Serious Music

We returned from Spoleto in Charleston today. Last night we heard a concert that included Mahler Fourth Symphony.



Hearing that concert and another of Verdi Requiem the night before got me thinking about orchestral music and some important points regarding my experience of it.



1. It is serious music. I think this term is often misunderstood in our contemporary culture. The term is not meant to compare the music with other musics in such a way as to say symphonic music is serious and other musics are silly. I think the term means that the nature of classical symphonic repertoire is serious. Its themes involve serious issues of the self, life and death, myth, and ultimate reality. Its modes of developing these themes are also characterized by rigorous rhetoric and imagination. Its greatness is that it is not a smooth presentation calculated for quick response. Instead, it is a complex and profound argument that proceeds with significance. It is plumbing discussion as opposed to the sound bite. It is a sun or a moon that continues to rise in the hours following the concert.



2. It is mysteriously grand. After hearing the Mahler Symphony, I knew that the music was bigger than my thoughts about it, or than any thoughts I've read about it. To really engage with the work is to grapple with Mahler's worldview as best we can know it. But more than this - even when we think we know some ideas the music is about, we are still to digest the eloquent things Mahler is saying about his subjects and the beautiful, multi-faceted way in which he says those things. Even beyond this (or before this), hearing the symphony is a profound human experience in an of itself. The life and richness of its depths become more apparent as we realize that we don't know all that the work is saying.



3. It is needed. So many aesthetic experiences today are packaged in such a way as to narrowly direct our thoughts and shorten our attention span. The symphonic works of Mahler and others challenge us to take a serious look at our selves, our beliefs, and our world. Added to this, the opportunity to hear live symphony performances is only taken advantage of by a small percentage of the population in most American cities with orchestras. And in many parts of the country, live orchestral music may only be available two or three times a year at best. It is a different experience from listening to the orchestra on recording, and I believe more people could feel more rooted if they regularly attended orchestra concerts.



Depth is what I think the symphony has to offer - knowing yourself and the human condition. The symphony may seem foreign, but that may be because of the way our culture has conditioned us, not because of who we are deep inside. Maybe the symphony is boring, but I'm wondering if "boring" is sometimes code for serious, and we just aren't always so well-equipped to deal with the value of serious experiences. It may seem impolitic to suggest that this music lifts people, but its culture and composers may have designed it to do so. The case for such a view has been made from history.