with a single sound. The hunting horn was just as much a means of communication as the ambulance siren is today. But in classical music, these everyday sound effects lost their everyday nature very early on. This may be the source of the apparent fear of incomprehensibility in classical music. In fact, it is precisely because music is so far removed from everyday life that its "message" can reach everyone much more easily. In other words, individual sounds and sound effects are not burdened with so many personal experiences. Therefore, when listening to music, everyone is ‘more’ on equal footing compared to other arts. No prior knowledge is necessary, as music never represents anything. There are no concrete stories it depicts, no concepts it personifies, and no images it paints. Although there are references in music to the world outside music, these are very easy to perceive and, in the vast majority of pieces, do not play a central role. Music does not need to create its own world based on a preconceived image: the relationship between sounds shapes the language, medium and world of a piece. This can be achieved in so many different ways that compositional imagination is not constrained by existing concepts.
Like all other art forms, classical music is most easily compared to language. Although this is always a simplification, in the case of music, spoken language is, in one respect, an ideal example. That respect is learnability. Music is just as locked in the prison of the moment as the spoken word: it can only be understood in the present moment. Although both language and music can be written down, their written form remains a transcript. The situation of language is different in that, due to the culture of reading, written language has been enriched with new layers, so that in literature there is a difference between spoken and written language, and this difference validates their different and independent aesthetic qualities. Unfortunately, no one reads music. The notation is only an extract that a performer must decipher and complete.
Learning music is the same process as learning a language. Just as everyone can learn a language, everyone can understand music. All it takes is the desire to understand: that is, to listen to music with concentration. If you listen to a language enough, the recurring expressions, intonations and meanings of individual words will slowly begin to take shape in your mind. It is no different with music. Just as a baby does not need to complete a university degree, does not need to be aware of grammatical rules, and does not need to know etymology or comparative analysis, so a listener does not need to know solfège, music theory, or music history. People will understand the language of music if they listen to it enough.
We must complete the picture by saying that in classical music we are talking about works of art. Unique, unrepeatable combinations. For this reason, the metaphor of reading is also extremely relevant. The more information one has about a work, the easier it is to understand. Just as with reading, the more words we know, the easier it is to understand a text. When listening to music, there are situations where the composer's vocabulary and ours are so similar that we need no other information than what is heard in the piece. But in many cases, even if we understand the composer's musical language, without certain knowledge, understanding the piece is still very difficult. The composer's biography, the place of a work in music history, solfège and music theory are all elements that can bring us closer to understanding a work. But even if we are aware of a work's place in music history, have analysed it in terms of its overall structure, and know every aspect of the composer's life, this does not guarantee that we will understand the work. There are countless examples of this, which is why such a large gap has developed between musicology and performing arts, between musicology and the general public. At the same time, this prior knowledge is not a prerequisite for understanding. It is merely additional information that can lead to a deeper understanding of the work.
Classical music is therefore the most democratic of the arts: everyone starts with equal opportunities. There are no barriers preventing anyone from learning the language of music. One of the greatest schools for learning is the concert hall. There, we are not only forced to focus solely on listening to music, but one of the most important factors of music remains: a concert is, in the best possible sense, momentary. The relationship between the audience and the performers develops spontaneously, and it is in this light that a composer's work comes to us.
