Many of the historically great composers, especially in the Baroque and Classical periods, professed faith in God. Even into the Romantic era, composers continued to at least acknowledge the God of the Bible. But few of the composers lived a life that was consistent with their lip service. They may have claimed to be Christians, thought they were Christians, but they certainly didn't act like Christians.
Oliver Messiaen was one of the few exceptions. Humble about himself as a person, yet bold in his faith as a believer. Peaceful and loving towards those around him. Historically, Messiaen was a 20th century composer, living in an era where Western culture was visibly moving away from its Judeo-Christian roots. The French-born composer enlisted during WWII, and was captured as a prisoner of war by the Germans in 1940. He survived the prison camp, composing one of his best-known works, Quartet for the End of time, while imprisoned. Naturally, this work draws its subject from the Book of Revelation, which no doubt seemed quite fitting to his fellow prisoners!
Here's an example of Messiaen's piano music. I encourage you to listen to the video before reading the rest of the post.
Did that sound anything at all like what you were expecting?
Here's an idea I want to explore: Both J.S. Bach and Oliver Messiaen had a goal, to glorify God in their music, whether it was sacred or secular. Bach produced elaborate, soulful counterpoint with a pleasing blend of consonant and dissonant harmonies. Messiaen, well, pretty much all of his music (that I've heard, anyways) sounds like this.
You can tell I have a preference for Bach. I'll try my best to be objective here -- there are cultural factors that play into this -- but at the same time, I want to give fellow Christian musicians some food for thought.
Messiaen, unlike Bach, lived in a world that was rapidly expanding and would continue to expand into our era. And Messiaen had a fascination with international music, particularly Hindu music. Contrary to the speculations of some, he had no interest in Hindu religion, or any other Eastern religions -- just their music. We could go round and round in circles about whether this was a good thing or a bad thing. My personal viewpoint is this: Music is a language, and above all else, it's predominantly a spiritual language. There's nothing wrong with borrowing music from other cultures. After all, contrary to popular opinion, Christianity isn't a Western religion. Christianity, like Judaism, originated in the Middle East. But a Christian should be very careful about borrowing music from other religions. I'm not saying to never do it. There might be times and circumstances where it would be perfectly fine. I'm saying it's an area you should be careful about. (For a more full discussion on the spiritual implications of music, I highly recommend Elizabeth King's book, Musical Discernment. It's a thorough read on the language of music, and how Christians can cultivate discernment in the area of music.)
The main reason I'm bringing this up is this: Where the music debate in the Christian community is concerned, most of the time it's centered around whether rock music should be played in church or not. But the subject is broader than that. It's not just pop music that Christians need to exercise discernment on. The big question is not, "OK, what's wrong with this genre? Why can't we have Christian music of this type? What about the arguments for my personal favourites?" The real issue is: What will this do to my spiritual life? Will it feed my flesh, or my spirit? Deeper still, and much harder to answer, is this important question: What are the spiritual implications of this music? Those questions have to be asked, regardless of whether we're discussing neo-classical or punk rock. And yes, I think those questions should be asked regardless of how well-intentioned the composer was -- even if he/she was a devout Christian with all the right motives.
Now, to be fair, maybe I am overthinking this. Maybe Messiaen's music simply sounds strange to me because I am a Westerner. Maybe if I had grown up on the other side of the globe, this would just sound normal to me. I don't know. My perspective, like yours, is limited. I can express my opinions all I want, but maybe 10 years down the road I'll read this and think, "Wow, I really had no clue what I was talking about."
It's precisely because we all have a limited perspective that we should not be afraid to ask the hard questions -- the questions that directly affect our choices in music, recreation, clothes, and more. When we're seeking to please the Lord and not ourselves, He will guide us. He will give us the discernment we need. And someday, for those who have put their faith in Christ for their salvation, He'll pull back the curtains and show us the whole picture.
(Note for those who may not know: The word "Amen" comes from an ancient word -- whether Greek, Hebrew, or some other language, I do not remember -- that expressed agreement with truth. It is a transliterated word; that is, it's very similar to the original word in the original language. One person claimed it was one of two words that has been transliterated rather than translated across all languages, the other word being Hallelujah. Fun fact for the day. 😀) Again, I had writer's block and didn't know what to write about. All I could think about was how it's February, it's a theme month, and I haven't finished planning the theme, even though the month has already started. So, once more, I turned to Pinterest . (If that link doesn't work, let me know, because I'm not sure it will actually take you to my Pinterest profile.) This time, instead of music humour, I found this beautiful musician's prayer. And I went, "Yes! That is exa...
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It was Sunday evening, and various members of PMTA were gathered at one member's home for the Annual General Meeting. Since I've only been a member for less than a year, this was the first time I'd been to one of their meetings. As we were setting up for supper, I asked the president, "So, what goes on in the meeting?" She looked at me, and her face instantly displayed drama. With gusto, she replied, "You'll be thrilled, and chilled, and ... bored out of your mind!" LOL! That's the great thing about hanging around with other artistic minds. There's plenty of room for drama. :) Seriously, though, I like getting together with other music teachers, because all of us can talk for hours about music. :) It was a lot of fun comparing notes back and forth and getting to know some of the other teachers. I pick up ideas from these exchanges, including other teachers' favourite methods and new things to include -- or new ways ...
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