The idea of emancipated instrumental music is connected to the establishment of the modern concept of the Fine Arts, which in turn produced a requirement for the understanding of music as created by some lonely misunderstood genius. The hidden codes of the aesthetic essence of art were to be understood only by some congenial soul, and at the same time perceived only by direct experience (“perfectio cognitionis sensitivae”). However, it is obvious that our sensory perception is unreliable, incomplete, and limited due to numerous factors (ideological, social, historical, aesthetic, etc.), and thus in need of critical examination. At the same time the understanding of these mechanisms provides only a partial account of music, since they ignore the object of aesthetic contemplation. Therefore, we need a reflection on the systems of the “understanding of musical understanding,” i.e., a wider hermeneutical analysis of the integration of music in a referential context constituted of musical significance, meaning, pleasure and value.
