“The lyric being”
Tribute to Ruggero Raimondi
XX Annual Colloquium on Music & Philosophy
Ronda, July 3rd, 4th and 5th, 2024
Throughout all time and space, in every culture, singing has been an essential part of people’s lives. There has been no human community found that does not practice or has not practiced singing. Hence, the shared thesis is that singing (and more broadly, music) is a universal anthropological phenomenon.
This universality gives singing a very unique significance. In singing, in addition to the phonetic and timbral qualities of the singing being, those structures that support the possibility of singing from the depths are also embodied. One cannot sing without these structures being actualized, which are so closely linked to the structures of language that it could be said they have a common origin, and that they are prior to the constitution of any grammar or particular harmonic system. The singing being could not do so without the activation of these structures, and it is highly doubtful that any being could sing without possessing them. Hence the problematic nature of the naturalization of singing, which assumes that the capacity for it can be attributed to animals other than humans.
In this edition of the Music-Philosophy Encounter in the city of Ronda, the dedication to singing in all its dimensions – anthropological, technical, educational, and historical, to name the most relevant ones – will be particularly determined and honored by the tribute that will be paid to Ruggero Raimondi, one of those beings who sings and who, with his singing, has dignified, embellished, and elevated human life.
Gotzon Arrizabalaga