Firbush Retreats Firbush retreats are organized and led by Robert T. Walker. Firbush retreats are designed to make the best theology accessible to as many people as possible and especially those not trained in theology and often not familiar with routine technical terms. They combine times of worship and prayer with reflection on a theme related to Torrance theology. For more information see https://tftorrance.org/firbush. ----------- June 14, 2018 Firbush Retreat Summer 2018 Jeremy Begbie, "Theology and Music II" https://tftorrance.org/node/1641 The audio recording for this presentation is available on the Firbush Retreat section of the website for the Thomas F. Torrance Theological Fellowship. The following AI transcript is too rough to rely upon, but perhaps useful for word searches and time-stamps. It is unretouched; if anyone wishes to listen to it and clean it up we will be happy to post an improved version (contact the webmasters). We invite speakers to send us slides for their talks, which we will post alongside the audios and transcripts. If any speaker wishes to have their talk removed from the website, just let us know and we'll take down both the audio and the transcript. ------------ 00:00-00:03 and exploration. So Jeremy please... 00:03-00:06 Thank you so much. That's lovely. Great. 00:06-00:09 And it's coffee at 11.15 is it? 00:09-00:13 Have I got that right? We won't go all the way to 11.15 don't worry, but as long as I know 00:13-00:18 what we're working with. Thank you so much and thank you very much David. 00:18-00:22 My goodness, all sorts of things I never thought about before. 00:22-00:27 Not least the 'we' thing. It's not my father in heaven 00:27-00:30 when you pray, say. Isn't that interesting? It's just so obvious, I've never 00:30-00:35 considered that properly before. Right, well I'm going to pick up where 00:35-00:39 I left off last night using the headings 00:39-00:45 which actually are on page three of the handout you've just been given. 00:45-00:49 If you don't have these written out, don't worry, they're just headings and you can make a note of them 00:49-00:53 in your own time. They come at the end of yesterday's handout 00:53-00:56 and I'd hardly dare ask you to bring that out now for the sake of 00:56-01:00 maximum confusion. And I promise we'll get somewhere, if possible to staple 01:00-01:04 for talk three, they're over there. If someone could grab those and 01:04-01:08 see if I've got time myself between talks so that 01:08-01:11 we can make that a little bit clearer. Okay, and the point was 01:11-01:15 creator/cosmos calling, I spoke about that calling as 01:15-01:19 sharing in Christ's praise through the Spirit. 01:19-01:24 He is praise in person and we share by the Spirit 01:24-01:27 in his praise. I talk about that as voicing 01:27-01:32 creation's praise when it's set in a cosmic context. This has a number of 01:32-01:36 dimensions as I put here, discovering, respecting, developing, 01:36-01:39 healing, transfiguring, anticipating together. 01:39-01:42 So I'm just going to register these headings now. 01:42-01:46 At the end of this session I'm going to come back to them, 01:46-01:50 we're going to look particularly at J.S. Bach and the way in which he exemplifies 01:50-01:54 each of these. So just marking out these 01:54-01:57 dimensions, they are dimensions only, they're not things in order particularly, 01:57-02:01 dimensions of what it means to share in Christ's praise through the Spirit 02:01-02:05 as creatures. First thing to say is it involves 02:05-02:09 discovery. Genesis 1.28 02:09-02:12 makes it clear this imaging, this dominion, 02:12-02:16 doesn't mean an aggressive exploitation of the earth for purely human ends. 02:16-02:21 God's loving rule embodied in Christ is not one of blind force. 02:21-02:26 It involves being attentive to the creative order, that's another way 02:26-02:29 of putting what I'm getting at here. 02:29-02:32 A model from another art form, 02:32-02:36 Henry Moore, there's a British sculpture 02:36-02:39 probably best known in the middle of the 20th century. 02:39-02:43 Henry Moore 02:43-02:46 there's a very interesting article which describes him as having the gift 02:46-02:49 of hyper-seeing. 02:49-02:54 Where we might just see a bit of bone 02:54-02:57 or wood, the sort of thing that you see on a beach, 02:57-03:01 every now and then you might just kick a side, he sees 03:01-03:05 a Madonna and child. Hyper-seeing. 03:05-03:09 Oliver O'Donovan, great ethicist, 03:09-03:13 wonderful sentence in his great book, Resurrection of Moral Order, 03:13-03:17 which actually owes a great deal to the performances, and he acknowledges that. 03:17-03:22 How can creativity function with its eyes closed upon the universe? 03:22-03:25 For we don't encounter reality as an undifferentiated raw material 03:25-03:28 upon which we may impose any shape that pleases us. 03:28-03:32 Love achieves its creativity 03:32-03:37 by being perceptive. That's a great sentence. 03:37-03:40 Write that up, put it above your door or wherever. 03:40-03:44 Any musician, any artist 03:44-03:48 needs to have that in mind. Love 03:48-03:51 achieves its creativity by being perceptive. I spend a lot of time amongst artists 03:51-03:56 who want to be creative and original and make their mark on the world and all the rest of it. 03:56-04:00 The first thing you'll learn is to be perceptive. Perceptive 04:00-04:03 to the qualities of sound, perceptive to the grain 04:03-04:08 of wood. In Cambridge, every Monday evening 04:08-04:12 I go to a violin making workshop, I make violins, 04:12-04:15 and I finish the violin, I'm just about to finish a viola, 04:15-04:19 and there aren't any Christians there, 04:19-04:24 and no one cares, you're not interviewed, no one cares who you are, where you come from, 04:24-04:25 you just go there 04:25-04:29 and they teach you how to do this. But the thing that's 04:29-04:32 made me realize more than ever 04:32-04:38 is to feel wood in a different way. I once 04:38-04:42 smoothed out a bit of wood, what I thought was beautifully, and thought, right, that's ready 04:42-04:43 to varnish, 04:43-04:48 and the instructor picks it up without looking at it. Yeah, well, there's a kind of mountain range 04:48-04:49 there, 04:49-04:53 and there's a cliff edge down there, but you're coming on. 04:53-04:57 What do you mean? It's perfect. Another time 04:57-05:00 I was scraping the wood one way, this really 05:00-05:03 relates to the respecting the next thing, scraping the wood one way 05:03-05:07 and it didn't seem to be happening, and I sat in front of him, what's going on here? 05:07-05:11 He said, well, which way should I be scraping it? And he said, well, 05:11-05:14 have you asked the wood? Well, not 05:14-05:18 that for me, no, I don't think I have. He said another way, he said, 05:18-05:22 you've got to scrape it this way, but tell the wood you're really scraping it that way. 05:22-05:25 You get the point. 05:25-05:29 You get the point. Love achieves its creativity 05:29-05:34 by being perceptive. That applies, God, that applies to human relationships 05:34-05:40 as well. Love achieves its creativity because it is a sharing in the love of God 05:40-05:46 God who loves his creation in all its particularity, indifference and detail. 05:46-05:50 Respecting, well, I've really just talked about that. 05:50-05:54 It is the opposite of image bearing to manipulate. 05:54-05:58 It's the essence of image bearing to make sure we know our material and act 05:58-05:59 faithfully 05:59-06:02 towards it. The delicate balances and nuances 06:02-06:08 of our material environment. And this must never be seen as grudging 06:08-06:09 subservience, 06:09-06:13 not if we see the world and its order as God's 06:13-06:16 gift. It's never just brutally there. 06:16-06:23 So our obedience, if we're going to use that word, obedience to the created order, our 06:23-06:23 living in 06:23-06:29 in resonance with it, is never just grudging subservience. It's full of hope, 06:29-06:33 it's full of expectation that extraordinary wonderful things will result. 06:33-06:38 Third heading, developing. We're not called only to discover and respect but to develop, 06:38-06:41 to be an image bearer of the God who himself 06:41-06:46 develops the created order, improvising through his spirit 06:46-06:50 freely on the order that he is given 06:50-06:54 as he draws all things towards their goal. If we're sharing in that 06:54-06:58 we will of course be called to bring about new entities in the world by 06:58-07:01 selecting, reforming, combining what we are given. 07:01-07:04 We take cocoa pods, 07:04-07:08 we transform them into chocolate, we take a blues base 07:08-07:12 and improvise something never heard before. However 07:12-07:16 small our patch of creativity, it could be in our place of work, 07:16-07:19 could be the way we decorate our home, however small, 07:19-07:22 we are called to enable creation 07:22-07:26 to find fresh, perhaps richer forms. 07:26-07:30 Healing stroke transfiguring, 07:30-07:34 in a world groaning in travail, Romans 8, 07:34-07:39 distorted and spoiled, riven with tragedy and sometimes unspeakable pain. 07:39-07:43 The vocation to be priests of creation is a vocation to be agents of healing and 07:43-07:44 wholeness. 07:44-07:48 We are to learn the art of recreativity. 07:48-07:52 Great deal is said about creativity these days, what if we could say a little 07:52-07:57 more these days about recreativity because this of course is the logic 07:57-08:00 of the incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection 08:00-08:05 and ascension of Jesus. The Son of God becomes part of his cosmos, 08:05-08:09 immerse himself in its futility 08:09-08:13 and on the third day the Father raises what has been broken, 08:13-08:19 dying flesh, to a new and indescribably rich life, the life of the age to come. 08:19-08:23 Alan Lewis, anyone know the name of Alan Lewis still around here? 08:23-08:27 Wonderful man, he was my doctoral examiner. 08:27-08:31 Alan Lewis who taught at Edinburgh with the Torrences and well yeah with James 08:31-08:36 and I think he was more a pupil of that, have I got that right T.F.? 08:36-08:39 And T.F.? Sorry, right, okay. Then went across the States, 08:39-08:43 was plagued with a terrible lung cancer eventually, 08:43-08:46 I died of that. A beautiful little 08:46-08:50 book on creation, three lectures on creation. 08:50-08:55 She describes comments on Revelation 5, "Those who serve him and own his 08:55-08:56 lordship 08:56-09:00 must surely in his name penetrate into the world of decay and suffering 09:00-09:06 as healers of its brokenness and celebrators of its coming wholeness, 09:06-09:09 declaring and demonstrating that the God who raised the slain lamb will raise 09:09-09:13 with him everything that is wounded and bruised to newness of life." 09:13-09:17 He was extraordinary, elegant. I remember seeing him in the Austin Presbyterian 09:17-09:18 Seminary 09:18-09:21 lecture once and at the beginning he offered this prayer 09:21-09:25 which was so gloriously eloquent and I confess 09:25-09:28 I looked up at one point and I saw two or three students taking notes 09:28-09:32 in the prayer. They just didn't want to miss these phrases. I think it's absolutely lovely. 09:32-09:36 Of course I had my eyes closed for the rest of the time, you want to say, don't you? 09:36-09:40 Anticipating if by God's grace 09:40-09:44 we do share in this transfiguration of the distortions of life, it will be a mark 09:44-09:48 of the future breaking in, a foretaste of the future. 09:48-09:53 More to say about that in a minute. And of course together, this 09:53-09:57 echoes what David was saying earlier on here today. If we talk about creativity 09:57-10:00 with a cultural vocation, we must always consider it 10:00-10:04 in union with others and certainly in the primary community of course there is the 10:04-10:06 church. 10:06-10:11 It's always worth remembering that great hymn we've often referred to, Colossians 1, 10:11-10:15 15 to 20, all things created in through him, before him, 10:15-10:18 blood of the cross reconciling all things to himself. Right 10:18-10:24 in the middle of that is the church. 10:24-10:27 We here in funny little furbush on the edge of Lochte, 10:27-10:31 in, oh it's not windy anymore, maybe it's kind of windy later on, 10:31-10:36 here we are a foretaste of the new creation, this community. 10:36-10:40 The cultural community, the creative community, think what could come out of 10:40-10:43 this community. Just a thought. 10:43-10:47 So then, on to the new handout, you can get all these complexities 10:47-10:51 and I take out the first page, it's called music in the big picture. Are we on the right page? 10:51-10:56 That's where we're going to go to now. And I'm going to try to more overtly set 10:56-11:01 music in this context. I can only give a few hints 11:01-11:04 and the whole point of this is really to stimulate your imaginations about 11:04-11:05 possibilities, 11:05-11:09 obviously that's all I can do, and be very interested 11:09-11:13 on your reactions. I ought to say I never give the same talk twice. 11:13-11:17 Everything has changed in the conversations that I have 11:17-11:20 as I give various addresses and so forth. 11:20-11:23 So this is very much work in progress. 11:23-11:27 As you can imagine, not a great deal has been done to combine a kind of 11:27-11:31 Toranesean vision with music. So someone has to do it and 11:31-11:35 this is about as far as I've gone. Back to 11:35-11:39 the basic question, who is the creator? This is what we're never going to lose 11:39-11:40 sight of. 11:40-11:43 This is the way always to think about the doctrine of creation 11:43-11:47 and our calling, our cultural calling within that. 11:47-11:50 The creator, Jesus Christ. 11:50-11:55 He is the clue to the purpose of creation. 11:55-11:58 He is the clue to how God acts now. He is the clue 11:58-12:03 to the future. Jesus of Nazareth comes out of the very heart of God. 12:03-12:08 God is Christ-like all the way down. At this point I'm going to introduce you to a poet you 12:08-12:09 may not have heard of 12:09-12:13 and once you've read even one of his poems you'll want to hear of him again. 12:13-12:17 It's called Malcolm Gight. Malcolm Gight is chaplain at Girton College, Cambridge, 12:17-12:20 he's also a songwriter, a folk singer, 12:20-12:24 PhD in English literature, 12:24-12:27 theology degree, he's a biker, 12:27-12:32 he's been a minister in every conceivable kind of parish 12:32-12:37 and he is now one of Amazon's best-selling Christian poet 12:37-12:41 at the moment and the great thing about this poetry is it's comprehensible. 12:41-12:45 So if you're thinking poetry, it's not really my thing, it's all about how you want it. 12:45-12:50 You read these poems and they're easily accessible online but they're also in a 12:50-12:51 number of 12:51-12:54 very cheap collections, very easy to access collections 12:54-12:58 and by the way he'd be a great speaker for this. I don't know if he read much from the 12:58-13:00 Torrences but his vision is basically 13:00-13:03 very very similar. Everything holds together, 13:03-13:07 everything from stars that pierce the dark like living sparks 13:07-13:10 to secret seeds that open every spring. 13:10-13:14 From spanning galaxies to spinning quarks, everything holds together and 13:14-13:15 coheres 13:15-13:21 unfolding from the center whence it came. And now that hidden heart of things 13:21-13:25 appears, the firstborn of creation takes a name. 13:25-13:28 And shall I see the one 13:28-13:33 through whom I am? Shall I behold the one for whom I made? 13:33-13:36 The light in light, the flame within the flame, 13:36-13:39 icon, tooth, air, image of my God? 13:39-13:43 He comes, a little child, to bless 13:43-13:46 my sight that I might come to him 13:46-13:50 for life and light. It's a perfect sonnet 13:50-13:54 icon, tooth, air, just grief, image of God. 13:54-13:58 So there's the picture, even to see this Christ 13:58-14:03 we need, we need Christ giving us the Spirit in order we can see him. 14:03-14:06 We can't naturally see this. You can see what's going on there. 14:06-14:11 That's an extraordinary poem. I've got the title of it but you'll find it in 14:11-14:15 your file. Actually just pick that off online. Christmas. 14:15-14:18 That picture is extraordinary I think as well, that painting. 14:18-14:22 I made that into a Christmas card. I think it's extraordinary. 14:22-14:25 And I wish, I'm hoping someone wouldn't ask that. 14:25-14:28 Because I just don't know. I'm sorry. I will find out for you. 14:28-14:32 It's a woman artist, 14:32-14:37 British I think, but it's extraordinary. It has this kind of unfolding feel about it and 14:37-14:38 center. 14:38-14:41 It just seemed to resonate very well I thought with a poem, what was being said. 14:41-14:45 It's the Christological center, the Holy Spirit 14:45-14:50 bringing about now what has already been achieved in Christ. 14:50-14:53 And so doing, anticipating the final recreation of all things. 14:53-14:57 So then, on to Cosmos. Music. 14:57-15:00 In a world crafted in freedom and love. 15:00-15:04 The creation of the world we were saying is not something that had to happen 15:04-15:10 but did happen out of love. So we're in the realm of gift. 15:10-15:14 What is a gift? It is an unnecessary 15:14-15:17 act of love. 15:17-15:24 Unnecessary act of love. And what's the first thing you do when you receive a gift? 15:24-15:30 Thank you. Gratitude. The most basic response of the Christian towards music 15:30-15:35 I believe will be gratitude. And I don't mean you give unqualified thanks 15:35-15:38 for every bit of music you ever hear. I mean 15:38-15:42 regularly allowing music to stop us in our tracks and make us grateful 15:42-15:46 that there is a world where music 15:46-15:50 can occur. Remember the first time I heard Beethoven's 9th symphony performed live in the 15:50-15:51 Usher Hall in Edinburgh. 15:51-15:54 And at the end of it thinking, thank God we live in a world 15:54-15:58 where that's possible. And that you've given gifts to people 15:58-16:02 that make that possible. It didn't have to happen. 16:02-16:08 Grateful that there is a world where music can occur. That there is a reality called 16:08-16:10 matter which oscillates 16:10-16:13 and resonates. That there is sound. That there is rhythm built into the fabric of 16:13-16:14 reality 16:14-16:17 as you were saying. That there is the miracle of the human body 16:17-16:24 which can receive and process sequence of tones. From all this and through all this 16:24-16:27 the marvel of music is born. None of it had to come into being. 16:27-16:34 But it has. So gaining a Christian mind on music means first of all 16:34-16:37 learning the habit of thanksgiving and of gratitude. 16:37-16:40 For the Christian you're always in the realm of gratitude. 16:40-16:45 George Ewell was my professor of Church History at Aberdeen. What's Christian ethics? 16:45-16:50 He said, the ethics of gratitude. Ethics is just 16:50-16:53 being thankful in action. Right? It's actually very simple. 16:53-16:56 In a world that is good 16:56-17:01 but not God. Now here's an interesting thing. 17:01-17:06 That when people have a very powerful experience through music 17:06-17:09 very often they will use naturally 17:09-17:14 otherworldly language. Actually we do this not just with music, but with almost any powerful 17:14-17:15 emotional experience. 17:15-17:18 We say something like, "Oh, 17:18-17:22 it's out of this world." Or, "It's of another world." Now 17:22-17:27 the metaphor is fine. The danger is allowing that metaphor to take over 17:27-17:31 because there has been a steady line in thinking in the West that sees the arts and music 17:31-17:35 especially as tugging us away from everything earthly, 17:35-17:38 everything physical away from space, time and matter. 17:38-17:44 So in the Romantic tradition the arts are essentially about an 17:44-17:48 inner state, a feeling, an emotion that tunes into some cosmic power. 17:48-17:53 Or in another, the arts can make time stand still, particularly music 17:53-17:56 will say that. The composer John Tavener, an English composer, 17:56-17:59 used to speak about that, about his own music. 17:59-18:05 He said, "It's an attempt to stop time." 18:05-18:08 Now we need to be careful there. Music does give us a particular experience of time. 18:08-18:12 But is that really out of time? Or is it just 18:12-18:16 a different configuration of time? Anyhow, what I'm saying is the drift is that the 18:16-18:17 arts are there 18:17-18:20 to pull us away from the tangible, the visible, the physical 18:20-18:24 and the material, and to give us an experience of 18:24-18:29 loftier things. Here's an example from a review I read recently 18:29-18:33 from the Mahler Symphony conducted by Claudia Abbado. It seems as if conductor and composer are 18:33-18:36 ascending towards the blue infinite 18:36-18:39 beyond mortal life. 18:39-18:43 And this of course is why the artist is so otherworldly. 18:43-18:47 It is said they never know what time of day it is. They're always running out of money, 18:47-18:50 missing trains. They can't run anything, right? 18:50-18:54 They can't even run a bath, never mind their own lives. 18:54-18:57 And then some will go further and say this is why music, and the other arts, 18:57-18:58 particularly music, 18:58-19:02 links up so well with religion. Because once you get past all the theological 19:02-19:04 claptrap and whittle things down to the bare essentials, 19:04-19:08 religion is concerned with what lies completely beyond 19:08-19:11 this space-time world. So this is the link. 19:11-19:14 There's a whole genre of writing on this if you think I'm... 19:14-19:17 about music in particular. So this is the link between music 19:17-19:21 and religion. Music is about another world. It 19:21-19:24 pulls us out of space-time and matter, and that's why it's so good 19:24-19:29 for religion and so pervasive in religion. 19:29-19:33 As I said, as you can imagine, I'm extremely 19:33-19:36 dubious about that. This is over to page two now. I think it needs to be 19:36-19:40 challenged head-on with a good dose of Torrance theology. 19:40-19:44 Or, only slightly better, a good dose of the Bible, 19:44-19:48 which speaks of this material world as fully real 19:48-19:53 and good, of value to God with a promised future. When we say against it, 19:53-19:57 which we have a goodness of creation, that's not our judgment first of all, 19:57-20:00 it's God's judgment. I made this, 20:00-20:06 I value it, and I've got a future for it. 20:06-20:10 Music comes by pushing air from our lungs through vocal cords, plucking 20:10-20:14 taut wire, drawing rough hair over cat-gut, depressing keys 20:14-20:20 on our keyboard. And none of this is in of itself should make music suspect. 20:20-20:25 Indeed it can remind us that goodness, beauty and truth can be embodied 20:25-20:28 in such objects. Music, 20:28-20:33 always remember, is processed by the body, and processed 20:33-20:36 not just by the ears. Please note. 20:36-20:39 Anyone know who this is? 20:39-20:43 This is Evelyn Glennie, great Scottish percussionist, probably the greatest percussionist alive, 20:43-20:47 I would say, having heard her live, and 20:47-20:50 she's on YouTube, and the extraordinary virtuoso, 20:50-20:53 who from the age of 14 was completely deaf. 20:53-20:57 She plays with bare feet, so she feels this music 20:57-21:03 through her feet. We also like hearing music, it's not just hearing. 21:03-21:07 Music vibrates in your body, literally. It takes 21:07-21:10 your body and it does this. 21:10-21:15 And she is, I mean, she's a highly expressive musician as well, and she plays incredibly complex music. 21:15-21:19 Music that those with perfect hearing would 21:19-21:22 cringe at the thought of doing, because it's so hard. 21:22-21:28 Okay, to insist therefore that Christians are to be spiritual 21:28-21:32 is quite proper, but to be spiritual is not to renounce the body, 21:32-21:37 it is to be animated by the Holy Spirit. And that, of course, comes 21:37-21:42 back to the resurrection body, 1 Corinthians 15, that I spoke about yesterday, which does not mean a non-material body, 21:42-21:47 it means a body fully alive, animated by the Holy Spirit. 21:47-21:55 Igor Stravinsky, composer, Christian from 1926 onwards to the end of his life, 21:55-22:00 Russian Orthodox, "The very act of putting my work on paper, or 22:00-22:04 of, as we say, kneading the dough," notice the metaphor, 22:04-22:09 "is from the inseparable from the pleasure of creation. The word artist, which is most generally understood today, 22:09-22:12 bestows in its bearer the highest intellectual prestige, 22:12-22:15 the privilege of being accepted as pure mind. 22:15-22:18 This pretentious term is, in my view, entirely incompatible 22:18-22:22 with the role of Hamor Faber, human maker." 22:22-22:26 So, material things that music is made of are good, 22:26-22:31 this is the point, they are not to be despised, denigrated or escaped. 22:31-22:35 But, and this is the other side now, not God. 22:35-22:39 Created a world good, but not God. 22:39-22:43 And so the spectre here we need to avoid is of musical idolatry. 22:43-22:49 Henry Chadwick was a professor of theology in Cambridge, great historian. 22:49-22:54 Has anyone come across Henry? He's very kind of avuncular, avuncular term. 22:54-23:01 People used to cram into his lectures because it was like being in the presence of the very people he was speaking about. 23:01-23:04 Augustine was his hero. 23:04-23:06 Someone went up to him after and said, 23:06-23:09 "Professor Chadwick, the way you speak it is as if you believe, 23:09-23:12 you know, Augustine is right here and alive." 23:12-23:16 And he said, "But my dear, he is." 23:16-23:19 He always gave the impression 23:19-23:21 when he was talking about a theologian that 23:21-23:23 theologian was actually alive. 23:23-23:26 It's a very good discipline with students I've found 23:26-23:29 when they come across an ancient text. Augustine would be doing a sample, I said, 23:29-23:32 "Fine, let's do a critique of him if you wish. 23:32-23:36 Just imagine him here in the room, please, okay?" 23:36-23:39 Or an author that they've just read, contemporary author, 23:39-23:42 who's very much alive on this earth. 23:42-23:45 He said, "That's fine. Be critical. 23:45-23:47 Just imagine he's here. 23:47-23:49 And now what's your language? 23:49-23:52 Augustine is a little bit greater than you. 23:52-23:54 Just a little bit. 23:54-23:57 So don't just do the kind of dismissive, 23:57-24:03 patronising thing that people like me and theological students are so good at doing. 24:03-24:06 It's easy to knock someone when they're not on this earth. 24:06-24:10 Okay, and the same goes for T.F. Torrance, by the way. 24:10-24:14 Okay, yeah, we ought to be very careful there of a religion. 24:14-24:16 Now this is a great quote, "For a large number of our contemporaries, 24:16-24:20 music is not so much the part of religion as a substitute for it." 24:20-24:23 That could be illustrated in hundreds of ways. 24:23-24:26 It's with the Romantics in the 19th century, it's where we see perhaps the greatest 24:26-24:31 and most powerful elevation of music to really a divine status, 24:31-24:34 and of the artist as quasi-divine. 24:34-24:35 But go to C.S. Lewis. 24:35-24:38 You read C.S. Lewis, Surprised by Joy, 24:38-24:40 when he talks about his pre-Christian life, 24:40-24:43 and about music and Wagner in particular, 24:43-24:46 and experiences of what he calls joy, 24:46-24:51 this yearning for who knows what that was totally engulfing, 24:51-24:54 to a boy whose highest musical experience has been Sullivan, 24:54-24:56 as in Gilbert and Sullivan, 24:56-24:58 the ride of the Valkyries of Wagner came like a thunderbolt. 24:58-25:01 From then on, from that moment, Wagnerian records 25:01-25:05 became the chief drain of my pocket money and the presence I invariably asked for. 25:05-25:08 Asgarden of Valkyries seemed to me incomparably more important 25:08-25:10 than anything else in my experience. 25:10-25:14 Lest I'm greatly mistaken, there was in it something very like adoration, 25:14-25:18 some kind of quite disinterested self-abandonment to an object 25:18-25:23 which securely claimed this by simply being the object it was. 25:23-25:24 Ho ho! 25:25-25:27 That's idolatry. 25:27-25:30 Another form is the idolatry of the worship leader. 25:30-25:34 Alright? Are you with me here? 25:34-25:36 The high priest of the worship leader. 25:36-25:40 Paradoxically, in churches that would cringe at being thought of as Catholic, 25:40-25:45 the Protestant's always knocking Catholics for putting the priests at the centre, 25:45-25:48 and obscuring, like all the priests of all believers, 25:48-25:50 more importantly, the priests of the Christ. 25:50-25:53 We're always knocking Catholics for that, 25:53-25:57 but of course there's hundreds of Protestant's replacements, 25:57-26:00 the minister at the top of the steps at the centre, 26:00-26:02 and indeed the contemporary worship leader, 26:02-26:06 who notice performs at you, not behind you or with you, 26:06-26:10 because you have to look at him, he's usually a very good looking man, 26:10-26:11 and a young man. 26:11-26:17 I think there's a great need today for ugly worship leaders. 26:17-26:21 If you feel that calling welling up within you today, 26:21-26:23 then pursue it, alright? 26:23-26:27 The more ugly the better, as far as I'm concerned. 26:27-26:29 And I would never have musicians in front of me, 26:29-26:31 I would always have them myself, 26:31-26:33 or like I used to have in the gallery behind, 26:33-26:34 but anyhow, that's all. 26:34-26:35 You get the point. 26:35-26:37 When you're faced with the idolatry of music, 26:37-26:44 a good dose of Karl Barth on Mozart is handy. 26:44-26:46 Karl Barth, Swiss Reformed theologian of the 20th century, 26:46-26:49 full of humour, that's why I put it slightly, 26:49-26:52 if you read his work, you read most commentaries on Barth, 26:52-26:56 they are indescribably dull and over-serious, 26:56-26:59 with some great exceptions, with some great exceptions. 26:59-27:02 If you read Barth, there's this kind of twinkle, 27:02-27:04 particularly in the small print sections, 27:04-27:06 the kind of having a little joke every now and then. 27:06-27:09 Of course he's immensely serious about what he's doing, 27:09-27:11 but paradoxically, considering the amount he wrote, 27:11-27:14 he doesn't take himself over seriously, 27:14-27:17 which is a great mark of a theologian. 27:17-27:22 In his study, there he's got a picture on the left. 27:22-27:25 Where's my pointer? 27:25-27:30 The picture on the left here is Grunewald's crucifixion. 27:30-27:32 Not exactly a Protestant picture, you might think. 27:32-27:35 Of course he saw the theologian as this person, 27:35-27:38 John the Baptist, "Behold the Lamb of God, 27:38-27:40 who takes away the sins of the world." 27:40-27:42 That's the theologian's calling. 27:42-27:45 So he has that above his desk. 27:45-27:48 Who is this over here? 27:48-27:51 You probably can't see, that's Calvin. 27:51-27:53 Calvin, indeed, which is fine. 27:53-27:55 And who is this here? 27:55-27:57 Mozart! 27:57-28:00 I even have to confess, he says, 28:00-28:03 that if I ever get to heaven, I'll first seek out Mozart, 28:03-28:05 and only then inquire after Augustine, 28:05-28:08 St Thomas, Luther, Calvin, and Schleiermacher. 28:08-28:10 He was convinced that in heaven, when the angels are on duty, 28:10-28:13 praising God, they play only Bach, that's all right, 28:13-28:15 but when they're off duty, just for the sheer fun of it, 28:15-28:17 they play Mozart, quote, 28:17-28:21 "And the Lord listens with special pleasure." 28:21-28:23 Why this adulation? 28:23-28:25 You could say almost obsession about Mozart, 28:25-28:29 because he believed Mozart music voices creation's praise. 28:29-28:34 In this music, creation, as created, sings to God. 28:34-28:36 It doesn't try to be God. 28:36-28:39 And the same goes for Mozart himself. 28:39-28:41 So Bach was suspicious of composers, 28:41-28:44 who he thought obtruded their own agendas and struggles in the music, 28:44-28:46 like, he thought, Beethoven. 28:46-28:48 We don't hear Mozart, he thinks, 28:48-28:52 we hear physical things doing what they do best. 28:52-28:55 Mozart doesn't get in the way with some, 28:55-28:57 as he puts it, mania for self-expression, 28:57-29:00 nor try to force a message on the listener. 29:00-29:03 He doesn't will to proclaim the praise of God, 29:03-29:06 he just does it, unquote. 29:06-29:08 Is that the case? Well, it might be. 29:36-29:38 Not particularly well played. 29:38-29:43 Mozart is the hardest composer to play, by far, or to play well. 29:43-29:46 Do you believe that about Mozart, I'm often asked? 29:46-29:50 Well, actually, I think Bach does what he thinks. 29:50-29:52 Mozart is doing very much better. 29:52-29:54 But that's a prejudice. 29:54-29:57 The point is the vision there. 29:57-30:01 The vision of the physical world, in all its order, as it were, 30:01-30:06 coming to expression through this genius artist, 30:06-30:08 who, of course, as far as we know, is not a Christian, 30:08-30:11 he was a Freemason, I think he was a believer of some sort, 30:11-30:14 but certainly not an Orthodox, certainly not a Barthian Christian. 30:14-30:19 Okay, so that's our dot. 30:19-30:24 Music, next heading, in a world made to flourish towards its end. 30:24-30:28 God is actively committed, we've been saying, 30:28-30:32 to the flourishing of the world in its distinctiveness and otherness, 30:32-30:35 and this climaxes in a glorious future. 30:35-30:40 And this, the prototype, of course, is in Jesus Christ himself. 30:40-30:45 So the Christian perceive this world not simply as it now is, 30:45-30:48 but in the light of what it will become. 30:48-30:52 Things are not only what they are now. 30:52-30:56 And what this provokes us to wonder, if music, 30:56-31:00 indeed the way we hear music, or some music, 31:00-31:07 can point to, provisionally embody, the new creation. 31:07-31:11 We have hints of that, I think, in pieces like Thomas, Stylus, Spelman, Allen. 31:11-31:13 I'm going to speak a bit more about this tomorrow morning. 31:13-31:15 This is a ridiculous piece of music, 31:15-31:18 it's for forty voices, all singing different melodies, 31:18-31:25 ridiculously over the top, in a huge psalm of praise. 31:25-31:26 In fact, if I... 31:26-31:27 In fact, if I... 32:01-32:04 Another way in which the future might be embodied, 32:04-32:08 rather more directly, is through what we might call recreativity. 32:08-32:10 I talked about this a bit yesterday, 32:10-32:15 but recreativity is built into the very way music works. 32:15-32:20 That is, in, well certainly, most music of the last 500 years in the West, 32:20-32:22 but in many other traditions as well. 32:22-32:24 A unit of music will be taken, 32:24-32:28 and then it will be repeated with variation, 32:28-32:31 or will be varied almost instantly. 32:31-32:34 That process of development is extremely common in music. 32:34-32:36 Take one of the best known classical pieces. 32:39-32:42 He's made it open fifth. 32:42-32:43 Here's the... 32:44-32:45 Immediately! 32:46-32:48 He's taken it, and he just played it a little lower. 32:48-32:49 Then... 32:51-32:52 What's happened there? 32:53-32:54 That's the melody, and then... 32:55-32:57 He's taken the same thing, but he's crunched the interval 32:57-32:59 between the two notes. 33:02-33:04 That's a different interval again between those. 33:05-33:06 Then... 33:08-33:10 He's now stretching it out. 33:11-33:12 Now he's going to... 33:12-33:14 That's a bit like the opening. 33:15-33:16 Almost the same. 33:16-33:17 What does he do with this? 33:19-33:21 Turns it upside down. 33:24-33:27 That's only the first 15 seconds. 33:27-33:28 All right? 33:28-33:33 You can see his re-creativity is happening right from the start. 33:33-33:38 This way, the banal, as I was suggesting yesterday, 33:38-33:44 can be remade, indeed, in the most unexpected circumstances. 33:44-33:45 This is... 33:47-33:49 A live recording... 33:50-33:51 Of a concert. 33:53-33:56 (classical music) 33:56-33:59 (classical music) 33:59-34:02 (classical music) 34:02-34:05 (classical music) 34:05-34:29 (laughing) 34:29-34:30 - Oh my goodness. 34:30-34:33 (classical music) 34:33-34:53 (applause) 34:53-34:59 - Good guys, probably the only thing they'll remember 34:59-35:00 that concert for. 35:00-35:02 (laughing) 35:02-35:05 The banal. 35:05-35:08 Another example, the transformation of the banal. 35:08-35:10 Anyone seen the musical Stomp? 35:10-35:12 This is actually not strictly speaking music, 35:12-35:13 but it's very close. 35:13-35:16 No music is sounded, no words are spoken, 35:16-35:20 but with a group of dancers, 35:20-35:22 they take all these objects 35:22-35:25 and they produce a show of an hour and a half, 35:25-35:28 no interval, absolutely mesmerizing. 35:29-35:32 So the most ordinary, the sort of stuff 35:32-35:34 that you would just kick aside, 35:34-35:36 particularly broken trash cans, 35:36-35:38 boots that are overdone, brushes. 35:38-35:40 The first item in the show is brushes. 35:40-35:42 They're just brushing the floor. 35:42-35:44 Then 10 other brushes coming, 35:44-35:45 (imitates brushing) 35:45-35:46 extraordinary stuff. 35:46-35:48 Choreographed percussion. 35:48-35:50 Go and see it. 35:50-35:52 All I could think of after I heard that was, 35:52-35:55 why isn't this in Christian worship? 35:57-35:58 Oh, something like it. 35:58-35:59 (laughing) 35:59-36:00 Something like it. 36:00-36:02 Think of all the people who walk into our churches 36:02-36:05 who have so to speak given up on themselves, 36:05-36:06 who are used to being brushed aside. 36:06-36:10 You'll never see them the same way again. 36:10-36:16 But for a very strictly musical example, 36:16-36:17 I turn to James McMillan. 36:17-36:18 Now James McMillan of course, 36:18-36:21 very, very, Sir James, very famous, 36:21-36:23 probably the most famous British composer now, 36:23-36:27 at least in the classical tradition, living in Glasgow. 36:27-36:30 We've worked very closely with him, 36:30-36:32 some of us at Duke and Cambridge on various projects. 36:32-36:34 We commissioned a Luke Passion from him. 36:34-36:39 The passion text of Luke from Luke's gospel 36:39-36:42 set to music for amateur choirs and singers. 36:42-36:47 And it was premiered in Amsterdam and then in Durham 36:47-36:49 with the Durham Children's Choir. 36:49-36:51 That was an extraordinary event. 36:51-36:53 I'm going to speak about one piece now 36:53-36:55 in light of what you were saying yesterday 36:55-36:57 about extremely dissonant music. 36:57-36:59 What McMillan says about his music now 36:59-37:02 is everything circles around the three days 37:02-37:04 from Good Friday to Easter. 37:04-37:08 That is very, very devout Roman Catholic. 37:08-37:12 He says he keeps circling around Holy Week 37:12-37:15 and the last three days of Holy Week. 37:15-37:18 And he believes that music possesses extraordinary capacities 37:18-37:21 to bring that dynamic alive. 37:21-37:23 The piece that made him famous was called 37:23-37:24 The Confession of Isabelle Goudy. 37:24-37:25 It was done at the Proms. 37:25-37:29 And it's really, he calls it a requiem 37:29-37:33 for a Scottish Roman Catholic who was hounded, 37:33-37:35 eventually burnt at the stake. 37:35-37:37 And what you have in the middle of this piece 37:37-37:40 is the most extraordinary dissonance, destructiveness, 37:40-37:43 human destructiveness played out in sound. 37:43-37:47 What you have towards the end is those very elements 37:47-37:50 of destructiveness completely turned around 37:50-37:54 and turned into through Gallic, Samadhi and hymn tunes 37:54-37:55 into something else. 37:55-37:57 Just going to play that sequence. 37:57-38:00 Here's the destructiveness. 38:00-38:03 (orchestral music) 38:03-38:06 (bells ringing) 38:06-38:09 (orchestral music) 38:09-38:11 (bells ringing) 38:37-38:40 There's the Gallic song, very, very slow. 38:40-38:47 So we're coming up from underneath. 38:47-38:56 And now the return of the others. 38:56-38:59 (orchestral music) 38:59-39:07 Same thing, now just a bit fuller. 39:07-39:10 (orchestral music) 39:10-39:12 (bells ringing) 39:12-39:38 (orchestral music) 39:38-39:41 (bells ringing) 39:41-39:43 You see what's happening? 39:43-39:45 This is stretched over about 15 minutes 39:45-39:46 and this is towards the end. 39:46-39:47 This is the last section. 39:47-39:53 (orchestral music) 39:53-39:55 You hear all that busyness? 39:55-39:57 All that stuff inside. 39:57-40:02 That's the echo of the old. 40:02-40:05 (orchestral music) 40:05-40:07 (bells ringing) 40:07-40:10 (orchestral music) 40:35-40:38 That's full music, isn't it? 40:38-40:43 Now, am I saying you just take that into worship 40:43-40:44 this coming Sunday? 40:44-40:46 No, of course not. 40:46-40:48 I am saying there's something to be learned here. 40:48-40:53 And so much worship music is banale harmonious, so to speak. 40:53-40:57 Forgetting that at the very center of the faith 40:57-41:00 is that victory has been won, yes, 41:00-41:03 in this ghastliness and through this ghastliness. 41:04-41:08 I just leave that as something to think about at the moment. 41:08-41:11 Why should all music all the time 41:11-41:13 be instantly nice to listen to? 41:13-41:15 I've learned from Macmillan, 41:15-41:18 is a real challenge to that kind of assumption. 41:18-41:22 By the way, he loves theologians and loves talking theology 41:22-41:24 and reads huge amounts. 41:24-41:27 I think my own views by far the most interesting 41:27-41:29 Christian composer alive at the moment. 41:29-41:31 That was a review recently, 41:31-41:33 but to whose music in the 20th century 41:33-41:35 is going to stand the test of time. 41:35-41:37 It was a classical music magazine. 41:37-41:39 They said Benjamin Britten, James Macmillan, 41:39-41:42 the rest will fall away, as this reviewer was saying. 41:42-41:43 It is a nice thought. 41:43-41:47 He's extraordinarily open about his faith, as you will know. 41:47-41:48 Okay, the next heading, 41:48-41:51 Music in a World of Ordered Openness. 41:51-41:56 They spoke about the creative order, 41:56-42:00 embodying a kind of rationality and order of its own. 42:02-42:04 And that we talked about respecting that 42:04-42:07 in some way, being attentive to it. 42:07-42:08 Let's just think a little bit 42:08-42:11 about some very obvious things in music. 42:11-42:15 I'm going to ask a great act of imagination on your part now. 42:15-42:17 I want you to imagine that this is a real piano, 42:17-42:20 which it's not. 42:20-42:23 It's a very good keyboard, but it's an electron keyboard. 42:23-42:27 I want you to imagine that behind here is a C string. 42:27-42:28 All right? 42:28-42:30 Behind there is another C string. 42:30-42:33 So you've got, all right, you with me so far? 42:33-42:36 And what happens if I play a low C on a piano, 42:36-42:40 what that string will be vibrating, 42:40-42:43 forgive those who have physics degrees, 42:43-42:45 will be vibrating across its whole length, 42:45-42:47 but also in halves and thirds and quarters 42:47-42:49 and fifths and so forth. 42:49-42:53 Those extra vibrations are called harmonics or overtones. 42:53-42:56 And so within that note that you hear, 42:56-42:59 you are also hearing a bit of that, 42:59-43:02 a bit of that, a bit of that, and a bit of that, 43:02-43:05 and so on higher and higher and higher, 43:05-43:06 the notes get closer, 43:06-43:08 harmonics get closer and closer together. 43:08-43:12 Every note is a sounding chord. 43:12-43:14 How about that? 43:14-43:14 A thought. 43:14-43:16 Another thought you can take away. 43:16-43:19 We very rarely music here, 43:19-43:21 a perfect note that the sort you can see, 43:21-43:27 manufacture using synthesizers or whatever, 43:27-43:30 where you've got the absolutely perfect wave form. 43:30-43:33 By far every kind of music we hear, 43:33-43:36 you're hearing, sure, a fundamental as it's called, 43:36-43:39 but with all its overtones as well. 43:39-43:41 Now, particularly interesting thing, 43:41-43:43 the first harmonic here, 43:43-43:44 this is the second one, 43:44-43:46 I think it's the one second one, 43:46-43:49 is one octave higher than the lower. 43:49-43:53 You go home, you can prove this by the way, 43:53-43:55 if you have a piano, 43:55-43:57 you can take that note and you push down the key, 43:57-43:59 sorry, if you take this note rather, 43:59-44:03 and push down the key without the note sounding, 44:03-44:05 what you've taken is the damper off the string, 44:05-44:09 strike a key one octave below that, 44:09-44:11 and this one will start sounding. 44:11-44:15 Whether you like it, want it, desire it or not, 44:15-44:17 it just does it. 44:17-44:20 And you'll probably also manage to get that vibrating 44:20-44:21 and a bit of that as well, 44:21-44:22 but you'll certainly get this, 44:22-44:24 this is the first harmonic. 44:24-44:26 And it's interesting in a great deal of music, 44:26-44:28 not all, but in a great deal of music, 44:28-44:32 that octave is extremely prevalent, 44:32-44:34 because we sing it very naturally. 44:34-44:37 Earlier we were singing hymn, 44:37-44:39 some of you were singing there, 44:39-44:41 by me the glory, 44:41-44:43 some of you were singing there, 44:43-44:44 others were singing there, 44:44-44:46 that's an octave apart. 44:46-44:46 I didn't have to say, 44:46-44:48 sorry, could you tune into the first harmonic 44:48-44:49 a bit of run? 44:49-44:51 You just did it. 44:52-44:54 Let's take the next harmonic. 44:54-44:59 Very interesting that that is all, 44:59-45:01 usually, particularly in the Western tradition, 45:01-45:03 regarded as a very consonant interval, 45:03-45:04 as opposed to dissonant. 45:04-45:09 And when people started about 900 AD, 45:09-45:11 singing not just the note, 45:11-45:13 but other notes along with it, 45:13-45:14 the first note, 45:14-45:16 which shows us an octave almost certainly, 45:16-45:18 and after that, the fifth, 45:18-45:20 which is that note. 45:21-45:22 And that's probably because in the buildings 45:22-45:24 they were singing in, 45:24-45:25 they were actually without knowing, 45:25-45:26 hearing those upper harmonics, 45:26-45:28 and now they just start singing them. 45:28-45:31 And on you can go up, 45:31-45:32 (piano music) 45:32-45:35 you take those three notes in the harmonic series, 45:35-45:38 and eventually will make what we call the major triad. 45:38-45:40 These things are just built into the way 45:40-45:41 the harmonic series works. 45:41-45:45 Let's be very careful. 45:45-45:46 People at this point jump and say, 45:46-45:49 wow, that's a universal in all music. 45:49-45:50 Everyone loves major chords. 45:50-45:55 No, there are many ways of dividing up that octave. 45:55-45:57 Many ways. 45:57-45:59 They don't have to be strictly in tune 45:59-46:01 with every note in the harmonic series. 46:01-46:04 I think you can show that most music has been derived 46:04-46:07 at its very root from the harmonic series, 46:07-46:09 but you can't say that our Western way 46:09-46:12 of dividing up a scale or dividing up an octave 46:12-46:14 is universal, it just isn't. 46:14-46:18 Another thing I often get asked is why 46:18-46:20 do we call that consonance, 46:20-46:22 but we call this dissonant. 46:22-46:25 Divide and then a piece. 46:25-46:29 Like that. 46:29-46:32 Wouldn't feel quite right, would it? 46:32-46:33 But if I play, 46:33-46:35 (piano music) 46:35-46:38 that's all right. 46:38-46:40 You could end like that, right? 46:40-46:42 Americans like cliffs. 46:42-46:43 American music, huge. 46:43-46:46 That, 'cause they like wide open spaces. 46:46-46:47 That sort of sound. 46:47-46:49 (piano music) 46:50-46:53 That's a very Copland-esque American sound. 46:53-46:54 The Wild West space. 46:54-46:57 They don't like, at least a lot of them don't like, 46:57-46:58 that sort of, 46:58-47:02 'cause that's known as the Diabolus in Musica 47:02-47:04 in the medieval, the devil in music. 47:04-47:07 It's the interval no one would dare have 47:07-47:10 if you wanted to keep your job as a musician. 47:10-47:13 It was known as a very, very dissonant interval. 47:13-47:17 And even today, it's still used in dissonant context. 47:17-47:19 My favorite example is the Simpsons theme tune. 47:19-47:23 (piano music) 47:23-47:29 It's all made up of that interval. 47:29-47:32 Now who are the Simpsons? 47:32-47:34 You see, they're not heroes and heroines. 47:34-47:36 They're actually a bit dysfunctional, 47:36-47:38 which is part of the fun, right? 47:38-47:39 It's quirky. 47:39-47:40 They're quirky. 47:40-47:42 (piano music) 47:42-47:44 If you wanted to make them heroes, 47:44-47:46 you would use that kind of sound. 47:46-47:48 (piano music) 47:48-47:49 Star Trek, right? 47:49-47:52 Going beyond where we haven't gone beyond before 47:52-47:53 or whatever it is, right? 47:53-47:55 (piano music) 47:55-47:59 That's the theme tune of The Simpsons. 47:59-48:02 With that interval, but it's not that. 48:02-48:03 It's 48:03-48:06 (piano music) 48:06-48:10 We regard that as quirky, unstable. 48:10-48:12 Now then, the question comes, 48:14-48:18 is there something built into the sonic order 48:18-48:21 that makes us think that is dissonance? 48:21-48:23 There is some evidence that 48:23-48:24 (piano music) 48:24-48:26 that what happens with those two notes 48:26-48:29 is that each of their harmonic series 48:29-48:33 are clashing high up on the harmonic register. 48:33-48:36 And that produces a certain kind of roughness in the ear. 48:36-48:40 And that's why we tend in this civilization anyhow 48:40-48:42 to associate that kind of interval 48:42-48:46 with suffering, instability, disharmony. 48:46-48:48 Whereas we would associate this 48:48-48:49 (piano music) 48:49-48:51 where there's much less clashing high up 48:51-48:55 with stability, with peace, with harmony. 48:55-48:58 We have to be very careful because there's some cultures 48:58-49:01 where that is not regarded as very dissonant. 49:01-49:02 (piano music) 49:02-49:06 Some cultures choose to interpret the harmonic series 49:06-49:08 and to use the harmonic series in different ways. 49:09-49:14 Right, but the point is there is a sonic order there, 49:14-49:15 whether we like it or not. 49:15-49:19 It can be developed in different ways. 49:19-49:22 Is music nature or nurture? 49:22-49:24 Both, that's the point. 49:24-49:27 Okay, you've got the point I'm trying to make. 49:27-49:29 It can be developed in different ways, but it's there. 49:29-49:32 And also, of course the same could apply to rhythm. 49:32-49:35 Hence the almost universality of twos and threes. 49:35-49:38 Those are the commonest rhythmic patterns, 49:38-49:40 in twos and threes. 49:40-49:43 Anyhow, along with this order that I've been trying to say, 49:43-49:46 there's also openness or contingency. 49:46-49:48 And this is what's interesting. 49:48-49:50 And you asked me to develop this a little bit, 49:50-49:51 so here goes. 49:51-49:52 When it comes to Bach, 49:52-49:54 and we'll talk about it in a minute, 49:54-49:56 I said that with this piece, for instance. 49:56-49:59 (piano music) 49:59-50:06 This is a brilliant Bach. 50:06-50:09 It's very, very hard to predict what's coming next. 50:09-50:13 And yet what does happen makes a good deal of sense. 50:13-50:16 There is a contingency about this music 50:16-50:18 and virtually all music. 50:18-50:21 Otherwise we wouldn't bother listening to it. 50:21-50:24 Listen to John Butt, Professor of Music at Glasgow. 50:24-50:28 A vast study by Bach's dialogue with modernity, 50:28-50:30 writing about Bach's fugues. 50:30-50:31 The process of Bach's fugues 50:31-50:34 beyond their initial conventional exposition 50:34-50:38 of all the voices is surprisingly unpredictable. 50:38-50:41 And yet what does happen, this is me speaking now, 50:41-50:45 what does happen is not arbitrary or freakish. 50:45-50:47 There is, in other words, 50:47-50:50 the dynamic here of improvisation. 50:50-50:52 Do bear in mind, Bach was extremely well known 50:52-50:53 as an improviser. 50:53-50:57 Beethoven in many circles in his early days 50:57-51:00 was easily as well known as an improviser 51:00-51:01 as he was composer. 51:03-51:05 And they would often get these people at Bach 51:05-51:06 and they'd sit down and say, 51:06-51:09 "Here, here's five notes, off you go." 51:09-51:11 It was regarded as a kind of competition thing, 51:11-51:12 how to do that. 51:12-51:13 And that's why a lot of Bach's music 51:13-51:16 does sound like he's making it up as he goes along. 51:16-51:19 That's why jazz musicians are so fascinated by Bach. 51:19-51:21 They instantly move into his world 51:21-51:25 because they can hear a master improviser at work, 51:25-51:27 even when he's writing it all down. 51:27-51:29 And we can see this in his portrait. 51:31-51:35 John Elliot Gardner, great Bach conductor and author, 51:35-51:35 pointed this out. 51:35-51:40 This is a Haussmann portrait of Bach 1728, thereabouts. 51:40-51:42 It's in two parts. 51:42-51:44 Because if you look at the upper part, 51:44-51:46 that's quite stern. 51:46-51:47 And he was stern. 51:47-51:48 He was strict. 51:48-51:49 He was ordered. 51:49-51:51 He started his rehearsals on time. 51:51-51:55 At Leipzig, he was a member, a jobbing church musician 51:55-51:56 who had to have things just right. 51:56-51:58 And he wrote all the parts, 51:58-52:00 very, very strict discipline with the boys, 52:00-52:02 the choir boys. 52:02-52:04 So that's Bach the Kapellmeister. 52:04-52:06 But the lower half, 52:06-52:10 how about a drink after the service? 52:10-52:10 Right? 52:10-52:14 There's just that twinkle, that slight chirpiness. 52:14-52:15 And the key, of course, 52:15-52:17 that's why Bach really always wanted to be. 52:17-52:18 (audience laughing) 52:18-52:22 And it's very, very important not to play Bach 52:22-52:23 like he's only the upper half. 52:23-52:28 (piano music) 52:28-52:31 (playing piano) 52:35-52:41 You see, I'm just slightly slowing down, 52:41-52:42 slightly speeding up. 52:42-52:46 When you go to a piano competition, 52:46-52:48 lots of kids playing those sort of pieces. 52:48-52:50 Well, yeah. 52:50-52:51 And then you hear, 52:51-52:53 you go home and play the same in the groin. 52:53-52:55 You may not technically know the difference, 52:55-52:57 but you know that's a good player. 52:57-52:58 Why? 52:58-53:00 Because they're just ebbing and flowing a bit. 53:00-53:02 They're improvising. 53:02-53:04 They're being flexible with the strict order. 53:04-53:05 It has been shown incidentally, 53:05-53:08 we are hardwired not to enjoy 53:08-53:10 completely strict order and rhythm. 53:10-53:12 If we're given a rhythm to play, 53:12-53:15 we will automatically vary it. 53:15-53:17 Not because we're bad at keeping time, 53:17-53:19 but because we get bored with it very quickly. 53:19-53:21 Okay? 53:21-53:22 Something to bear in mind. 53:22-53:23 No one ever play, 53:23-53:25 and the kids who play like a metronome 53:25-53:27 never win competitions. 53:27-53:29 And you can tell them a mile off. 53:29-53:31 It's important to practice with a metronome. 53:31-53:32 In Bath's day, 53:32-53:33 but you've got to be careful. 53:33-53:34 In Bath's day, 53:34-53:35 another wave coming in this, 53:35-53:38 determinism hung over many. 53:38-53:44 Determinism being the theory that what happens has to happen. 53:44-53:45 But on the largest scale, 53:45-53:50 every event is causally determined by previous events. 53:50-53:52 So at any point in time, 53:52-53:55 there was only one possible state of affairs. 53:55-53:58 The future is no more than the unwinding of the past. 53:58-53:59 Determinism. 53:59-54:02 As so many have acknowledged, 54:02-54:03 the music of Bach, 54:03-54:06 but almost any of the other musicians as well, 54:06-54:08 seems to push against determinism. 54:08-54:13 There lives the dearest freshness, 54:13-54:14 deep down things, 54:14-54:16 Gerard Manley Hopkins. 54:16-54:18 There lives the dearest freshness, 54:18-54:20 deep down things. 54:20-54:22 Indeed there does. 54:22-54:24 And musicians are the ones very often 54:24-54:27 who need to remind us of that. 54:27-54:29 Just by the way they compose and make music. 54:29-54:32 Have I got time for this yet? 54:32-54:33 I'll just, I'll throw this in. 54:33-54:35 Now we can go onto this last piece. 54:35-54:38 And it's about order. 54:38-54:41 See what you think of this. 54:41-54:44 See what you think of this. 54:44-54:46 I think part of our problem, 54:46-54:47 particularly in the West, 54:47-54:48 and a lot of Western theology, 54:48-54:50 is we think order 54:50-54:53 and destructive disorder 54:54-54:56 are the only two options. 54:56-54:59 You invite me to your home, 54:59-55:00 but it's full of clutter. 55:00-55:03 You may well apologize. 55:03-55:05 Ah, I'm sorry, I didn't have time to tie it up. 55:05-55:05 No, do find it, yeah, 55:05-55:07 no, no, clear away there, it's okay. 55:07-55:08 No, sit down there, right? 55:08-55:10 You feel kind of embarrassed. 55:10-55:11 You go to someone's house 55:11-55:12 and it's absolutely perfect to order. 55:12-55:15 So, wow, just quiet, so tidy, 55:15-55:16 looks gorgeous, you know. 55:16-55:20 Order and destructive, 55:20-55:23 or something to be ashamed of, disorder. 55:24-55:26 We associate disorder with failure, 55:26-55:29 corruption, harm, possibly evil and destruction, 55:29-55:32 order with goodness, success, health and virtue. 55:32-55:36 But are these the only two options? 55:36-55:37 What about laughter? 55:37-55:41 That's right. 55:41-55:43 See, I couldn't have predicted the form of that. 55:43-55:45 Blah! 55:45-55:47 It's very unpredictable in its very form. 55:47-55:51 It's erratic, but it's not harmful. 55:52-55:53 It's not destructive. 55:53-55:56 In fact, doctors tell us it does us good. 55:56-56:01 It is what Dan Hardy and David Ford used to call non-order, 56:01-56:02 or the jazz factor. 56:02-56:05 Do you remember when Sarah, in the book of Genesis, 56:05-56:07 she's 90 years old, God's messenger, 56:07-56:09 tells her she's going to give birth. 56:09-56:10 What does she do? 56:10-56:11 Absolutely. 56:11-56:16 The news that comes to her is neither ordered nor disordered. 56:16-56:17 It's God's non-order. 56:19-56:23 And it brings a response in Sarah of extreme non-order. 56:23-56:25 Laughter. 56:25-56:29 What's Bach doing when he does things? 56:29-56:30 Oh. 56:30-56:33 (playing piano) 56:33-56:46 You hear that bit of jazz? 56:48-56:49 He's having fun. 56:49-56:52 He's at the lower part of his faith. 56:52-56:58 That is actually order and order, non-order together 56:58-57:00 is the interplay between the two. 57:00-57:03 Improvisation reminds us in sound 57:03-57:05 that we don't live in a clockwork universe, 57:05-57:07 a closed system. 57:07-57:10 And that's why improvisation, musical improvisation, 57:10-57:12 so often been a means of survival. 57:12-57:15 In the Warsaw ghetto, they improvised songs. 57:15-57:18 In the prisons of Syria, as I speak, 57:18-57:21 people of faith improvised praise songs. 57:21-57:22 Why? 57:22-57:23 Because it's proof that they're alive. 57:23-57:27 That they're not going to be ruled 57:27-57:30 by enforced tyrannical mechanical order. 57:30-57:34 Improvisation remind us we live in a world 57:34-57:35 where Jesus has been raised from the grave 57:35-57:37 in the power of the spirit. 57:37-57:40 A world where the improvising spirit is at work. 57:40-57:43 Improvisation proves that order and disorder 57:43-57:46 are not the only two options. 57:46-57:48 And of course we need to learn this in so many ways, 57:48-57:51 not least in worship, in the leadership of worship. 57:51-57:54 You get the kind of classic hyper, 57:54-57:57 we call it liturgical, hyper-liturgical, 57:57-58:00 everything planned, terror of anything 58:00-58:02 that's not planned or whatever. 58:02-58:04 So remember going to church once 58:04-58:05 and we had this bit of music 58:05-58:09 and we couldn't tell them exactly how long it would last. 58:09-58:11 So it was banished, therefore, 58:11-58:12 because we couldn't tell them exactly 58:12-58:14 when the service would end. 58:14-58:16 You know the sort of thing I'm speaking about. 58:16-58:18 And then of course people come on, they react to all that, 58:18-58:20 they say, hey, we want pure spontaneity, 58:20-58:22 we want to just move with the spirit 58:22-58:23 and you know the sort of thing. 58:23-58:25 And that paradoxically just defaults 58:25-58:28 to an extreme dullness ultimately, 58:28-58:31 because you're forever trying to kind of reinvent things. 58:31-58:33 No, the trick, if that's the right word, 58:33-58:37 the skill, the art of worship leadership 58:37-58:40 is both of those together. 58:40-58:42 And it doesn't matter whether you use a prayer book or not, 58:42-58:44 without I'm not talking right across the board, 58:44-58:45 it's the same thing. 58:46-58:48 John Whitfield at Calvin has a lovely definition of liturgy. 58:48-58:50 He says, it's what people do 58:50-58:51 when they turn up on Sunday morning. 58:51-58:54 Everyone has a liturgy, 58:54-58:56 whether you happen to write it or not. 58:56-58:58 So let's not talk about liturgical worship 58:58-58:59 and non-liturgical. 58:59-59:02 There's always liturgical worship, there's always an order. 59:02-59:05 But it depends whether that's going to become a prison 59:05-59:06 or like a skeleton, 59:06-59:10 something that can enable you to run and move. 59:12-59:16 Okay, music, lust heading in a world of diverse unity. 59:16-59:19 I don't think I need to say a great deal more about this, 59:19-59:21 but I've already done it in a way 59:21-59:26 that the musician knows the extraordinary range of sounds 59:26-59:30 that are possible, even with one string on a cello. 59:30-59:33 You can play it near the fingerboard, 59:33-59:35 you can play it with this bow or that bow, 59:35-59:38 you can play it on this cello or that cello. 59:38-59:42 But the sheer diversity in the world of sound, 59:42-59:45 not to mention the diversity within a note, 59:45-59:47 remember every note is a sounding chord, 59:47-59:52 these all speak of course of a united diversity 59:52-59:53 and a diverse unity. 59:53-59:56 Music witnesses this in many ways 59:56-59:59 and the last session tomorrow morning, 59:59-01:00:00 wait a minute, what am I doing now? 01:00:00-01:00:03 Tonight, I'll say a little bit more about that. 01:00:03-01:00:05 Okay, very last thing then, 01:00:05-01:00:07 Bach I'm going to use for the last 10 minutes. 01:00:07-01:00:09 Can I just go to 10 minutes, is that all right? 01:00:09-01:00:10 Yeah. 01:00:11-01:00:13 Are you surviving, are you all right? 01:00:13-01:00:14 So we're good. 01:00:14-01:00:17 Just want two minute leg stretch, 01:00:17-01:00:19 two minute leg stretch and then just 10 minutes more, 01:00:19-01:00:19 is that all right? 01:00:19-01:00:21 Yeah, he's already doing it. 01:00:21-01:00:24 (audience chattering) 01:00:24-01:00:27 (audience chattering) 01:00:27-01:00:53 There we go. 01:00:53-01:00:56 (audience chattering) 01:00:56-01:00:59 (audience chattering) 01:01:26-01:01:27 Okay, let's restart. 01:01:27-01:01:32 Just on the non-order thing, 01:01:32-01:01:33 I'm sure you got the point, 01:01:33-01:01:36 but I find, certainly speaking myself, 01:01:36-01:01:40 many pastors, one of the reasons they're frightened 01:01:40-01:01:42 of the unpredictable is because they think 01:01:42-01:01:46 the only alternative to order is destructive disorder. 01:01:46-01:01:51 So if I let that go for a minute, 01:01:51-01:01:54 it's all going to collapse, right? 01:01:54-01:01:57 I mean, I'm a control freak, so I sympathize with this. 01:01:57-01:01:58 I sympathize with it. 01:01:58-01:02:03 Learn to trust, yeah, surely to trust the spirit. 01:02:03-01:02:07 Hey Jeremy, it's going to be all right, actually. 01:02:07-01:02:11 God can handle this, had a lot of practice. 01:02:11-01:02:12 Right, the third calling. 01:02:12-01:02:15 Well, let's have some fun with just one piece. 01:02:15-01:02:17 This is one piece, which I think exemplifies a lot of it. 01:02:17-01:02:19 And it comes from JS Bach. 01:02:19-01:02:20 I have a real soft spot for Bach 01:02:20-01:02:23 'cause he's lucky enough to have the same initials as me, 01:02:23-01:02:27 JSB, and so I feel especially, 01:02:27-01:02:29 I'm not saying Bach is the only musician 01:02:29-01:02:32 who does these things, I'm not saying that, 01:02:32-01:02:35 but it is, nonetheless, is a remarkable example. 01:02:35-01:02:37 It's a Bach which is devout Lutheran, 01:02:37-01:02:40 extremely well versed in scripture, steeped in the Bible. 01:02:40-01:02:42 We know that 'cause we have copies of his Bible 01:02:42-01:02:45 with all sorts of notes and annotations on it. 01:02:45-01:02:50 He brings scripture alive in ways that very few others 01:02:50-01:02:52 have done in the last 500 years, anyhow. 01:02:53-01:02:55 Just one example of this cultural calling, 01:02:55-01:02:59 these headings that I put down on page three. 01:02:59-01:03:00 I'm going to use this piece. 01:03:00-01:03:03 This is a piece for solo violin, Chacon, 01:03:03-01:03:07 from the second partita for solo violin in D minor. 01:03:07-01:03:08 And this is the opening. 01:03:08-01:03:11 (gentle music) 01:03:11-01:03:13 (gentle music) 01:03:13-01:03:40 And so on. 01:03:40-01:03:42 It goes on for about 15 minutes. 01:03:42-01:03:45 It's the hardest, certainly the longest continuous movement 01:03:45-01:03:47 ever written for solo violin. 01:03:47-01:03:50 And it has this mesmerizing hold on composers, 01:03:50-01:03:52 performers, and listeners alike. 01:03:52-01:03:55 It's been transcribed for virtually every instrument. 01:03:55-01:03:58 It's even found its way into the film industry 01:03:58-01:04:01 in a wonderfully forgettable classic of 1946, 01:04:01-01:04:04 "The Beast with Five Fingers," 01:04:04-01:04:07 which is a movie redeemed only by the Chacon, 01:04:07-01:04:09 which is played deep into the night 01:04:09-01:04:11 by the dismembered and murderous hand 01:04:11-01:04:13 of a dead concert pianist. 01:04:13-01:04:15 Look it up, all right? 01:04:15-01:04:19 I've not seen it, but he wrote it. 01:04:19-01:04:21 This piece when he was 35, 01:04:21-01:04:24 and it's usually played, as I say, in about 15 minutes. 01:04:24-01:04:26 Basically it's a set of variations 01:04:26-01:04:30 on what's called a thorough base or a baseline. 01:04:30-01:04:32 Doesn't sort you would get in blues or almost many songs. 01:04:32-01:04:35 (gentle music) 01:04:35-01:04:38 That's effectively the baseline behind the whole thing, 01:04:38-01:04:41 repeated over and over and over again. 01:04:41-01:04:45 That baseline doesn't appear right at the beginning, 01:04:45-01:04:48 but it's there and eventually come out into its own. 01:04:48-01:04:53 And out of that baseline and out of the chords 01:04:53-01:04:54 that are associated with it. 01:04:54-01:04:57 (gentle music) 01:04:57-01:05:00 He weaves 60 improvisations. 01:05:00-01:05:06 He actually believed Bach that baselines like this 01:05:06-01:05:09 were derived from and gave witness to the created order. 01:05:09-01:05:12 We know that from the schools he attended, 01:05:12-01:05:16 so the intellectual environment that he inhabited. 01:05:16-01:05:19 Bach was fascinated in mathematics. 01:05:19-01:05:21 The mathematics of this piece is very interesting. 01:05:21-01:05:24 He uses 257 bars. 01:05:24-01:05:27 It's the four bar unit to the power of four, two, five, six, 01:05:27-01:05:31 and a final bar, which is played on one note, 01:05:31-01:05:32 just an open D string, 01:05:32-01:05:35 just a D string vibrating and nothing else. 01:05:36-01:05:39 Leaving aside the two statements of the opening theme, 01:05:39-01:05:41 which act as a kind of gateway, 01:05:41-01:05:43 we're left with 62 variations. 01:05:43-01:05:47 These divide exactly into two groups of 31, 01:05:47-01:05:52 31 in D minor, then another 31, 19 in D major. 01:05:52-01:05:57 So we go from that sort of sound to that sort of sound, 01:05:57-01:05:59 and then back again to that sound. 01:05:59-01:06:01 And as you will have spotted, I'm sure there, 01:06:01-01:06:05 the ratios at work 12 to 19, 19 to 31, 01:06:05-01:06:09 are very close to 0.618, which I'm sure you realize. 01:06:09-01:06:11 (audience laughing) 01:06:11-01:06:12 Thank you, yes, which is of course called 01:06:12-01:06:15 the golden section or golden mean, 01:06:15-01:06:18 which is a ratio that's enchanted a lot of mathematicians 01:06:18-01:06:21 as well a lot of musicians. 01:06:21-01:06:22 Now, Bach was fascinated in maths. 01:06:22-01:06:25 I think a little bit too much is made of that sometimes, 01:06:25-01:06:29 but basically this would be a very natural implication 01:06:29-01:06:33 for him of discovering a certain kind of order 01:06:33-01:06:33 and bringing it to light. 01:06:33-01:06:36 That's basically what he's about, a kind of given order. 01:06:36-01:06:40 David Bentley Hart, East Northrop's theologian, 01:06:40-01:06:42 in his mammoth book, "The Beauty of the Infinite," 01:06:42-01:06:46 writes that Bach's is the ultimate Christian music. 01:06:46-01:06:49 I think that's probably hyperbole, 01:06:49-01:06:51 but he might be getting at something. 01:06:51-01:06:54 So let's look at him through this piece. 01:06:54-01:06:56 "A flourishing of possibilities," 01:06:56-01:06:58 that's the heading I used there, 01:06:58-01:07:00 "never in the field of human music 01:07:00-01:07:03 has so much been drawn out of so little for so many." 01:07:03-01:07:06 He shows in this vast piece 01:07:06-01:07:10 that out of the most uncompromising material, 01:07:10-01:07:12 just a simple theme, 01:07:12-01:07:16 out of very, I should say even simpler than that, 01:07:16-01:07:18 this bassline and the chords, 01:07:18-01:07:23 out of that lies a dazzling array of possibilities. 01:07:23-01:07:28 And we can see him right from the start 01:07:28-01:07:31 beginning to explore those possibilities. 01:07:31-01:07:33 Bach couldn't resist developing things 01:07:33-01:07:35 right from the beginning. 01:07:35-01:07:36 So here's the theme. 01:07:36-01:07:38 (playing piano) 01:07:38-01:07:46 He just can't resist it. 01:07:46-01:07:47 He could have gone, 01:07:47-01:07:48 (playing piano) 01:07:48-01:07:49 right, but no. 01:07:49-01:07:51 (playing piano) 01:07:51-01:07:52 He just had to do that, all right? 01:07:52-01:07:54 What does he do later on? 01:07:55-01:07:58 He adds these, as the Americans say, 30-second notes, 01:07:58-01:08:00 or demisemiquavers. 01:08:00-01:08:03 (playing piano) 01:08:03-01:08:11 We haven't even got past about 11 seconds, 01:08:11-01:08:13 and he's already doing that. 01:08:13-01:08:15 Now, this is very, very characteristic 01:08:15-01:08:16 of the way Bach operates. 01:08:16-01:08:20 Joel Lester, a book on these variations, 01:08:20-01:08:24 speaks about heightened intensifications in Bach, 01:08:24-01:08:26 heightened intensifications. 01:08:26-01:08:29 Ever more, so to speak, 01:08:29-01:08:33 recreativity going on as the piece unfolds. 01:08:33-01:08:36 And here's a particularly interesting example 01:08:36-01:08:37 from the D major section of the piece. 01:08:37-01:08:39 (playing piano) 01:08:39-01:08:40 Halfway through. 01:08:40-01:08:44 Suddenly, three little notes appear. 01:08:44-01:08:46 (playing piano) 01:08:46-01:08:49 You may not think that sounds very significant. 01:08:49-01:08:51 I mean, you're not going to go tonight 01:08:51-01:08:52 when your shower are gonna hum. 01:08:52-01:08:54 Right, it's not catchy, is it? 01:08:54-01:08:56 It's like bubbles in the bath, right? 01:08:56-01:08:58 Okay. 01:08:58-01:09:02 He just kicks them up, but he becomes strangely interested. 01:09:02-01:09:06 (playing piano) 01:09:06-01:09:17 And to show how interested he is, at that point there, 01:09:17-01:09:22 he has it played on two strings at the same time. 01:09:22-01:09:26 There's an A string and halfway up the D string. 01:09:26-01:09:29 As if just to give it a little bit more push. 01:09:29-01:09:31 Well, you think you can't really do much with those, 01:09:31-01:09:34 but he does. 01:09:34-01:09:36 He turns it now at the top right into three notes. 01:09:36-01:09:39 (playing piano) 01:09:39-01:09:46 On and on he goes. 01:09:46-01:09:49 And here he introduces what's called double stopping. 01:09:49-01:09:51 That is two strings at the same time, 01:09:51-01:09:53 but moving that in opposite directions. 01:09:53-01:09:57 There are the three notes over and over again. 01:09:57-01:09:59 This is OCD, right? 01:09:59-01:10:02 This is seriously neurotic. 01:10:02-01:10:06 And then at the end, having got through all this. 01:10:06-01:10:09 (playing piano) 01:10:09-01:10:17 At this point he has three notes altogether. 01:10:17-01:10:19 That's not actually possible on the violin, 01:10:19-01:10:21 but it's a minor detail in the bar. 01:10:21-01:10:22 (audience laughing) 01:10:22-01:10:26 So you have to pull the bar across the three strings 01:10:26-01:10:27 at the same time. 01:10:27-01:10:28 What happens next? 01:10:28-01:10:30 All these three, these now three notes, 01:10:30-01:10:32 sometimes four or three notes, 01:10:32-01:10:36 become a major theme of the next section. 01:10:36-01:10:40 But we also find something else. 01:10:40-01:10:44 That in the very opening theme, at the very start, 01:10:44-01:10:47 you also have three notes. 01:10:47-01:10:49 So there's actually been a development 01:10:49-01:10:52 of what was implicit in the melody right at the start. 01:10:52-01:10:54 Let's just hear a bit of that. 01:10:54-01:10:56 (playing piano) 01:10:56-01:11:02 This is coming before what you're seeing. 01:11:02-01:11:03 I'll tell you when we reach there. 01:11:03-01:11:04 We're not quite there yet. 01:11:04-01:11:07 (playing piano) 01:11:07-01:11:09 (clapping) 01:11:09-01:11:12 (playing piano) 01:11:12-01:11:14 (clapping) 01:11:14-01:11:17 (playing piano) 01:11:17-01:11:20 (playing piano) 01:11:20-01:11:43 Yep. 01:11:45-01:11:48 It's not always that well played, I need to say. 01:11:48-01:11:49 But that's it. 01:11:49-01:11:52 So for Bach, not even the bubbles in the Bach are wasted. 01:11:52-01:11:58 And that is a tour de force, rarely being equaled. 01:11:58-01:12:04 So coming back to our headings, 01:12:04-01:12:07 just from just dipping into that piece, discovering. 01:12:07-01:12:12 He is discovering what can be done with a bass line, 01:12:12-01:12:15 chords, three notes, as he goes along. 01:12:15-01:12:17 Listen to John Butt, and John Butt, as far as I know, 01:12:17-01:12:19 in conversations I've had with him, is not a Christian. 01:12:19-01:12:22 He's a Bach scholar, the greatest in Britain at the moment. 01:12:22-01:12:24 Professor of Music at Glasgow, I quote, 01:12:24-01:12:26 "The more exhaustively the potential 01:12:26-01:12:29 "of the musical materials researched, 01:12:29-01:12:33 "the more real it seems to become, 01:12:33-01:12:39 "as if disclosing more of the ultimate nature of matter." 01:12:39-01:12:41 Unquote. 01:12:41-01:12:43 Isn't that amazing? 01:12:43-01:12:45 (audience member speaks off microphone) 01:12:45-01:12:46 Yeah, exactly. 01:12:46-01:12:48 This is a musicologist, please, and not a theologian, 01:12:48-01:12:50 not a philosopher. 01:12:50-01:12:53 As if disclosing more the ultimate nature of matter. 01:12:53-01:12:54 My conscience. 01:12:54-01:12:57 My conscience, lovely guy, John Butt. 01:12:57-01:12:58 Does anyone know him from Glasgow? 01:12:58-01:12:59 You come across him? 01:12:59-01:13:00 Yeah, wonderful man. 01:13:00-01:13:04 Another hyper energetic. 01:13:04-01:13:09 Respecting, clearly, there's respect going on here. 01:13:11-01:13:14 Attentiveness, if Henry Moore had hyper seeing, 01:13:14-01:13:16 Bach has hyper hearing. 01:13:16-01:13:19 Or hyper listening, you might say, but hyper hearing. 01:13:19-01:13:22 For us, we just hear, well, okay, it's that. 01:13:22-01:13:25 For him, he's already got a whole piece in mind. 01:13:25-01:13:28 He's already seeing what it could become. 01:13:28-01:13:31 He's already thinking eschatologically, you could say. 01:13:31-01:13:35 And then developing, obviously developing, 01:13:35-01:13:38 using every conceivable kind of technique. 01:13:38-01:13:41 This piece is a minefield, transposition, inversion, 01:13:41-01:13:44 retrograde inversion, octave displacement, diminution, 01:13:44-01:13:47 augmentation, elision, interpolation, fragmentation. 01:13:47-01:13:50 In fact, most things ending ation, all right? 01:13:50-01:13:53 (audience laughing) 01:13:53-01:13:55 I hope there's that, exactly. 01:13:55-01:13:56 And indeed, it's often point out, 01:13:56-01:13:59 Bach, for composers of his time, 01:13:59-01:14:01 they weren't so fascinated in development, 01:14:01-01:14:03 what's called elaboratio. 01:14:03-01:14:06 But for Bach, that seems to be where he found the fun. 01:14:09-01:14:11 Now, but please note, please note, 01:14:11-01:14:14 this is development while discovering and respecting. 01:14:14-01:14:19 Does the ecological movement, the whole, I mean, 01:14:19-01:14:21 the whole natural, the creation awareness of it, 01:14:21-01:14:25 does it not need a vision of development 01:14:25-01:14:28 that can be respectful at the same time? 01:14:28-01:14:32 Isn't that the kind of tyrannical doctrine of creation 01:14:32-01:14:34 that we're trying to get free from? 01:14:34-01:14:38 Bach shows, musically, that you can do that. 01:14:38-01:14:41 Musically, he gives you another vision, 01:14:41-01:14:43 another way of looking at the world. 01:14:43-01:14:45 That's not just about, hey, aren't I clever? 01:14:45-01:14:50 Which you could think, and he darn well is very clever. 01:14:50-01:14:53 But nor just saying, here's this chord, isn't it beautiful? 01:14:53-01:14:55 Right? 01:14:55-01:14:57 It's a vision, a profoundly Christian vision, 01:14:57-01:15:00 a profoundly Torrancean vision of the creatant, 01:15:00-01:15:04 the creative artist, the creative agent in creation. 01:15:04-01:15:07 And as far as healing is concerned, 01:15:07-01:15:08 this is where I'll end. 01:15:08-01:15:14 That was the other headings anticipating together. 01:15:14-01:15:17 I do believe Bach is anticipating the recreation 01:15:17-01:15:19 of all things, or could be heard that way. 01:15:19-01:15:23 And together, do remember, Bach is not writing solo. 01:15:23-01:15:24 He is part of a church. 01:15:24-01:15:26 He's a jobbing church musician. 01:15:26-01:15:29 He's writing a cantata every week in the 1720s, 01:15:29-01:15:31 and minor works like the Matthew Passion. 01:15:31-01:15:33 (audience laughing) 01:15:33-01:15:35 I don't know how, and he has 20 children. 01:15:35-01:15:37 Please note as well, how he ever had time for composing. 01:15:37-01:15:39 I don't know, but never mind. 01:15:39-01:15:41 Well, do remember, 10 of those died in infancy. 01:15:41-01:15:44 Worst remembering. 01:15:44-01:15:47 So, but then as far as healing is concerned, 01:15:47-01:15:48 this is where I'll end. 01:15:48-01:15:51 It's fascinating, a fascinating thing here 01:15:51-01:15:55 that we have to ask, is there a darker side to this piece? 01:15:55-01:15:59 Do we see in this something that speaks 01:15:59-01:16:02 of cross and resurrection and of recreativity? 01:16:02-01:16:05 Now, many of his other pieces, it's much more obvious. 01:16:05-01:16:08 Here, it might not be quite so obvious at first, 01:16:08-01:16:11 but there's a professor, Professor Helga Turner, 01:16:11-01:16:15 German professor, who's argued that intertwined 01:16:15-01:16:20 with this chaconne are a set of Lutheran corrals, 01:16:20-01:16:22 hymns from Bach's day, all concerned 01:16:22-01:16:26 with death and resurrection, and hymns that he probably 01:16:26-01:16:28 had in mind when writing this. 01:16:28-01:16:31 And she believes they are there, so to speak, 01:16:31-01:16:34 behind the notes, but they never come out into the open. 01:16:34-01:16:38 She believes the opening bars mask the Easter chorale, 01:16:38-01:16:40 Christ's lay in death's bondage. 01:16:40-01:16:45 Behind the first D minor section, she thinks there's 01:16:45-01:16:48 the chorale, where shall I find refuge? 01:16:48-01:16:52 Alternating with another one, commend thou all my pathways. 01:16:52-01:16:53 Chorales, hymns, hymnschunes. 01:16:53-01:16:57 And she suggests that the chaconne might have been 01:16:57-01:17:00 an epitaph for his wife, Maria Barbara, 01:17:00-01:17:04 who died unexpectedly in 1720. 01:17:04-01:17:06 While Bach was away on a trip, he came back, 01:17:06-01:17:08 dead, buried, all done. 01:17:08-01:17:11 Right, now we don't know this, this is congestion, 01:17:11-01:17:13 but we don't know that this piece was written 01:17:13-01:17:15 with that circumstance in mind. 01:17:15-01:17:18 But there's certainly a dark side to this piece. 01:17:18-01:17:21 A group of British singers, Hilliard Ensemble, 01:17:21-01:17:23 have recently teamed up with a violinist 01:17:23-01:17:26 and recorded these chorales of death and resurrection, 01:17:26-01:17:31 along with the chaconne, turning this theory into sound. 01:17:31-01:17:33 In the section we're going to hear now, 01:17:33-01:17:37 the words, jesu, my joy, are followed by a quotation 01:17:37-01:17:39 from the chorale, in my beloved God, 01:17:39-01:17:43 I trust in fear and need. 01:17:43-01:17:45 And then a little later, another chorale, 01:17:45-01:17:48 give us patience in times of sorrow. 01:17:48-01:17:50 Just going to play this one. 01:17:50-01:17:59 (orchestral music) 01:17:59-01:18:02 (orchestral music) 01:18:02-01:18:07 This is the violin, chaconne, 01:18:07-01:18:09 the middle of the first section. 01:18:09-01:18:10 And here comes a chorale tune. 01:18:10-01:18:13 (orchestral music) 01:18:13-01:18:16 (orchestral music) 01:18:16-01:18:19 (orchestral music) 01:18:19-01:18:22 (orchestral music) 01:18:22-01:18:25 (orchestral music) 01:18:25-01:18:28 (orchestral music) 01:18:28-01:18:31 (orchestral music) 01:18:31-01:18:34 (orchestral music) 01:18:34-01:18:36 (orchestral music) 01:18:36-01:18:39 (orchestral music) 01:18:39-01:18:42 (orchestral music) 01:18:42-01:18:45 (orchestral music) 01:19:11-01:19:12 And so on. 01:19:12-01:19:16 Here's another much more resurrection section, 01:19:16-01:19:18 which is a resurrection chorale. 01:19:18-01:19:21 (orchestral music) 01:19:21-01:19:24 (orchestral music) 01:19:24-01:19:30 (orchestral music) 01:19:30-01:19:33 Almost tears me, unfolding of joy. 01:19:33-01:19:36 (orchestral music) 01:19:36-01:19:39 (orchestral music) 01:19:39-01:20:03 I've gone way over time. 01:20:03-01:20:05 Many apologies. 01:20:05-01:20:06 Thank you very much.