Philosophy of singing and a singing philosopher

This article proposes adding the concept of singing to the broader discussion of a philosophy of the human voice. Singing, when considered as a vocal action or practice, appears to be an appropriate starting point for exploring the voice. Although the theoretical concepts of media and performativity have something to say about singing in this sense, the author argues that these approaches do not fully address certain aspects and require alternative conceptual frameworks. Elements of this framework can be found in the ideas about singing formulated in the late works of the German poet Rainer Maria Rilke, particularly in his ‘Sonnets to Orpheus’, where he considers singing a representation of human existence and the poetic order of the world. Building on this, the author claims that the ideas about singing found in the approaches of Alfred Wolfsohn and Roy Hart – pioneers of a concept of singing encompassing all human sounds – will form the basis of a philosophy of singing. This philosophy is yet to be fully explored, but the author argues that it will require ‘singing philosophers’ to do so.