The farewell. A metaphor for building environmental citizenship

Abstract

Beethoven's Sonata 26, which was composed on the occasion of the absence of his friend, Archduke Rudolph of Austria, before the imminent arrival of Napoleon's troops, is taken as a metaphor. The sonata consists of three movements, namely, Adagio - Allegro (Das Lebewohl/ The farewell), Andante espressivo (Abwesenheit/The absence), and Vivacissimamente (Das Wiedersehen/The return). He dated his first movement on May 4, 1809, the date of departure, and his last movement on January 30, 1810, the date of return, and released his sonata in 1811. The journey-approach was built based on a writing-as-you-go philosophy according to which there is no point of departure or arrival. It was found that the movement named The farewell expresses a rupture in the relation between man and nature as well as a metabolic rift between society and the ground. In the face of the advent of a modern time that is committed to praecisio mundi, nature is besieged, set apart, and deemed to be separated from man, almost as if it were an enemy. The absence is the saddest piece of the composition, and reflects Beethoven's mood as he faces separation from his friend. It characterizes the disastrous situations that have arisen as a result of the modern commitment to praecisio mundi. The return presents a commitment to/ proposal for environmental citizenship, a reconciliation between man and nature. It can be concluded that environmental citizenship must be construed from the perspective of meanings other than those of capitalistic logic in order to be able to generate possibilities for the unfolding of an environmental citizen/subject.