Music and the Soul: Destroying or Restoring the Inner Man
John A. Cuddeback,
PhD., Institute of Catholic Culture
November 17, 2011
Some Quotations on MUSIC
Plato (4th
century BC):
“As Damon says, and I am
convinced, the musical modes are never changed without change in the most
important of a city’s laws.” Republic
424c (Trans. Grube. Hackett Publishing, 1992)
“Aren’t these the reasons, Glaucon,
that education in music and poetry is most important? First, because rhythm and
harmony permeate the inner part of the soul more than anything else, affecting
it most strongly and bringing it grace, so that if someone is properly educated
in music and poetry, it makes him graceful, but if not, then the opposite.
Second, because anyone who has been properly educated in music and poetry will
sense it acutely when something has been omitted from a thing and when it
hasn’t been finely crafted or finely made by nature. And since he has the right
distastes, he’ll praise fine things, be pleased by them, receive them into his
soul, and, being nurtured by them, become fine and good. He’ll rightly object
to what is shameful, hating it while he’s still young and unable to grasp the
reason, but, having been educated in this way, he will welcome the reason when
it comes and recognize it easily because of its kinship with himself.” Republic 401d-402a
“Imitations practiced from youth become part
of nature and settle into habits of gesture, voice, and thought.” Republic 395d
“[The man who engages in
illicit sexual behavior] will be reproached as untrained in music and poetry…” Republic 403c
“…when lawlessness has
established itself there [in music and poetry], it flows over little by little
into character and ways of life.” Republic
424d
“But when children play the
right games from the beginning and absorb lawfulness from music and poetry, it
follows them in everything and fosters their growth…” Republic 425a
“In their
mindlessness they involuntarily falsified music itself when they asserted that
there was no such thing as correct music, and that it was quite correct to
judge music by the standard of the pleasure it gives to whoever enjoys it,
whether he be better or worse.” The Laws
700e
“But as it
was, the opinion that everyone is wise in everything, together with
lawlessness, originated in our music, and freedom followed. People became
fearless, as if they were knowers, and the absence of fear engendered
shamelessness. For to be so bold as not to fear the opinion of someone better,
this is almost the same as vile shamelessness, and springs from an excessively
brazen freedom.” The Laws 701a.
Aristotle (4th
century BC):
“Besides, when men hear imitations, even apart
from the rhythms and tunes themselves, their feelings move in sympathy.” Pol.
VIII.5, 1340a14-16 (Basic Works of Aristotle, ed., McKeon. Random, 1941)
“The habit
of feeling pleasure or pain at mere representations is not far removed from the
same feeling about realities.” Pol. VIII.5, 1340a24
Regarding
the importance of good music: “Since …
virtue consists in rejoicing and loving and hating aright, there is clearly
nothing which we are so concerned to acquire and cultivate as the power of
forming right judgments, and of taking delight in good dispositions and noble
actions.” 1340a17
St. Boethius
(500AD)
“Music is part of us, and
either ennobles or degrades our behavior.”
St. Basil the Great (4th century)
“What did the Holy Spirit do
when he saw that the human race was not led easily to virtue and that, due to
our penchant for pleasure we gave little heed to an upright life? He mixed
sweetness of melody and doctrine so that inadvertently we would absorb the
benefit of the words through gentleness and ease of hearing, just as clever
physicians frequently smear the cup with honey when giving the fastidious some
rather bitter medicine to drink. Thus he contrived for us these harmonious
psalm tunes, so that those who are children in actual age as well as those who
are young in behavior, while appearing only to sing would in reality be
training their souls.”
St. Thomas Aquinas (13th century)
“Now it is evident that the
human soul is moved in various ways according to various melodies of sound, as
Aristotle states (Polit. viii, 5), and also Boethius (De Musica, prologue).
Hence the use of music in the divine praises is a salutary institution, that
the souls of the faint-hearted may be the more incited to devotion. Wherefore
Augustine say (Confess. x, 33): ‘I am inclined to approve of the usage of
singing in the church, that so by the delight of the ears the faint-hearted may
rise to the feeling of devotion;’ and he says of himself (Confess. ix, 6): ‘I
wept in Thy hymns and canticles, touched to the quick by the voices of Thy
sweet-attuned Church.’” S. t. II II 91.2
Vatican II
“The musical tradition of the
universal Church is a treasure of inestimable value, greater even than that of
any other art. The main reason for this pre-eminence is that, as a combination
of sacred music and words, it forms a necessary or integral part of the solemn
liturgy. Sacred Scripture, indeed has bestowed praise upon sacred song. So have
the Fathers of the Church and the Roman pontiffs who in more recent times, led
by St. Pius X, have explained more precisely the ministerial function exercised
by sacred music in the service of the Lord.” Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, #112.
OTHERS:
“If you would know if a
people are well-governed, and if its laws are good or bad, examine the music it
practices.” Confucius (500BC)
“One quick way to destroy a
society is through its music.” Lenin
“My true belief about Rock
‘n’ Roll—and there have been a lot of phrases attributed to me over the
years—is this: I believe this kind of music is demonic. A lot of the beats in
music today are taken from voodoo, from the voodoo drums. If you study music in
rhythms, like I have, you’ll see that it is true….” Little Richard (an
influential rock artist)
“We are now standing in the
face of the greatest historical confrontation humanity has gone through. I do
not think wide circles of American Society or wide circles of the Christian
community realize this fully. We are now facing the final confrontation between
the Church and the anti-church, of the Gospel versus the anti-gospel.” (Nov
1978 Karol Cardinal Wojtyla [Pope John Paul II])
