Having put the finishing touches to it, before sending it off to be publihed, I relish the thoughts of our own esteemed commentators. Perhaps it is too much ask that we accept that we simply do not know and ponder these things.
The Pen in the Hand of a Divine Spirit
Many great musicians truly believed themselves to be the pen in the hand of a divine spirit. Beethoven typically refused to take the credit for his music. For those of a mystical frame of mind there is much to ponder on. How do you describe something you cannot see? How did Ludwig van Beethoven create the most beautiful of his music whilst unable to hear it?
Beethoven's death, in common with several other great composers, is threaded with mystery. As the Grim Reaper embraced this shabbily dressed irascible genius there broke over the Viennese night the most violent and terrifying electrical storm. The city cowered as thunder and lightning split the heavens. Beethoven lying semi-conscious on his bed was heard to murmur, 'I shall hear in heaven'. He raised his arm as though to salute the afterlife and departed. The storm immediately began to abate.
His funeral cortege brought this great European city to a halt. Schools and businesses closed; life held its breath and upwards of 30,000 people lined the streets to pay homage. Among them the equally great Franz Schubert who was to follow the great master to the grave just 12-months later.
The renowned flautist James Galway was adamant that the edge to his virtuosity was sharpened by God's input through him. When discussing his ambitions he agreed that they were limited: "They are merely that I should leave good memories behind me; that people should feel when they recall my name, that in some odd inexplicable way, they have at sometime heard the voice of the Infinite through me."
GREEK POET, HESIOD
The idea of a source of inspiration beyond our own minds goes back at least as far as ancient Greece, when the 8th century BC poet, Hesiod, began his tales by invoking the nine Muses: "Sing, Oh Heliconian Muses..." he commenced, claiming that the daughters of Zeus had thus instructed him to begin all his works, that mankind would know their divine source.
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN
Ludwig van Beethoven was just twelve years old when his virtuosity inspired his kindly mentor, Christian Gottlob Neefe, to present the talented child to the Elector of Cologne, Maximilian Franz: "He is, I believe, touched with genius."
"Quite a word to use of one so young,' said the Elector: 'You must not let this go to your head, young man,' he added looking directly at Ludwig.
Ludwig spoke in a firm, clear voice: 'Sir. I have a gift that people say comes from God. I believe that to be true.'
"The Lord and I are on speaking terms, and our bickering most often gets penned onto a piece of parchment." - Beethoven.
Of Franz Schubert Beethoven surmised: "Truly, the spark of Divine genius resides in this Schubert".
AMADEUS MOZART:
"The hearse, with the few mourners, then proceeded to St Mark's churchyard, but before the burial place was reached a terrific storm of snow and rain burst overhead, and with one accord the mourners turned back, and left the hearse to proceed alone. And thus the master, of whom it was prophesied that he would cause all others (composers) to be forgotten … was left to be buried by the hands of strangers in a pauper's grave, without even a stone to mark where he was laid." - Francis Jameson Rowbotham.
When a little older he (Beethoven) arrived in Vienna for the first time, he looked forward to meeting yet another great musician; Wolfgang Mozart. Music, he thought, the highest art, coming directly from God. How many men have such a calling? In Bonn one alone. In Vienna one alone. And now I will meet him. At last! - The Last Master. John Suchet.
"When Mozart was inspired to write Idomeneo or The Magic Flute, he was in touch with God." - James Galway, Flautist.
FRANZ SCHUBERT
" .. the composer nearest to God". - Artur Schnabel
JOSEPH HAYDN
"It seems as though God gave me a cheerful heart, so I'm sure He'll forgive me if I serve Him cheerfully."
"Whenever I think of God I can only conceive of Him as a being infinitely great and infinitely good. This last quality of the divine nature inspires me with such confidence and joy that I could have written even a miserere in tempo allegro."
GIACOMO PUCCINI
"God touched me with his finger and said 'write for the theatre, mind you - only for the theatre'... and I've been faithful to this supreme command."
GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL
"A Lady being very musical, was invited by him (Handel) to a private Rehearsal of the Messiah, and being struck with the Exceeding dignity of expression in the Choruses, and other parts of ye oratorio so inimitably set to the sacred works, after the musick was over she asked him how it was possible for him, who understood the English Language but imperfectly, to enter so fully into the sublime spirit of the Words. His answer is I think a lesson to all composers, at least of Sacred Musick;
"Madam, I thank God I have a little religion."
On composing Messiah, Handel is said to have remarked (1741):"I did think I did see all Heaven before me and the great God Himself." On another occasion, Handel whilst writing the Messiah, when speaking to a servant at the hotel in which he was staying: "Once he had finished the hallelujah chorus he spoke to the servant, 'The lord spoke to me and hath said 'twas not I who wrote this but on accord of Him.'
RICHARD WAGNER
"I am being used as the instrument for something higher than my own warrants. I am in the hands of the Immortal Genius I serve for the span of my life and his intention that I complete only what I can achieve."
"An atheistic upbringing is fatal. No atheist has ever created anything of great and lasting value." - Richard Wagner in conversation with Engelbert Humperdnck in 1880: quoted in Arthur M. Abell, 'Talks with Great Composers' (1955)
CHARLES FRANCOIS GOUNOD
Female admirer: "How do you think of those lovely melodies?"
Gounod: "God, Madame, sends me down some of his angels and they whisper sweet melodies in my ear." - James Harding, Gounod (1973).
JOHANNES BRAHMS
"I know several young composers who are atheists. I have read their scores, and I assure you, Joseph, that they are doomed to speedy oblivion, because they are utterly lacking in inspiration. Their works are purely cerebral … no atheist has ever been or ever will be a great composer." - Johannes Brahms in conversation with the violinist Joseph Joachim (1831 - 1907). Quoted in Arthur M. Abell: Talks with Great Composers. (1955).
DINU LIPATTI
"Half an hour before he died he (Dinu Lipatti) was listening to records of Beethoven's F minor Quartet. To his wife he said: "You see, it is not enough to be a great composer. To write music like that you must be a chosen instrument of God."
Walter Legge, the impresario was later to remark of Dinu Lipatti: "By the same light we may say it is not enough to be a great pianist: To play as Lipatti played you must be a chosen instrument of God. God lent the world His chosen instrument whom we called Dini Lipatti for too brief a space."
ANTONIN DVORAK
'Life was a very uncomplicated thing to him. Instead of turmoil or neuroticism or dark brooding, we encounter a simple and sincere piety, such as only the deeply religious man is capable of.' - A writer's observation of the Czech composer.
JAMES GALWAY
"Nothing pleases me more today than when somebody says to me: "You know, Jimmy. You can hear God in your playing." It delights me to think that in some small way I am a link between God and whoever is listening."
"What I had to do instead, I decided, was to make sure I represented the composer properly to the world. Or to go and bit deeper, the composer's inspiration - which obviously came from God."
HERBERT VON KARAJAN
When asked where did his talent come from? Karajan said, "I was given special tools, special talents. I never had any doubts that my talents came from the Creator. My duty to Him is to exploit them to the fullest. My ambition is to make music as perfectly as possible and reach as many people as possible."
"You don't need faith to believe in God, because there are plenty of signs available of His existence. Mozart wrote a symphony as a child. Heredity cannot account for this. There is only one explanation: the Creator chooses people as His instruments to produce some beauty in a world that is all too ugly. "
MICHAELANGELI
"I'm nothing but a priest of god's music." - Renowned Italian Classical Pianist.
ANTON BRUCKNER
That Bruckner felt inspired by God is to state the obvious. In addition to the vocal religious works, he dedicated his 9th Symphony "To our Beloved God" (although it's said that he modestly appended 'if He'll accept it').
Bruckner did make it clear that he also considered his view of the Day of Judgement as part of his perspective. Another of his quotes: "When God calls me to Him and asks me: 'Where is the talent which I have given you?' Then shall I hold out the rolled-up manuscript of my Te Deum and I know He will be a compassionate judge."
"They want me to write differently. Certainly I could, but I must not. God has chosen me from thousands and given me, of all people, this talent. It is to Him that I must give account. How then would I stand there before Almighty God, if I followed the others and not Him?" - Anton Bruckner.
The debate over whether these great men of music were swayed by their religious convictions or by a deity will be hotly debated without of course anyone knowing the intriguing answer. Until then perhaps it is just best to ponder on that which isn't as yet ours to know. ©
The Pen in the Hand of a Divine Spirit
Many great musicians truly believed themselves to be the pen in the hand of a divine spirit. Beethoven typically refused to take the credit for his music. For those of a mystical frame of mind there is much to ponder on. How do you describe something you cannot see? How did Ludwig van Beethoven create the most beautiful of his music whilst unable to hear it?
Beethoven's death, in common with several other great composers, is threaded with mystery. As the Grim Reaper embraced this shabbily dressed irascible genius there broke over the Viennese night the most violent and terrifying electrical storm. The city cowered as thunder and lightning split the heavens. Beethoven lying semi-conscious on his bed was heard to murmur, 'I shall hear in heaven'. He raised his arm as though to salute the afterlife and departed. The storm immediately began to abate.
His funeral cortege brought this great European city to a halt. Schools and businesses closed; life held its breath and upwards of 30,000 people lined the streets to pay homage. Among them the equally great Franz Schubert who was to follow the great master to the grave just 12-months later.
The renowned flautist James Galway was adamant that the edge to his virtuosity was sharpened by God's input through him. When discussing his ambitions he agreed that they were limited: "They are merely that I should leave good memories behind me; that people should feel when they recall my name, that in some odd inexplicable way, they have at sometime heard the voice of the Infinite through me."
GREEK POET, HESIOD
The idea of a source of inspiration beyond our own minds goes back at least as far as ancient Greece, when the 8th century BC poet, Hesiod, began his tales by invoking the nine Muses: "Sing, Oh Heliconian Muses..." he commenced, claiming that the daughters of Zeus had thus instructed him to begin all his works, that mankind would know their divine source.
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN
Ludwig van Beethoven was just twelve years old when his virtuosity inspired his kindly mentor, Christian Gottlob Neefe, to present the talented child to the Elector of Cologne, Maximilian Franz: "He is, I believe, touched with genius."
"Quite a word to use of one so young,' said the Elector: 'You must not let this go to your head, young man,' he added looking directly at Ludwig.
Ludwig spoke in a firm, clear voice: 'Sir. I have a gift that people say comes from God. I believe that to be true.'
"The Lord and I are on speaking terms, and our bickering most often gets penned onto a piece of parchment." - Beethoven.
Of Franz Schubert Beethoven surmised: "Truly, the spark of Divine genius resides in this Schubert".
AMADEUS MOZART:
"The hearse, with the few mourners, then proceeded to St Mark's churchyard, but before the burial place was reached a terrific storm of snow and rain burst overhead, and with one accord the mourners turned back, and left the hearse to proceed alone. And thus the master, of whom it was prophesied that he would cause all others (composers) to be forgotten … was left to be buried by the hands of strangers in a pauper's grave, without even a stone to mark where he was laid." - Francis Jameson Rowbotham.
When a little older he (Beethoven) arrived in Vienna for the first time, he looked forward to meeting yet another great musician; Wolfgang Mozart. Music, he thought, the highest art, coming directly from God. How many men have such a calling? In Bonn one alone. In Vienna one alone. And now I will meet him. At last! - The Last Master. John Suchet.
"When Mozart was inspired to write Idomeneo or The Magic Flute, he was in touch with God." - James Galway, Flautist.
FRANZ SCHUBERT
" .. the composer nearest to God". - Artur Schnabel
JOSEPH HAYDN
"It seems as though God gave me a cheerful heart, so I'm sure He'll forgive me if I serve Him cheerfully."
"Whenever I think of God I can only conceive of Him as a being infinitely great and infinitely good. This last quality of the divine nature inspires me with such confidence and joy that I could have written even a miserere in tempo allegro."
GIACOMO PUCCINI
"God touched me with his finger and said 'write for the theatre, mind you - only for the theatre'... and I've been faithful to this supreme command."
GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL
"A Lady being very musical, was invited by him (Handel) to a private Rehearsal of the Messiah, and being struck with the Exceeding dignity of expression in the Choruses, and other parts of ye oratorio so inimitably set to the sacred works, after the musick was over she asked him how it was possible for him, who understood the English Language but imperfectly, to enter so fully into the sublime spirit of the Words. His answer is I think a lesson to all composers, at least of Sacred Musick;
"Madam, I thank God I have a little religion."
On composing Messiah, Handel is said to have remarked (1741):"I did think I did see all Heaven before me and the great God Himself." On another occasion, Handel whilst writing the Messiah, when speaking to a servant at the hotel in which he was staying: "Once he had finished the hallelujah chorus he spoke to the servant, 'The lord spoke to me and hath said 'twas not I who wrote this but on accord of Him.'
RICHARD WAGNER
"I am being used as the instrument for something higher than my own warrants. I am in the hands of the Immortal Genius I serve for the span of my life and his intention that I complete only what I can achieve."
"An atheistic upbringing is fatal. No atheist has ever created anything of great and lasting value." - Richard Wagner in conversation with Engelbert Humperdnck in 1880: quoted in Arthur M. Abell, 'Talks with Great Composers' (1955)
CHARLES FRANCOIS GOUNOD
Female admirer: "How do you think of those lovely melodies?"
Gounod: "God, Madame, sends me down some of his angels and they whisper sweet melodies in my ear." - James Harding, Gounod (1973).
JOHANNES BRAHMS
"I know several young composers who are atheists. I have read their scores, and I assure you, Joseph, that they are doomed to speedy oblivion, because they are utterly lacking in inspiration. Their works are purely cerebral … no atheist has ever been or ever will be a great composer." - Johannes Brahms in conversation with the violinist Joseph Joachim (1831 - 1907). Quoted in Arthur M. Abell: Talks with Great Composers. (1955).
DINU LIPATTI
"Half an hour before he died he (Dinu Lipatti) was listening to records of Beethoven's F minor Quartet. To his wife he said: "You see, it is not enough to be a great composer. To write music like that you must be a chosen instrument of God."
Walter Legge, the impresario was later to remark of Dinu Lipatti: "By the same light we may say it is not enough to be a great pianist: To play as Lipatti played you must be a chosen instrument of God. God lent the world His chosen instrument whom we called Dini Lipatti for too brief a space."
ANTONIN DVORAK
'Life was a very uncomplicated thing to him. Instead of turmoil or neuroticism or dark brooding, we encounter a simple and sincere piety, such as only the deeply religious man is capable of.' - A writer's observation of the Czech composer.
JAMES GALWAY
"Nothing pleases me more today than when somebody says to me: "You know, Jimmy. You can hear God in your playing." It delights me to think that in some small way I am a link between God and whoever is listening."
"What I had to do instead, I decided, was to make sure I represented the composer properly to the world. Or to go and bit deeper, the composer's inspiration - which obviously came from God."
HERBERT VON KARAJAN
When asked where did his talent come from? Karajan said, "I was given special tools, special talents. I never had any doubts that my talents came from the Creator. My duty to Him is to exploit them to the fullest. My ambition is to make music as perfectly as possible and reach as many people as possible."
"You don't need faith to believe in God, because there are plenty of signs available of His existence. Mozart wrote a symphony as a child. Heredity cannot account for this. There is only one explanation: the Creator chooses people as His instruments to produce some beauty in a world that is all too ugly. "
MICHAELANGELI
"I'm nothing but a priest of god's music." - Renowned Italian Classical Pianist.
ANTON BRUCKNER
That Bruckner felt inspired by God is to state the obvious. In addition to the vocal religious works, he dedicated his 9th Symphony "To our Beloved God" (although it's said that he modestly appended 'if He'll accept it').
Bruckner did make it clear that he also considered his view of the Day of Judgement as part of his perspective. Another of his quotes: "When God calls me to Him and asks me: 'Where is the talent which I have given you?' Then shall I hold out the rolled-up manuscript of my Te Deum and I know He will be a compassionate judge."
"They want me to write differently. Certainly I could, but I must not. God has chosen me from thousands and given me, of all people, this talent. It is to Him that I must give account. How then would I stand there before Almighty God, if I followed the others and not Him?" - Anton Bruckner.
The debate over whether these great men of music were swayed by their religious convictions or by a deity will be hotly debated without of course anyone knowing the intriguing answer. Until then perhaps it is just best to ponder on that which isn't as yet ours to know. ©
