De musica et instrumentis et modia et a
The Noble Origin of Music
Music is a noble, liberal discipline that can soothe the spirit and restrain evil influences.
By their fruit. Still, no one should disparage music just because it's associated with the trivialities of court life, even if many fools try to use its benefits to gain favor for themselves. It is, after all, a liberal discipline; whether it praises Pythagoras, Moses, or Tubal—the father of those who play the lyre—as the author of its own publication, it has a noble origin. By the power of its own virtue, the variety of its forms, and the numbers that serve it, it embraces everything that exists and is spoken of, reconciling the discordant and dissonant multitude of its own proportions—that is, by a certain unequal law of equity. Through it, heavenly things are tempered and earthly or human things are governed. Instruments instruct and shape our character, clothing the very substance of the voice—whether articulated or not—with a wondrous natural craftsmanship, using the melodic colors of rhythms and meters, and adorning it with a certain grace of refinement. The holy fathers have praised it with many declarations of acclaim, so that it might not need the support of our own recommendation. Finally, by its power, the violence of an evil spirit is restrained, and the grace of music diminishes its influence even over those who are subject to it. For when an evil spirit from the Lord had invaded Saul, David would play the lyre with his hand, until the spirit would rest from its harassment of the king. But as long as the spirit hidden in the letter isn't yet revealed, it's most fitting for the soul to be softened by the grace of a kindred nature and to unlearn all alienation, as the secrets of its own origin and a better nature resonate within it.
The Harmony of Creation
Music acts as a secret, natural force that governs the harmony of all things and serves as a vehicle for the spirit.
Many believe that it is composed of musical harmonies. For Plato, the prince of all philosophy (if the Aristotelians agree), believed that since he had fashioned it from divisible and indivisible substance, and since the same nature was shaping both the same and the diverse, it could not hold together unless he united the disagreement of the limits—which had flowed from unity through manifold division on both sides—by means of sesquialter, sesquitertian, and epogdoic ratios, having taken account of the limmas and commas, so that under the expression of a few, the concord of things repugnant, however distant, might be taught to be finite through the society of a related kind. From this, it runs through all things by a secret passage of nature and through hidden conduits by the vigor of its own liveliness, modulating the efficacy of the sense of life for every nature and substance, in accordance with the decree of divine dispensation. Thus it dispenses nourishment to all and flourishes in each by its own purity, unless it's weighed down by the heaviness of the bodily mass or a crowd of external disturbances shakes the tranquility of the spirit. When this happens, what could be more wholesome than for the soul, if I may say so, to be recalled to itself from the pressure of disturbances by its own natural voices? Finally, what can be more similar to our spirit than the voice? When it is formed here, it fills the hearing of many all around with a passage as easy as it is invisible and ineffable; by its own power it penetrates the entire density of bodies, and as if by a certain touch it moves the mind, casting it down or lifting it up at its own will. Certainly, even if it is not spirit by any definition, it is most certain that it is a kind of vehicle for the spirit; and it carries now the human, now the divine, and now even the physical.
Music in the Service of God
The primary and proper use of music is to move the heart toward the worship of God.
When it is colored more elegantly by its own modes, it captures even the most serious minds with its own charm and, by a certain grace of induced cheerfulness, drives away sadness; and if any dust, whirlwind, or fog had clung to the thoughts themselves, it powerfully wipes it away. To instruct morals and move minds toward the worship of God through the exultation of virtue, the holy fathers judged that not only the harmony of human voices but also the modes of instruments should be applied to the Lord, as they expanded the reverence of the temple. And if the authority of the Church militant seems small to you, that triumphant proclamation of music will not be silent, whose elders the son of thunder saw and showed to you, and their voices like harpers harping on their harps. But if you haven't yet heard them, listen to the King exulting, who wants you to be a participant in His kingdom and His exultation. For He says: 'Take a psalm, and bring the timbrel, the pleasant psaltery with the harp.' For what purpose, you ask? That you may praise the Lord with the timbrel and choir, with strings and organ. This is, indeed, the only or the principal use of music.
The Dangers of Musical Excess
When music becomes overly complex or sensual, it ceases to be a tool for virtue and instead becomes a source of corruption.
The Phrygian mode and other such seductive corruptions have no place in sound instruction; they only reveal the malice of those who misuse them. The noble character of discipline grieves and groans to see itself deformed by another's vice, and that it has become a harlot's face for the very thing that once used to stir even manly hearts toward virtue. In the past, it was considered a crime for serious men to engage in the love songs of pastoral poetry; now, however, it's counted as praise if you see them performing even more serious foolishness, which they themselves call elegant. It even defiles the very worship of religion, because before the sight of the Lord, in the very inner sanctuary, they strive to soften impressionable souls with the luxury of a wanton voice, a certain ostentation of self, and womanish modes of musical notes and rhythmic breaks. When you hear the overly soft melodies of those singing in parts—the leaders, the followers, the soloists, the interweaving voices—you'd think it was the song of sirens, not of men, and you'd marvel at the ease of the voices, which even the nightingale or the parrot, or anything more sonorous, can't equal in their own songs. Indeed, such is the facility of ascending and descending, such the cutting or doubling of notes, such the repetition of phrases and the consolidation of individual sounds, with sharp or very sharp notes tempered by low and sub-low ones, that it is almost taken away from the ears of the author's own judgment, and the mind, softened by the grace of such sweetness, is not sufficient to examine the merits of the performers. When these things exceed their proper measure, they're more likely to stir up the itch of the loins than the devotion of the mind. If, however, they're limited by a formula of moderation, they redeem the mind from cares, exterminate the anxiety of temporal things, and by a certain participation in joy, quiet, and friendly exultation in God, they transport human minds toward the society of the angels.
Moderation and the Rule of the Heart
True musical moderation is found in a heart that sings with wisdom and devotion, rather than in the display of technical skill.
But where do you find this rule of moderation? “My lips will rejoice,” he says, “when I sing to you.” If, then, your mouth sings the Lord’s praise from the abundance of your heart, if you sing with both spirit and mind, and if you finally sing with wisdom, you hold to the most upright rule of moderation even without understanding the articulated words; you soothe the ears of the Most High with the jubilation of your mind rather than your voice, and you prudently avert His indignation.✦ But whoever expresses feelings of pleasure or vanity, whoever prostitutes the grace of the voice to their own desires, and whoever makes music a handmaid to seduction, certainly doesn't know the song of the Lord, but is festive in a strange land with Babylonian modes.✦ They please more—I don’t know how—unless it’s because we always strive for what is forbidden and desire what is denied; stolen waters are sweeter, and hidden bread is more pleasant.✦ Indeed, the Phrygian mode was long ago banished from the Greek court by the decree of philosophers, along with others that lead to lewdness and corruption. Don’t you recall how the mothers and daughters-in-law of the Cicones poured out all their indignation upon Orpheus, who had effeminated men with his modes, even to the point of provoking the envy of the Fates? This was despite the fact that he had swayed the spirits of the dead, softened the hardness of Dis, and earned his Eurydice through the grace of his voice, albeit with an unlucky outcome. From this, the earnings of such men rarely expect a happy end, perhaps because sordid gain doesn't have good results.
The Discipline of the Soul
Because pleasure is the parent of lust, one must be vigilant against the corrupting influence of worldly music in daily life.
Things that soften the mind and undermine character are being adopted everywhere today, even though our age is already more than full enough of its own vices. If you see someone who is deeply committed to these things yet remains serious, modest, and chaste, you should remember to count him among the strong men of our time. Such a person is a rare bird. Consequently, a certain venerable man, the father of about seven hundred nuns, prescribed this rule for his monasteries: that all their songs should be stripped of any musical flourishes, and that they should be content with a delivery that simply conveys the meaning of the psalms and praises. This holy man was rightly suspicious of any softness linked to pleasure, because pleasure is the parent of lust. What about the fact that this very thing sharpens the malice of our daily banquets, as if poisons could not do harm unless they were toxic? To add straw to a fire, oil to a furnace, or to make a serpent poisonous—isn't that just madness? Even if the vices of things are hidden under a veil of words, their substance remains the same, and in truth, there is no difference at all.
The Perils of the Banquet
Banquets and carousing are dangerous settings where music often serves as a catalyst for vice and divine judgment.
What the Greeks call 'coepulation' or 'compotation'—terms for drinking together—we call by the more respectable name of 'conviviality'. A gathering of people living together is, after all, more honorable than one of people merely drinking or carousing together. And aren't banquets crazy enough on their own, without needing to be stirred up by songs? Doesn't the Lord rebuke this, saying: 'Woe to you who rise early in the morning to chase after drunkenness, and drink until evening, so that you are inflamed by wine'? You have the zither, the lyre, the tambourine, the flute, and wine at your banquets; yet you don't look at the work of the Lord, nor do you consider the works of his hands. What about the fact that the King of Babylon saw the hand writing on the wall only during a banquet—'Mene, Tekel, Peres'—by which his kingdom was declared numbered, weighed, and divided? Indeed, by divine judgment, anyone who exposes the vessels of the Lord—that is, human bodies—to the joys of empty pleasure, and opens the bridal chamber of the Spouse to the filth of an evil spirit, is judged unworthy of leadership. Argus had a head encircled by a hundred eyes, which were not so much lulled to sleep by the pleasure of a single flute as they were extinguished. Who are you to think you're so much more careful than everyone else?
Read the original Latin
fructu eorum. Non tamen curialium nugis musicam calumpnietur aliquis sociatam, licet se beneficio eius conentur nugatorum plurimi commendare. Disciplina siquidem liberalis est, et siue Pictagoram, siue Moysen, siue Tubal patrem canentium in cythara, editionis suae laudat auctorem, ingenuum habet ortum, et uirtutis suae potentia specierumque uarietate et sibi famulantibus numeris imiuersa complectitur, omnium quae sunt et quae dicuntur, dissidentem et dissonam multitudinem proportionum suarum, id est, inaequali quadam aequitatis lege concilians. Hac etenim celestia temperantur, mundana siue humana reguntur: hac instrumenta mores instruunt et informant, ipsiusque uocis articulatae uel inarticulatae substantiam miro quodam naturae opificio melicis picturis rithmorum metrorumque coloribus uestiunt et quadam cultus uenustate peromant. Hanc, ut sufiragio commendationis nostrae non egeat, sancti patres multis laudum praeconiis extulerunt. Denique in eius uirtute maligni spiritus uiolentia cohibetur, et illius etiam in subditis suis minuit musicae gratia potestatem. Cum enim spiritus Domini malus Saulem inuasisset, psallebat Dauid cythara in manu sua, donec spiritus a regis infestatione quiesceret. Vt uero nondum reueletur spiritus qui latet in littera, aequissimum est animam cognati generis gratia mansuescere et omnem dediscere alienationem, cum ei propriae concentus originis et naturae melioris archana resultant.
Eam ex consonantiis musicis esse compositam quam plurium opinio uel sententia est. Totius etenim philosophiae princeps Plato (si tamen Aristotilici adquiescunt), cum eam ex substantia diuidua et indiuidua finxisset, et eadem natura plasmaret et diuersa, ipsam non posse constare credidit, nisi limitum, qui utrimque multipharia sectione ab unitate profluxerant, dissidentiam, emioliis, epitritis et epogdois uniret, limatis et comatis habita ratione, ut sub expressione paucorum ei quantacumque distantia repugnantium concordia cognati generis societate doceatur esse finitima. Vnde archano quodam meatu naturae secretisque cuniculis uiuacitatis suae uigore per uniuersa discurrit, et cuiuis naturae substantiaeque conformis rationis sensus uitae in singulis pro diuinae dispensationis decreto efficaciam modulatur. Omnibus itaque alimenta dispensat, et sui puritate uiget in singulis, nisi molis corporeae grauitate prematur, aut tranquillitatem spiritus exteriorum tumultuum turba concutiat. Qua irruente, quid potest esse salubrius quam si, ut ita dicam, suis naturae uocibus a compressione turbarum ad se ipsam anima reuocetur? Quid denique nostrorum spiritui potest esse similius uoce? quae cum hic formetur, tam facili quam inuisibili et inefFabili transitu multorum circumquaque replet auditum, et ui sua corporum integram penetrat a densitatem, et quasi tactu quodam mouet animum, et pro arbitrio suo nunc deicit, nunc extollit. Certe, etsi nulla ratione sit spiritus, eam quoddam uehiculum spiritus esse certissimum est; et nunc quidem humanum, nunc diuinum, nunc et phifcgnicum gerit.
Cum uero modis suis elegantius fuerit colorata, uenustate sui mentes etiam seueriores capit, et quadam inductae hilaritatis gratia pellit tristitiam; et si quid pulueris aut turbinis aut nebularum cogitationibus ipsis inheserat, potenter abstergit. Ad mores itaque instruendos et animos exultatione uirtutis traiciendos in cultum Domini, non modo concentum hominum sed et instrumentorum modos censuerunt sancti patres Domino applicandos, cum templi reuerentiam dilatarent. Et si "" militantis ecclesiae tibi parua uidetur auctoritas, uel triumphatrix illa praeconia musicae non tacebit, cuius seniores uidit et tibi monstrauit tonitrui filius, et uoces eorum sicut citharedorum citharizantium in citharis suis. Quod si illos nondum audisti, regem audias exultantem, qui te regni et exultationis suae uult esse participem. Ait enim: Sumite psalmum, date tympanum, psalterium iocundum cum cithara. Ad quid, inquis? Vt laudetis Dominum in tympano et choro, in cordis et organo. Hic est o enim usus musicae aut solus aut praecipuus.
Frigius uero modus et cetera corruptionis lenocinia sanae institutionis non habent usum, sed produnt malitiam abutentis. Dolet igitur et ingemiscit species laudabilis disciplinae, se ab alieno uitio deformari, et quod facies meretricis facta est ei, quae uiriles quoque animos accendere consueuerat ad uirtutem. Amatoria bucolicorum apud uiros graues esse, fuerat criminis; nunc uero laudi ducitur, si uideas grauiores amatoria, quae ab ipsis dicuntur elegantius stulticinia, personare. Ipsum quoque cultum religionis incestat, quod ante conspectum Domini in ipsis penetralibus sanctuarii lasciuientis uocis luxu, quadam ostentatione sui, muliebribus modis notularum articulorumque caesuris, stupentes animulas emollire nituntur. Cum praecinentium et succinentium, canentium et decinentium, intercinentium et occinend tium praemolles modulationes audieris, sirenarum concentus credas esse, non hominum, et de uocum facilitate miraberis, quibus philomena uel sithacus, aut si quid sonorius est, modos suos nequeunt coaequare. Ea siquidem est ascendendi descendendique facilitas, ea sectio uel geminatio notularum, ea replicatio articulorum singulorumque consolidatio, sic acuta uel acutissima grauibus et subgrauibus temperantur, ut auribus sui iudicii fere subtrahatur auctori --j tas, et animus, quem tantae suauitatis demulsit gratia, auditorum merita examinare non sujfficit. Cum haec quidem modum excesserint, lumborum pruriginem quam deuotionem mentis poterunt citius excitare. Si uero moderationis formula limitantur, animum a curis redimunt, exterminant temporalium soUicitudinem, et quadam participatione letia tiae et quietis et amica exultatione in Deum mentes humanas traiciunt ad societatem angelorum.
Sed unde hanc moderationis formulam tenes'? Exultabunt, inquit, labia mea, cum cantauero tibi. Si ergo ex abundantia cordis os tuum laudem Domini moduletur, si spiritu psallis et mente, si psallis denique sapienter, etiam citra articulatae uocis intelhgentiam rectissimam modestiae regulam tenes, et non tam uocis quam mentis iubiio aures mulces Altissimi et indignationem eius prudenter auertis. Qui autem uoluptatis aut uanitatis afFectus exprimit, qui uocis gratiam prostituit concupiscentiis suis, qui lenociniorum clientulam musicam facit, ignorat quidem canticum Domini, modis Babiloniis festiuus in terra aliena. Qui nescio quo pacto plus placeant, nisi quia nitimur in uetitum semper cupimusque negata, et aquae furtiuae dulciores, et panis absconditus suauior est. Et quidem Frigius modus decreto philosophorum ab aula Graeciae iam pridem iussus est, et ceteri quibus descensus fit in lasciuiam et corruptionem. Annon recolis Ciconum matres et nurus indignationem suam totam in Orpheum, qui mares modis suis effeminauerat, usque ad Parcarum inuidiam effudisse, licet ille flexerit Manes, duritiamque Ditis mollierit, Euridicemque suam uocis gratia etsi infausta sorte meruerit? Exinde huiusmodi hominum quaestus plerumque felicem exitum non expectat, et forte quia non habet euentus sordida praeda bonos.
Quae uero mentes emolliunt moresque subuertunt, a nostra etate undique asciscuntur, licet ipsa ultra quam satis est uitiis suis abundet. Si quemquam eorum qui uehementius his insistunt, grauem uideris, si modestum, si pudicum, uiris fortibus nostrorum temporum ipsum connumerare memineris. Quandoquidem haec rara auis est. Proinde quidam uenerabilis uir, circiter septingentarum monialium pater, hanc monasteriis suis praescripsit legem, ut omnia earum cantica totius melicae pronunciationis exuant modos, et ut sola psalmorum et laudum sint significatiua pronunciatione contentae. Suspecta equidem fuit sancto uiro uoluptati cognata mollities, eo quod uoluptas parens libidinum est. Quid quod haec ipsa cotidianorum conuiuiorum malitiam acuit, ac si uenena, nisi toxicata sint, nocere non possint? Igni stipulam addere, oleum camino, serpentem toxicare, nonne dementia est? Licet rerum uitia obtegantur uelo uerborum, quorum eadem substantia est, nulla profecto differentia est.
Quae apud Graecos coepulationis uel compotationis censentur nomine, a nobis honestiori nomine conuiuia norainantur. Cetus siquidem conuiuentium quam coepulantium aut compotantium uenerabilior est. Conuiuia uero nonne per se satis insaniunt, nisi carminibus excitentur? Nonne istud arguit Dominus, dicens: Ve qui cona surgitis mane ad ebrietatem sectandam, et potandum usque ad uesperam, ut uino estuetis. Cithara et lira et tympanum et tibia et uinum in conuiuiis uestris; et opus Domini non respicitis, et opera manuum eius non consideratis. Quid quod rex Babylonis non nisi in conuiuio uidit manum scribentis in pariete mane, techel, phares, quo regnum dinumeratum appensum denuntiatur et scissum? Diuino siquidem iudicio principatu iudicatur indignus, qui uasa Domini, humana uidelicet corpora, in uanae uoluptatis gaudia exponit, et sponsi thalamum maligni spiritus immunditiis aperit. Centum luminibus cinctum caput Argus habebat, quae omniauniusfistulae uoluptate non tam sopita sunt quam extincta.
Tu quis es, qui te circumspectiorem esse confidis?
Scripture echoes
- ↩1Cor.14.15 — What then shall I do? I will pray with the Spirit, and I will pray with the mind also; I will sing with the Spirit, and I will sing with the mind also.
- ↩Ps.136.4 — who alone does great wonders, for his steadfast love endures forever
- ↩Prov.9.17 — Stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasing.
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