What do early European music and bookend cultural wars have to do with each other? Europe. It's all about the vast legacy--and future--of European civilization.
I'm in the beginning stages of an infatuation with medieval and renaissance music. I suppose it's my middle-aged equivalent of what I went through as a kid idolizing the Beatles. When Lennon went on about the music that inspired him, i.e., old rock and roll and blues, I wanted to find out what that was all about. Next thing you know, I was listening to more Chuck Berry and Elmore James than Fab Four.
Later, when I finally got to the original long-hair music, I seemed to hit bedrock at Bach. His contemporaries and predecessors (with the possible exception of Vivaldi) just did not seem as profound or entertaining. Yes, music began with Bach, and I was satisfied with that for a while.
Later, after coming to live in Japan and contemplating the phenomenon of Japanese music, it occurred to me that while the entire field was undoubtedly rich and complex, its gamut might be unfavorably compared to pre-baroque western music, let alone the incredibly rich classical, romantic or post-romantic periods. I make no strong claims here as I could hardly consider myself even a dilettante in either field. If anybody out there wants to educate me, I would be grateful.
But back to my point: two articles, the first, Savall the Savior, is about a defender of the early music tradition of Europe. When's the last time you've read an article about a gamba player? What's a viola da gamba, you say?
Dating back to the 15th century, the viol looks something like a lightly-built cello. But its sound could hardly be more different. It has seven strings, which are richly resonant though less tense than the cello's four. This gives a softer, earthier sound that is completely unsuited to large concert halls and big orchestras, and which undoubtedly contributed to its decline during the Baroque period.
Jordi Savall is a Catalan who seems to be one of those rare musicians who love music not for its complexity or as a stage upon which to exhibit their own brilliance or originality, but as a means to communicate through beauty itself. Rote recitation is not communication. The musician must feel to transmit feeling through music.
He asked a student at the masterclass to sing, as “music starts before playing. Only if you can sing inside and out can you transmit the song.”
The music he champions is not the concert hall variety that we have become used to, but allows musicians to improvise:
In this, Mr Savall was inspired by the writings of Diego Ortiz, a 16th-century composer who detailed the rules of improvisation. Like jazz players, early musicians can embellish melodies and chords within a certain structure.
I'll be looking for his recordings on the Alia Vox label, and renting Tous Les Matins du Monde , in which Savall's playing can be heard (more info on the music of the film here) as soon as I can.
Thus, while like stout Cortez, silent on a peak in Darien, (got the "stout" part right) I gaze on the virtually limitless splendors of Europe's past, George Weigel (whose excellent biography of John Paul II I'm now reading) brings my attention to the matter of Europe's future in "Two Culture Wars".
Weigel surveys the anvil of Europe's drive to purge itself of its own identity (hereafter, "culture war A) with the hammer of Islam to assert its own (culture war B).
For one thing, however loudly European postmodernists may proclaim their devotion to the relativity of all truths, in practice this translates into something very different—namely, the deprecation of traditional Western truths, combined with a studied deference to non- or anti-Western ones. In the relativist mindset, it thus turns out, not all religious and moral conviction is bigotry that must be suppressed; only the Judeo-Christian variety is. In short, the moral relativism of Europe is often mere window-dressing, a mask for Western self-hatred.
The question is: what lies on the anvil itself? When the apparently inevitable demographic tilt tips and the dwindling native populations of Europe are supplanted by those who have no allegiance to western culture--indeed, many who openly claim to despise it--will the existence of people like Savall become impossible? Will that limitless horizon of European culture go dark?
Do a quick litmus test. Do you care? Stuff happens, and cultures die. Isn't it racist to think that Western culture should be any different?
To the ignorant or self-complacent, all things are truly the same. Others have different views. Fouad Ajami, in this tribute to the dean of deans of Middle Eastern studies, Bernard Lewis, quotes the master as saying:
It may be that Western culture will indeed go: The lack of conviction of many of those who should be its defenders and the passionate intensity of its accusers may well join to complete its destruction. But if it does go, the men and women of all the continents will thereby be impoverished and endangered.
After all, isn't it a no-brainer that vigorously defending Western culture is the only way to preserve multi-culturalism? Fiddle on, Savall. People like you who remind us of the value of our culture may be our saviors yet.
I love Jordi Savall as well!
I've been getting into early music for the past few years, and Savall is definitely one of the best. If you like him on the de Gamba, I would also recommend Hille Perl. Her Saint Colombe CD is AWESOME. She's also incredibly hot.
Posted by: Zak | July 30, 2006 at 09:01 PM