„Y a-t-il une musique érotique?“

Abstract

Composer, conductor, and music theorist Rene Leibowitz was asked in 1958 by his lifelong friend Georges Bataille to write an article on the question of whether music can be erotic, Bataille even providing him with several thematic suggestions. Leibowitz’s article focuses on the androgyn figure Cherubino and his attempts to stimulate female figures around him, such as Susanna and the contessa, with musical means. The analytical essay, though never published due to the failed realization of Bataille’s planned magazine Genese , existed until now only in manuscript form at the Paul Sacher Foundation in Basel and is published here for the first time.