Conflict and Inspiration

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On January 9th at 4 PM at the Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts,the MusicaNova Orchestra will perform a program that includes three songs by Henri Duparc and the Four Serious Songs of Johannes Brahms. If we believe that music reflects the inner soul of the composer, we have some interesting contradictions at work in these pieces. Duparc was a religious fanatic, who wrote only a single piece of religious music. Brahms was not religious at all, and yet two of his best known works-the German Requiem and the Four Serious Songs-are settings of biblical texts.

It would be hard to see how Duparc's religiosity fit in with his music. His songs are almost all settings of secular poetry of his own time; most have a melancholic cast,and they are often about lost love. His last song, written when he was 37, and some fifty years before his death, ends with the words “the terrible secret that makes me languish”. The words are Beaudelaire's, but one must wonder if they were a reflection of the composer's mental state, for after finishing that masterpiece-in my opinion, "La Vie Anterieure" is one of the greatest songs ever written- (yes, we are doing it Sunday)he was to languish for the rest of his long life. In later years his religiosity was part of the reason he gave for having ceased composing. He said that God had come to him (sometime in the first decade of the 20th century) and in an instant completely transformed his life, and after that the thought of writing music had become repellent to him. Ironically, the orchestral arrangement of the "La Vie Anterieure-which translates as "the former life"- comes from after this time, so perhaps it was only writing new music, not arranging already written music, that God forbade. (although this "moment of transformation" sounds like a conversion experience, Duparc was devoutly religious all of his life).

On the other hand, it is perhaps surprising how much great religious music has been written by non-believers; Vaughan Williams, Verdi and Gerald Finzi spring immediately to mind. Vaughan Williams wrote many religious works including a Mass; Verdi's Requiem is a mainstay of the repertoire, and Finzi wrote some of the finest religious Choral Music ever written. In these cases there seems to be an out and out contradiction between their convictions and the texts they were setting. But I think for many musicians, it is about the music, and the familiarity of religious texts-and the vivid musical potential of religious sentiment-allow them creative freedom that is inspirational even if they do not literally believe the words they are setting.

Brahms is, in a way, a more interesting case, because in both the German Requiem and the Four Serious Songs he went out of his way to choose biblical texts that could be used to express non-religious sentiments. When he was asked to add more explicitly Christian material to the German Requiem, he refused, and in fact said that he was uncomfortable with the religiosity that he could not strip from the texts. So it seems that Brahms was trying to find Biblical writings that were in alignment with his personal beliefs even though he did not consider himself a believing Christian-although he was culturally, and by upbringing, very much in the German Lutheran tradition.

Brahms kept his personal views pretty close to the vest, in fact. In the letter where he confessed being uncomfortable with the religious sentiments implied in the German Requiem, he immediately said “now I have said too much”. As it is, the most overt expression of his feelings came from verbal exchanges with friends, most notably Antonin Dvorak (himself a believing Catholic). In a letter to a friend, Dvorak said of Brahms “Such a man, such a fine soul—and he believes in nothing! He believes in nothing!”

Incidentally, in the 1950's a book was published by an American writer named Arthur Abell in which he “interviews” Brahms and makes him sound like a deeply spiritual and religious person. The interview is undated, the style of speech sounds nothing like the Brahms of his published letters (although some details of the interview match facts that can be found in the letters) and the opinions Brahms expresses here sound nothing like anything else he ever said. I thought it was self-evidently fraudulent when I first saw the book. (and not only because of Brahms-the "interviews" with Puccini and Strauss, given how much more overt they were in their views, are even more ridiculous). It seems that others well acquainted with Brahms agree that this work is a fabrication and you can find some of the discussion of the issue here.

Of course, what matters most in the concert hall is the music that was created from these inspirations. Come this Sunday to hear Isola Jones and Carolyn Whitaker put their stamp on the wonderful music of Brahms and Duparc!