Music and Expression

Pantomime is not merely imitative, it is expressive, as well.  So. Nietzsche's characterization of Dancing, in section 2 of Birth of Tragedy, as a "pantomime", and as the occasion of the "release off all the symbolic powers", suggests a significant departure from the long tradition, stretching from Aristotle to Schopenhauer, that conceives Art as essentially Mimetic.  Now, to 'express', literally to 'press out', most immediately means to 'transmit empirical content to a percipient'.  Thus, 'Expression' is not to be confused with a relation between an artist and a completed work of Art, e. g. Dewey's use, or the basis for the usual classification of Pollock's pieces.  Furthermore, it is not be confused with to 'transmit the meaning of an empirical content to an audience', which is one of its special and derivative cases.  That is, it is special, because not every Artwork, e. g. 'Abstract Art', has some ulterior idea, feeling, or object that it 'means', plus the transmission of such meanings is indirect, if not problematic, e. g. as Nietzsche puts it, in #809 of Will to Power, "one never communicates thoughts: one communicates movements".  Now, what is unique about Music among the Arts is its capacity to transmit its content to a percipient directly and immediately, i. e. the physical propagation of sonic vibrations is fundamental to musical performance.  Thus, insofar as Art is essentially expressive, and Expression is grounded in the transmission of content, Music is the exemplary Art.