--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Art, and above all, music has a…" description: "\"“Art, and above all, music has a fundamental function, which is to catalyze the sublimation that it can bring about through all means of expression. It..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d3f/iannis-xenakis-48999_art_art-and-above-all-music-has-a-fundamenta_1956982.png" --- # Art, and above all, music has a fundamental function… ![“Art, and above all, music has a fundamental function, which is to catalyze the sublimation that it can bring about through all means of expression. It must aim through fixations which are landmarks to draw towards a total exaltation in which the individual mingles, losing his consciousness in a…” quote by Iannis Xenakis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d3f/iannis-xenakis-48999_art_art-and-above-all-music-has-a-fundamenta_1956982.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d3f/iannis-xenakis-48999_art_art-and-above-all-music-has-a-fundamenta_1956982.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d3f/iannis-xenakis-48999_art_art-and-above-all-music-has-a-fundamenta_1956982.png) > ““Art, and above all, music has a fundamental function, which is to catalyze the sublimation that it can bring about through all means of expression. It must aim through fixations which are landmarks to draw towards a total exaltation in which the individual mingles, losing his consciousness in a truth immediate, rare, enormous, and perfect. If a work of art succeeds in this undertaking even for a single moment, it attains its goal. This tremendous truth is not made of objects, emotions, or sensations; it is beyond these, as Beethoven's Seventh Symphony is beyond music. This is why art can lead to realms that religion still occupies for some people.”” [Iannis Xenakis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iannis-xenakis/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Art, especially music, serves to elevate the soul beyond ordinary experience, aiming for a transcendent state that surpasses ordinary perception. **In simple terms:** Art lifts us beyond normal feeling. Key Takeaway Seek experiences that transcend the everyday. Themes transcendence spirituality artistic purpose Mood awe inspired Type philosophical aspirational When to use this quote - listening to profound music - creating immersive art - deep meditation Key Concepts sublimation exaltation truth beeyond religion Questions to Reflect On - What does transcendence mean to you? - Can art be both transcendent and accessible? A Different Perspective The pursuit of transcendence may alienate those seeking practical outcomes. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) [Art music](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art-music/) [Beethoven Seventh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/beethoven-seventh-2132679/) [Music](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/music/) [Music Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/music-art/) [Music Fundamental](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/music-fundamental-1436636/) [Religion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/religion/) [Seventh Symphony](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/seventh-symphony-2085878/) [Single moment](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/single-moment/) [Song](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/song/) ## Related quotes > [Art, and, above all, music, has a fundamental function, which is to catalyze the sublimation that it can bring about through all means of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iannis-xenakis/art-and-above-all-music-has-a-fundamental-function-which-is-to/) [Iannis Xenakis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iannis-xenakis/) > [You can't possibly hear the last movement of Beethoven's Seventh and go slow. (Oscar trying to talk his way out of a speeding ticket)](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-levant/you-can-t-possibly-hear-the-last-movement-of-beethoven-s-seventh-and/) [Oscar Levant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-levant/) > [My grandmother got me recordings of the 'Goldberg Variations,' in addition to the 'Brandenburg Concertos,' the Mozart string quartets and Beethoven's 'Seventh Symphony.'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-thile/my-grandmother-got-me-recordings-of-the-goldberg-variations-in/) [Chris Thile](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-thile/) > [Yeah, I can't separate the art from the music and the music from the art. I think that stems from going to school for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-o/yeah-i-can-t-separate-the-art-from-the-music-and-the-music-from-the/) [Karen O](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-o/) > [“Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch (which governs melody and harmony), rhythm (and its…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/music/music-is-an-art-form-whose-medium-is-sound-and-silence-its-common/) [Music](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/music/) > [“Keep music and art alive in our schools because the greatness of a country is not measured by wars that are won, by territory…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clarrissa-lee-moon/keep-music-and-art-alive-in-our-schools-because-the-greatness-of-a/) [Clarrissa Lee Moon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clarrissa-lee-moon/) > [The alarm in the morning? Well, I have an old tape of Carlo Maria Giulini conducting the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra in a perfectly transcendent…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-fry/the-alarm-in-the-morning-well-i-have-an-old-tape-of-carlo-maria/) [Stephen Fry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-fry/) > [Every couple weeks I'll listen to Sibelius's Seventh Symphony, just to check in, to see how it's doing. It's doing OK.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nico-muhly/every-couple-weeks-i-ll-listen-to-sibelius-s-seventh-symphony-just-to/) [Nico Muhly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nico-muhly/) > [“So even that doesn’t make you happy? What about your Seventh Symphony? At least it rallied people. Once you told me how alive you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-t-vollmann/so-even-that-doesn-t-make-you-happy-what-about-your-seventh-symphony/) [William T. Vollmann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-t-vollmann/) > [Music was fundamental in my family. Sang at bars, all the way to church on Sunday. Music in school, played guitar pulls at the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jamey-johnson/music-was-fundamental-in-my-family-sang-at-bars-all-the-way-to-church/) [Jamey Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jamey-johnson/) > [Music is...a fundamental way of expressing our humanity - and it is often our best medicine.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/music-is-a-fundamental-way-of-expressing-our-humanity-and-it-is-often/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) > [Music is a fundamental human right](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gustavo-dudamel/music-is-a-fundamental-human-right/) [Gustavo Dudamel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gustavo-dudamel/) > [We all know this: Music is such a fundamental part of life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bozoma-saint-john/we-all-know-this-music-is-such-a-fundamental-part-of-life/) [Bozoma Saint John](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bozoma-saint-john/) > [I think that ultimately, when you create music that is proper music, then it becomes fundamental and anyone can relate to it or connect…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/justin-nozuka/i-think-that-ultimately-when-you-create-music-that-is-proper-music/) [Justin Nozuka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/justin-nozuka/) > [The art music of the West has developed through out its history by means of individual geniuses, and out of the soil supporting them;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toru-takemitsu/the-art-music-of-the-west-has-developed-through-out-its-history-by/) [Toru Takemitsu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toru-takemitsu/) ## More by Iannis Xenakis > [Do you realize that we're meteorites; almost as soon as we're born, we have to disappear?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iannis-xenakis/do-you-realize-that-we-re-meteorites-almost-as-soon-as-we-re-born-we/) [Iannis Xenakis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iannis-xenakis/) > [Art, and, above all, music, has a fundamental function, which is to catalyze the sublimation that it can bring about through all means of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iannis-xenakis/art-and-above-all-music-has-a-fundamental-function-which-is-to/) [Iannis Xenakis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iannis-xenakis/) > [The listener must be gripped and whether he likes it or not, drawn into the flight path of the sounds without special training being…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iannis-xenakis/the-listener-must-be-gripped-and-whether-he-likes-it-or-not-drawn/) [Iannis Xenakis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iannis-xenakis/) > [To make music means to express human intelligence by sonic means. This is intelligence in its broadest sense, which includes not only the peregrinations…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iannis-xenakis/to-make-music-means-to-express-human-intelligence-by-sonic-means-this/) [Iannis Xenakis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iannis-xenakis/) > [The musical scale is a convention which circumscribes the area of potentiality and permits construction within those limits in its own particular symmetry.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iannis-xenakis/the-musical-scale-is-a-convention-which-circumscribes-the-area-of/) [Iannis Xenakis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iannis-xenakis/) > [Music is not a language. 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These sonic events are made out…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iannis-xenakis/the-collision-of-hail-or-rain-with-hard-surfaces-or-the-song-of/) [Iannis Xenakis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iannis-xenakis/) [Explore all 8 Iannis Xenakis quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iannis-xenakis/) ## More Art quotes > [True works of art contain their own theory and give us the measurement according to which we should judge them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/true-works-of-art-contain-their-own-theory-and-give-us-the/) [Johann Wolfgang von Goethe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/) > [Before Noah, men having only water to drink, could not find the truth. 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You treat ideas like cats: you make them follow you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-bradbury/that-s-the-great-secret-of-creativity-you-treat-ideas-like-cats-you/) [Ray Bradbury](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-bradbury/) > [“So, really," continued Jacob as if this were perfectly normal to expound on art in these circumstances, "when you think about it, the artists…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/justina-chen-headley/so-really-continued-jacob-as-if-this-were-perfectly-normal-to-expound/) [Justina Chen Headley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/justina-chen-headley/) > [“There are two options in art; either to adopt philosophical life by dissecting art, or to write your own philosophical life and claim it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/taf-teh/there-are-two-options-in-art-either-to-adopt-philosophical-life-by/) [Taf Teh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/taf-teh/) > [The house has to serve comfort. The work of art is revolutionary; the house is conservative.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adolf-loos/the-house-has-to-serve-comfort-the-work-of-art-is-revolutionary-the/) [Adolf Loos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adolf-loos/) > [During human progress, every science is evolved out of its corresponding art.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-spencer/during-human-progress-every-science-is-evolved-out-of-its/) [Herbert Spencer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-spencer/) > [In literature and art memory is a synonym for invention. It is the life-blood of imagination, which faints and dies when the veins are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-aris-willmott/in-literature-and-art-memory-is-a-synonym-for-invention-it-is-the/) [Robert Aris Willmott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-aris-willmott/) > [I think a business guy is different from an artist. They walk different paths. Artists create the best outputs when they're having fun. And…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/g-dragon/i-think-a-business-guy-is-different-from-an-artist-they-walk/) [G-Dragon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/g-dragon/) > [“The only thing--I tell you this straight from the heart--that disgusts me in Salzburg is that one can't have any proper social intercourse with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wolfgang-amadeus-mozart/the-only-thing-i-tell-you-this-straight-from-the-heart-that-disgusts/) [Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wolfgang-amadeus-mozart/) > [The sublime in art is the attempt to express the infinite without finding in the realm of phenomena any object which proves itself fitting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georg-wilhelm-friedrich-hegel/the-sublime-in-art-is-the-attempt-to-express-the-infinite-without/) [Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georg-wilhelm-friedrich-hegel/) > [Art isn't done to decorate apartments, but to wage war against the enemy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-picasso/art-isn-t-done-to-decorate-apartments-but-to-wage-war-against-the/) [Pablo Picasso](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-picasso/) [Browse all 48,643 Art quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Art, and above all, music has a fundamental function, which is to catalyze the sublimation that it can bring about through all means of expression. 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