On Apr 12, 2005, at 12:48 AM, Darcy James Argue wrote:
Composers are subject to the same irrational prejudices as everyone else. Many of them have, sadly, been making exactly this kind of bigoted assertion for centuries, and the Brahms quote Raymond Horton cited was precisely in that tradition of irrational bigotry -- so it's hardly surprising that such a citation might offend the secularists on this list (many of whom, it should go without saying, happen to be composers themselves).
If Mr. Horton had approvingly quoted Wagner's anti-Semitic writings, I really, really, really hope no one here would think David Fenton was out of line for pointing out the obvious -- "Wagner was full of shit."
And yet, without buying into the God-centric politics of Brahms' comments, if you read what he actually says about the inspirational part of composing, it is quite illuminating.
For example, I quote the next paragraph directly from Solomon's theory site, where he posted this:
6. The dream-like state is like entering a trance-like condition - hovering between being asleep and awake; you are still conscious but right on the border of losing consciousness, and it is at such moments that inspired ideas come. Then it is of the utmost importance to put the ideas down on paper immediately. Then they are fixed and cannot escape; and when you look as them again, they conjure up that same mood that gave them birth. This is a very important law. Themes that occur this way usually are the ones that will endure.
Nothing to be glossed over by religious or non-religious types, even though the trance-like state he alludes to he attributes to God in the previous paragraph. I would have equated this with a hockey goalie's "being in the zone", when you just KNOW that nothing is going to get past you. For a composer, it is seeing and hearing all the implications of what you are writing, and you just know where it HAS to go next. If some give the credit to God while others don't, I see no reason to get apopletic about it. To the contrary, I recognized what Brahms was talking about, and realised that I don't find that state of mind often enough, and have to resort to the old pickaxe and shovel to get things done.
Aren't non-Christians used to talking to Christians in religious terms by now? I know I am, and I don't care. I'm secure enough in my own lack of religion to accept it in others.
Christopher
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