The empire of the ear: Freud's problem with music

Freud's difficulty in appreciating music, even though he seems to have been one of Charcot's 'auditifs' and had given auditory imagery a central place in his psychology, is re-examined in the light of his dealings with various distinguished musicians, and with special reference to the musical career of 'Little Hans'. The author argues that Freud's exaggeration of his difficulty, combined with his ability to enjoy certain operas and his use of musical metaphors in the context of theory and therapy, confirms his own intuition of a conflict rather than a simple deficiency. This conflict is examined with reference to the theories of Eissler and of Vitz, and in the light of his own interest in classical Greek culture and in the nature of Art. Since opera was perhaps the only form of music that Freud could readily enjoy, the relation between words and melody in that genre is addressed. The significance for Freud of the specific works and passages that he mentions throughout his writings is examined in the light of some of his own theoretical concepts: (a) with special reference to 'oedipal' features, to the dynamics of 'eros' and 'thanatos', and to the balance between the 'primary' and 'secondary' processes in artistic creativity; and (b) as exemplified in his favourite operas 'The Marriage of Figaro', 'Don Giovanni', 'Carmen' and 'The Mastersingers'. The parts played, in his problem with music, by his envy of the artist's intuitive talent for seduction and by his own 'acoustic atrophy' are also considered. He is defended against the recent charge that, in order to avoid having to cede primacy to others on points of psychology, he deliberately misrepresented how much he knew about music.