Learn Hardcore Russian: Не то чтобы я не любил музыку, но сегодня мне хочется тишины. - It’s not that I don’t like music, but today I feel like some quiet.

Breakdown of Не то чтобы я не любил музыку, но сегодня мне хочется тишины.

What does не то чтобы mean here, and why is чтобы used if there is no idea of in order to?

Не то чтобы is a fixed expression. In this sentence, it means something like:

So чтобы is not expressing purpose here. It is just part of the idiomatic pattern не то чтобы X, но Y.

The whole structure means: I’m not saying X is the real issue; rather, Y is the point.

Is не то чтобы я не любил музыку a double negative?

Not in the English-school-grammar sense of two negatives making a positive.

Here the two не do different jobs:

So the meaning is:

It’s not that I dislike music...

The speaker is rejecting that explanation, not simply stating the opposite in a direct way.

Why is любил in the past tense? Is the sentence talking about the past?