Abstract

Philosophical hermeneutics, of which Hans-Georg Gadamer (1900–2002) is the principal founder, is perhaps the most far-reaching philosophical movement of the twentieth century. It has found and continues to find relevance in fields such as feminist theory, ethics, art and literature, ancient and modern history, architecture, and philosophy of science (Malpas and Gander 2015; Keane and Lawn 2016). Significantly, hermeneutics offers something of a bridge between analytic and continental philosophical traditions (see, especially, McDowell 2002; Rorty 1979). Despite its reach however, philosophical hermeneutics has been largely neglected in discussions about music and the performing arts more broadly. Perhaps this is due in part to the fact that Gadamer himself did not write extensively about music; but neither did he write feminist theory. One suspects that the real reason Gadamer’s hermeneutics has not been substantially taken up by those concerned with music and the performing arts hinges on the misguided yet persistent assumption that philosophical hermeneutics is primarily concerned with the interpretation of text.