Well over two thousand years ago, the ancient Greeks believed music had many powers, among them the powers to heal, to incite people to action, to educate and to ennoble the mind and the spirit. We hold many of these same beliefs today. We use songs to teach our children the alphabet. We use music when we wish to motivate ourselves. We also look to music as a language and even at times a “philosophical statement.” We search for deeper meaning in music, whether it's within the elegant symmetries of a Mozart symphony or the precisely logical counterpoint that underpins the music of Bach. The romantic view of the composer is that the composer is something of a prophet with some message, some “truth” to convey. So what is the message? Does music have the ability to convey unspoken “truths”? If so, can music also lie? Painting can lie. We think of painters who perhaps made portraits of subjects and fixed them up a bit to make them look younger or more handsome of more beautiful. Unless the artist's intent was to express some inner beauty rather cover up a pimple, the work is in some respects a fiction. Today, we no longer use paints for this purpose. We merely air-brush or photo-shop our celebrities into perfection! But music (especially music without lyrics) is more abstract than portraiture, and in its abstraction we either seek or sense some sort of truth. Ironically, for me it is the least “abstract” music, folk music, that seems the most genuine. This music, often communicated across generations and intertwined with other aspects of a community's culture, has a direct appeal and lacks the layer upon layer of artifice that embellishes more “artful” forms of music. As a “classical” composer, I would still suggest that “artifice” presents truth as well, because it celebrates the ability of the human mind and spirit to overcome obstacles and build magnificent structures. Composers have frequently tried to reconcile these two “truths.” Beethoven's perfectly chiseled music reflects the human condition in the epic struggles in his 5th Symphony. Yet, he also invokes the purity of a folk-like theme as an expression of universal brotherhood in his 9th Symphony. As for myself, I conclude my own “A Camp David Overture (Prayer for Peace)” with a folk-like theme with the hope that Jews and Arabs and people from all cultures may find some inner meaning, some universal “truth.” In this regard, I use the very sound of a folk melody to symbolize “universal truth.” So if there is some inner meaning, inner truth to music, can music also lie? Can music, like art, be used to express falsehoods or propaganda? Music can certainly express the grandeur of a king's court. To the king, the music isn't propaganda. It's his reality. As for those outside the palace gate, that same music, while beautiful, may not convey the same meaning. Same music, a truth to some, a lie to others. If we are not of the music of kings, what of the music we call “popular music?” Is this music somehow more truthfully “of the people?” I can tell you, with all deference to Elvis Presley and the Beatles, this story isn't new. In 1728, John Gay's “The Beggar's Opera” came out in London with lovely popular little tunes– to counter the perceived grandiosity of Handel's operas. Maybe it was then that “pop” music was born (or at least sought to take its place alongside “serious” music). Still, these borders are not so clear and music has a way of changing its meaning over time. I am not royalty, but I love the courtly music of Mozart and Handel. I am not Christian, yet I love the sacred music of Bach. Perhaps over time or in a different context, the music may remain profound but the meaning changes. Or, like the expression “beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” maybe for music, “meaning is in the ear of the listener.” And what of musical truth or propaganda with regard to a country's national anthem? Certainly a national anthem can express a group's real pride in its country. It can be used to evoke or stimulate pride in one's country. It can even be used to reflect a country's image abroad. With this last aspect, it was interesting recently as I watched the winter Olympics and listened to national anthems from so many countries. I could not understand the words, but tried to imagine what the music was trying to say about the country. Was the music bold or march-like? Was the music quiet and peaceful? The sound of the music was telling me something about that country. Lastly, we should not forget that part of the inner truth to music has to do with the composer's intent (that is why I am frequently asked to write program notes when my music is performed. I don't always enjoy this hoping that my music would “speak” for itself). Supposing a composer wrote music that was somewhat pompous to poke fun at his or her patron. And supposing the patron never understood this and enjoyed the music anyway! In this case, the deeper truth is a secret shared between the composer and a few perceptive listeners. But let me conclude with an instance where a composer may not have been artistically truthful even with himself. The Soviet composer Shostakovich was heavily criticized by the authorities for writing music that was deemed too dissonant and abstract. In reaction to this, Shostakovich composed his magnificent, majestic, lyrical 5th Symphony. It is truly a masterpiece, one of my favorite works, and yet I do not believe it would have been written had it not been for pressures placed upon him. This begs the question: does the government have any say in deciding what music a composer can or cannot write? This is a difficult issue that we will try to address next week. No lie. BM **The beliefs and statements of all Bikya Masr blogumnists are their own and do not necessarily reflect our editorial views.
