WHY IS THERE MUSIC?
by Frank Newton
Sun. March 30th, 2025
For Paul Etter and Bruce Moser
On Google, I looked up "Music hath charms to sooth." Google responded with retrievals headed by the following artificial intelligence overview:
"AI
Overview
The full quote, from William Congreve's play The Mourning Bride, is 'Music hath charms to soothe a savage
breast, to soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak'.
Here's
a breakdown:
* 'Music hath charms to soothe a savage
breast':
This is the most famous part of the quote,
suggesting that music has a powerful, calming effect, even on those with a wild
or untamed nature.
* 'to soften rocks, or
bend a knotted oak':
This part expands on the idea of music's power, implying
that it can influence not only emotions but also seemingly unyielding things,
like rocks and trees."
* * *
That is helpful for me.
I thought the poet wrote "beast," but according to Google, the
poet wrote "breast." Folks
like me who study the meanings which words used to have will tell you -- I'm
telling you now -- that "breast" in this type of situation means the
feelings you have inside of your chest, and there ain't nothing exclusively
feminine about it.
* * *
But that is just my introductory bit. I think the central purpose of music is to soar above ideology.
That is clear in the church context. The music never aims to contradict the points the pastor makes, but when we stumble into the briar patch of an ornery Bible verse hard to interpret, hard to find a sensible interpretation of, hard to find a logical interpretation of, hard to find a happy interpretation of -- then the next piece of music that comes around during the worship helps us to soar above the nagging questions.
That is my experience, in the church context. But I do not know if Communism ever inspired any music capable of soaring above ideology. Name me, if you can, one single dying composer in a Communist society, who, in the last year of his or her life, cursed with an incurable disease, set to music a text that falls under the umbrella of Karl Marx's teaching, but so composed the music, that it, wedded to the words, manages to soar above the thorny issues of interpreting how we are going to reach the workers' paradise, starting from where we are. While you are looking for this composer that I haven't been able to find, keep in mind the important point which Jesus did not put into words as far as I have found, i.e. The rich you will always have with you. -- He did say that the poor we will always have with us -- but truly I tell you too that, as we try to reach the workers' paradise, the rich we will always have with us! From there, the briar patch of ideology or doctrine struggling to tell us "How will we get to the workers' paradise?" follows -- but -- in music??
* * *
That's the end of today's essay. I close with links to five YouTube selections which illustrate, for me, the power of music to soar above ideology and thorny interpretations in the Christian context, ending with the beautiful movie scene of the dying composer in a Christian society.
"Leaning On the Everlasting Arms" -Yodeling | Hudson Harmony Band (Official Music Video) -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdi2eH0sJzo
"I Am the Bread of Life Hymn 335" [by Suzanne Toolan]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHGEzq4qz-8
"The Spacious Firmament On High, 300 Voice Mass Choir - [on the] Classic
Hymns Album Lead Kindly Light"
-- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8cARtRBFco
Sung by a choir in Chennai, India, in 2009.
And Can It Be That I Should Gain [an Interest in the Savior's Blood; by Charles
Wesley]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQeIGbKqiw8
Gaither - I Will Praise Him (Live) [words and music by Margaret Jenkins Harris]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4b_-_ifeec
"Mozart and Salieri write 'Requiem in D Minor' (Full HD) - [scene from the
movie] Amadeus (1984)" -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USe-wZ0AOQQ
Mozart is composing. Salieri is scribing. This section of the Requiem is called
"Confutatis Maledictis" (The Damned at the Point of Destruction] --
the souls sung by women, the devils sung by men. The premise of the scene is that Salieri was
the best helper Mozart had, in this month near the end of Mozart's life. Salieri couldn't pull the inspired notes out
of thin air, but he wrote them down intelligently and faithfully. There's a piece of glory in that. I can't vouch for historical accuracy, but the
movie tells a beautiful story of how it might have happened.
* * *
Frank Newton
