SubmittedFriday, 03 May 2019
mediaeval spirit
And again its mediaeval spirit is shown by an extraordinary symbolism, which discovers in everything (as far as I understand it) the imprint of divine mysteries, and the mark of God in Three Persons in such things as the beating of the heart and ternary rhythms–«an admirable application of the principle of the Unity of the Trinity»![143]
From these remote times comes also M. d’Indy’s method of writing history, not by tracing facts back to laws, but by deducing, on the contrary, facts from certain great general ideas, which have once been admitted, but not proved by frequent recurrence, such as: «The origin of art is in religion»[144]–a fact which is anything but certain. From this reasoning it follows that folk-songs are derived from Gregorian chants, and not the Gregorian chants from the folk-songs–as I would sooner believe. The history of art may thus become a sort of history of the world in moral achievement. One could divide it into two parts: the world before the coming of Pride, and after it.
«Subdued by the Christian faith, that formidable enemy of man, Pride, rarely showed itself in the soul of an artist in the Middle Ages. But with the weakening of religious belief, with the spirit of the Reformation applying itself almost at the same time to every branch of human learning, we see Pride reappear, and watch its veritable Renaissance.»[145]
[Footnote 143: Id., ibid., p. 25. In the thirteenth century, Philippe de Vitry, Bishop of Meaux, called triple time «perfect,» because «it hath its name from the Trinity, that is to say, from the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, in whom is divine perfection.»]
[Footnote 144: Id., ibid., pp. 66, 83, and passim.]
[Footnote 145: Id., ibid.]
Finally, this Gothic spirit shows itself–in a less original way, it is true–in M. d’Indy’s religious antipathies, which, in spite of the author’s goodness of heart and great personal tolerance, constantly break out against the two faiths that are rivals to his own; and to them he attributes all the faults of art and all the vices of humanity. Each has its offence. Protestantism is made responsible for the extremes of individualism;[146] and Judaism, for the absurdities of its customs and the weakness of its moral sense.[147] I do not know which of the two is the more soundly belaboured; the second has the privilege of being so, not only in writing, but in pictures.[148] The worst of it is, these antipathies are apt to spoil the fairness of M. d’Indy’s artistic judgment. It goes without saying that the Jewish musicians are treated with scant consideration; and even the great Protestant musicians, giants in their art, do not escape rebuke. If Goudimel is mentioned, it is because he was Palestrina’s master, and his achievement of «turning the Calvinist psalms into chorales» is dismissed as being of little importance.[149]
[Footnote 146: «Make war against Particularism, that unwholesome fruit of the Protestant heresy!» (Speech to the Schola, taken from the Tribune de Saint-Gervais, November, 1900.)]
[Footnote 147: At least Judaism has the honour of giving its name to a whole period of art, the «Judaic period.» «The modern style is the last phase of the Judaic school….» etc.]
[Footnote 148: In the Cours de Composition musicale M. d’Indy speaks of «the admirable initial T in the Rouleau mortuaire of Saint-Vital (twelfth century), which represents Satan vomiting two Jews … an expressive and symbolic work of art, if ever there was one.» I should not mention this but for the fact that there are only two illustrations in the whole book.]
[Footnote 149: Cours de Composition musicale, p. 160.]
Händel’s oratorios are spoken of as «chilling, and, frankly speaking, tedious.»[150] Bach himself escapes with this qualification: «If he is great, it is not because of, but in spite of the dogmatic and parching spirit of the Reformation.»[151]
I will not try to play the part of judge; for a man is sufficiently judged by his own writings. And, after all, it is rather interesting to meet people who are sincere and not afraid to speak their minds. I will admit that I rather enjoy–a little perversely, perhaps–some of these extreme opinions, where the writer’s personality stands strongly revealed.
[Footnote 150: L’Oratorio moderne (Tribune de Saint-Gervais, March, 1899).]
[Footnote 151: Ibid. As much as to say he was a Catholic without knowing it. And that is what a friend of the Schola, M. Edgar Tinel, declares: «Bach is a truly Christian artist and, without doubt, a Protestant by mistake, since in his immortal Credo he confesses his faith in one holy, catholic, and apostolic Church» (Tribune de Saint-Gervais, August-September, 1902). M. Edgar Tinel was, as you know, one of the principal masters of Belgian oratorio.]
this was: Mediaeval Spirit
go to next chapter: the old Gothic spirit
