The imagological approach in art theory and its musical-pedagogical potential
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24195/artstudies.2026-1.5Keywords:
art theory, artistic image, imagological approach, music performance, interpretation, imagination, mental representation, musical narrative, music pedagogy, hermeneuticsAbstract
The article examines the imagological approach as a conceptual and methodological basis for musical interpretation, focusing on the intentional activation of imagination to address problems related to the concretization of a musical work’s artistic and imagistic plane in the musical and performative process. The aim of the article is to define the main functions of the imagological approach that enable it to provide such a basis, and to specify the features that determine its musical-pedagogical potential. An analysis of studies addressing interpretation as a space for investigating and understanding artistic meanings confirms the functional role of imagination as a key resource that, when intentionally activated, allows performers to analyze the artistic and figurative content of a musical work, transform and vary representations of artistic images in order to create an artistic narrative, and select musical means of expression for its interpretive realization (Cook, 2013; Bachelard, 1960). The functional analysis identifies two principal functions of the imagological approach: (1) mental-imaginative mediation, whose implementation contributes to transforming an understanding of the artistic meaning of musical signs into multimodal mental representations (auditory, kinesthetic, emotional), which in turn become the basis for choosing interpretive solutions and performance techniques (Zatorre & Halpern, 2005; Keller, 2012); and (2) narrative structuring of the artistic and imagistic plane of a musical work, whose action aims to construct musical interpretation as a space of interaction among images within a sequence of artistic events (Almén, 2003). The findings reveal the musical-pedagogical potential of the imagological approach, which can serve as a basis for developing skills that enable the targeted activation of imagination in order to create internal representations of the artistic image, as well as abilities to ensure the artistic integrity and expressivity of interpretation and to create a pedagogical interpretation of a musical work as an artistic narrative. Future research should specify how the imagological approach can provide a basis for interpreting musical works of different styles, drawing on diverse interpretive traditions.
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