II. Church Architecture and Its
Incorporation of Art
Jul 14
Posted by bibleartists
II. Church Architecture and Its Incorporation of Art
A. The Early Christian Church
From The Ashes of Paganism Arises a New Religion: Christianity
http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2011/11/16/paganism-and-a-burgeoning-religion-christianity/
The First 300 Years of Christian Worship http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2011/11/13/first-300years-of-christian-arts/
Debt of Christian Art and Architecture to Classical Forms
http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2011/11/16/debt-of-christian-art-and-architecture-to-classicalforms/
Architecture of Christian Meeting Places Pre- and Shortly Post-Constantine
http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2011/11/18/architecture-of-christian-meeting-places-pre-andshortly-post-constantine/
Fourth Century Christian Music http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2011/11/18/fourth-centurychristian-music/
B. The Basilica
The Oldest Basilica Style Christian Church, Santa Pudenziana, Rome
http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2011/11/18/the-oldest-basilica-style-christian-church-santapudenziana-rome/
Basilica of Santa Sabina and Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome, Fifth Century The Oldest Basilica
Style Christian Church, Santa Pudenziana, Rome
http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2011/11/18/the-oldest-basilica-style-christian-church-santapudenziana-rome/
Sixth Century San Vitale, Ravenna, Italy and its Mosaics
http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2011/11/21/sixth-century-san-vitale-ravenna-italy-and-itsmosaics/
Basilica of Santa Prassede, Rome Eighth Century
http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2011/11/21/basilica-of-santa-prassede-rome-eighth-century/
Sant Quirze de Pedret, Catalonia, Spain, 11th and 12th Centuries
http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2011/11/23/sant-quirze-de-pedret-spain-11th-and-12thcenturies/
From Monody to Polyphony with contribution by Guido d’Arezzo
http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2011/11/24/from-monody-to-polyphony-with-contribution-byguido-darezzo/
Scriptural Interpretations, Heresies, and the Seeds of Orthodoxy
http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2011/11/28/scriptural-interpretations-heresies-and-the-seeds-oforthodoxy/
C. The Dark Ages: Christian and Jewish Cultures at Their Nadir as Islamic Culture
Reaches Its Zenith http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2011/12/21/the-dark-ages-christian-andjewish-cultures-at-its-nadir-as-islamic-culture-reaches-its-zenith/
The Crusades (1095 – 1291 A.D.) http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2011/12/22/the-crusades1095-1291-a-d/
The Early Inquisition (1000 – 1300) http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2012/01/06/the-earlyinquisition-in-1000-1300/
D. The Gothic Flowering: Continental Romanesque: 1066 – 1200
http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2012/01/23/the-gothic-flowering-continental-romanesque1066-1200/
Medieval Music and Scholasticism http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2012/01/23/medievalmusic-and-scholasticism/
Heloise and Abelard: A Medieval Love Story http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2012/01/23/amedieval-ecclesiastical-love-story/
Church of Santiago de Compostela: Romanesque Transition from Medieval to Gothic
http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2012/01/26/church-of-santiago-de-compostela-romanesquetransition-from-medieval-to-gothic/
Abbey of Ourscamp, France: Twelfth Century
http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2012/01/26/abbey-of-ourscamp-france-twelfth-century/
E. Time of Transition from Medieval To Renaissance
Gothic Architecture: Late Medieval And Early Renaissance
http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2012/01/26/gothic-architecture-late-medieval-and-earlyrenaissance/
The Cathedral of Notre Dame, France: Constructed 1163 – 1285
http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2012/02/21/the-cathedral-of-notre-dame-france-constructed1163-1285-2/
Dante http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2012/02/22/dante/
Winchester Cathedral – 1500 Years in the Making
http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2012/02/23/english-cathedrals-norman-through-gothic/
Hieronymus Bosch (1450- 1516): Pessimist, Strict Moralist and Visionary of Surrealistic
Symbolism http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2012/02/24/hieronymus-bosch-1450-1516pessimist-strict-moralist-and-visionary-of-surrealistic-symbolism/
F. The Rennaisance: Michelangelo and the Sistine Chapel (1508 to 1512)
http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2012/02/28/the-rennaisance-michelangelo-and-the-sistinechapel-1508-to-1512/
G. St. Thomas Church, Leipzig: Luther, Bach and Mendelssohn
http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2012/02/28/st-thomas-church-leipzig-luther-bach-andmendelssohn/
H. Baroque Transition from the Cathedral Through Patronage to the Living Room and
Museum http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2012/02/29/baroque-transition-from-the-cathedralthrough-patronage-to-the-living-room-and-museum/
From the Ashes of Paganism Arises a New
Religion: Christianity
This post will rely heavily on Will Durant and his Story of Civilization, published by Simon and
Schuster, Inc., copyright 1944. In it, Will Durant addressed history, not only as a record of wars,
which certainly had their significant influence, but also as reflected in all the arts and disciplines:
literature, philosophy, theology, graphic arts, sculpture, architecture, religion, music, and even
dance. Other writers that have influenced me over the years include Eric Fromm, Karen
Armstrong, Hans Kung, Edward Schillebeeckx, Robert Wright, Matthew Fox, and Teilhard de
Chardin.
In Story of Civilization, Vol. 2, The Life of Greece, at 186, 187, Will Durant describes the beliefs
and rituals of the ancient Greek god, Dionysus. Dionysus began as a goddess of fertility, became
a god of brewed liquor, then of intoxication, and ended as a son of god, dying to save mankind.
Mourning for Dionysus’ death, and joyful celebration of his resurrection, formed the
basis of a ritual widespread among the Greeks. In the spring, Greek women went up into
the hills to meet the reborn god. For two days they drank without restraint. They marched
in wild processions; they listened intensely to the story they knew so well, of the
suffering, death, and resurrection of their god; as they drank and danced they fell into a
frenzy in which all bonds were losed. The height and center of their ceremony was to
seize upon a goat, a bull, sometimes a man (seeing in them incarnations of the god); to
tear the live victim to pieces in commemoration of Dionysus’ dismemberment; then to
drink the blood and eat the flesh in a sacred communion whereby, as they thought, the
god would enter them and possess their souls. In that divine enthusiasm they were
convinced that they and the god became one in a mystic and triumphant union; they took
his name, called themselves, after one of his titles, Bacchoi, and knew that now they
would never die. Or they termed their state an ecstasies, a going out of their souls to meet
and be one with Dyonysus; thus they felt freed from the burden of the flesh, they
acquired divine insight, they were able to prophesy, they were gods. [It] was a ritual that
satisfied the craving for excitement and release, the longing for enthusiasm and
possession, mysticism and mystery.
Id. at 187.
In Durant’s Story of Civilization, Vol. 3, Caesar and Christ, citing historical documents
preceding Christian sources, he notes a number of pagan practices that preceded similar Christian
practices. At page 595, he notes,” Christianity did not destroy paganism; it adopted it.” He goes
on to note that the Greek mind entered Christian theology and liturgy; that Greek language
became the language of Church literature and ritual; that Greek mysteries entered the mystery of
the Mass; that the notion of Trinity and Last Judgment and eternal personal reward or
punishment was first developed in Egypt; that Egypt also first modeled adoration of Mother and
Child, of mystic Neoplatonism and Gnosticism and of monasticism; and
From Phrygia came the worship of the Great Mother; from Syria the resurrection drama
of Adonis; . . . [f]rom Persia came millenarianism, the”"ages of the world,” the ”final
conflagration,” the dualism of Satan and God, and of “Darkness and Light” . . . The
Mythraic ritual so closely resembled the Eucharistic sacrifice of the Mass that Christian
fathers charged the Devil with inventing these similarities to mislead frail minds. . . .
Christianity was the last great creation of the ancient pagan world.
Id. at 595. It cannot be denied that pagan forms of art and architecture were adopted and adapted
to Christian purposes. More of that later.
Of the early Church, Will Durant notes from sources available to him:
They met in private rooms or small chapels, and organized themselves on the model of
the synagogue. Each congregation was called an ekklesia – the Greek term for the
popular assembly in municipal governments. . . . Women were admitted to the
congregations, and rose to some prominence in minor roles; but the Church required them
to shame the heathen by lives of modest submission and retirement.
Id. at 596.
We know that the early Christians were known for “how they love each other.” Durant notes that
“Lucian, in about 160, described
those imbeciles,’ the Christians, as “disdaining things terrestrial and holding these as belonging
to all in common.” Id. at 597. Durant goes on, “A generation later Tertullian declared that ‘we’
(Christians) ‘have all things in common except our wives,’ and added, with his characteristic
bite, ‘at that point we dissolve our partnership, precisely where the rest of men make it
effective.’” Id. at 597. Durant notes that the early Christian who did not share his wealth was
considered a thief. Alfred North Whitehead noted in his book, Adventures of Ideas, that the belief
of the first Christians in the promise of Jesus to return before the last of those watching him
ascended to Heaven had passed away caused them to eschew wealth because it would do no
good for one to hoard it when the End Times were coming soon. Gradually, he noted, when they
adjusted to the passing of time, that expectation weakened, and they became more invested in the
world and its treasures; and they became less willing to share their wealth communally. After
Constantine elevated the Church to the service of the State, while still expecting Christ’s
imminent return during each successive generation, those who were able to accumulated wealth
did so and they protected it should that event be delayed.
One interesting note of Durant is the agape or love feast. Modern Christianity has referred to
agape as referring to a love as between father and son, and Father and Son with the faithful. As
Durant describes the historical documentation of the feast, in practice, it was anything but love of
father to son:
An element of communism entered into the custom of the common meal. As the Greek
and Roman associations had met on occasion to dine together, so the early Christians
gathered frequently in the agape or love feast, usually on a Sabbath evening. The dinner
began and ended with prayer and scripture readings, and the bread and wine were blessed
by the priest. The faithful appeared to believe that the bread and wine were, or
represented, the body and blood of Christ; the worshipers of Dionysus, Attis and Mithras
had entertained like beliefs at the banquets where they ate the magical embodiments or
symbols of their gods. The final symbol of the agape was the “kiss of love.” In some
congregations this was given only by men to men and women to women; in others this
hard restriction was not enforced. Many participants discovered an untheological delight
in the pleasant ceremony; and Tertullian and others denounced it as leading to sexual
indulgences. The Church recommended that the lips should not be opened in kissing, and
that the kiss should not be repeated if it gave pleasure. In the third century the agape
gradually disappeared.
Id. at 597, 598. Despite such excesses, Durant notes that Christian expectations that God the
Judge exercised “divine surveillance” assured a general morally excellent conduct that would put
pagan culture to shame.” As Whitehead had noted, so observed Durant: “Much of this difficult
code was predicated on the early return of Christ. As that hope faded, the voice of the flesh rose
again, and Christian morals were relaxed . . .” Id. at 599.
Durant elsewhere observes how Greek philosophy, rationalism and pagan influences contributed
to the development of movements that separated from the dominant movement of the Church and
came to be condemned as heresies. That discussion is not within the scope of this blog and will
not be discussed. For the inquiring mind, there is much to be found in such diversions, their
origins, their appeal, their ultimate extinction from the Catholic Church, and in some cases their
continuing vitality in other separate Christian communities.
Next, we will explore the early influence of pagan Roman and Greek arts, particularly sculpture
and architecture, and their adaptations and conversions for Christian purposes.
The First 300 Years of Christian Worship
The first Christians were disciples, who became the Apostles. Those included women. That is,
perhaps, unusual for any religious movement. Please take the time to review an excellent study
of the importance of women in the Jesus movement at
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/religion/first/women.html . Of course, it was
limited in what remained a man’s world, and it was not long-lived.
The disciples, being Jewish, first worshiped in the synagogues. Their scripture was Jewish, of
course reinterpreted to have foretold “Jesus the Christ,” the Jewish Messiah, Its forms of
worship, including music, were Jewish. It was only with the expansion of the Christian message
to the non-Jews, “the Gentiles,” through the missions of Paul and others, that pagan practices
associated with non-Jews entered Christian worship and practice.
Ephesians 5:19 and Collosians 3: 16 refer to Christian worship in “psalms, hymns and spiritual
songs.” “The earliest Christians were Jews who recognized and accepted Jesus Christ as the
promised Messiah, and the worship that they practiced was liturgical because Jewish worship
was liturgical.” See http://www.liturgica.com/html/litEChLit.jsp. That site provides an
excellent, succinct description of the earliest Christian music and an excellent recording of an
“Allelujah” chant which it implicitly suggests is representative of early Christian music. The
Psalms also described various ways of praising God with instruments, singing and dancing. To
the degree such Jewish practices continued in Jesus’ time it would be presumed that the first
Christians also adopted them for their own praise and adoration.
I suggest that shared worship practices developed along two main paths: Jewish practices and
traditions for Jewish Christian, and pagan inheritances for non-Jewish or Gentile
Christians. That took some time to develop. We know that it took some time for Christianity to
work out whether a Christian had to be a Jew, or at least had to observe Jewish purity and
Mosaic Law. That was not finally settled until the Council of Jerusalem at which time the
question was decided in the negative.
I had not understood the distinction of “Jesus” and “Christ” until I read Schillebeeckx’s Jesus:
An Experiment in Christology. Put succinctly, the study of Jesus concerns the historical
Jesus. The first writings concerning the life of the earthly Jesus did not begin to appear until 40
years or so after his death. That raises problems for a scholar in that he or she is confronted
with records of similar accounts with different chronological orders, or which otherwise
conflict. It was after Jesus’ death that various disciples, and ultimately Paul, experienced the
risen Lord. That necessarily raised questions of what was the meaning of the Jesus they knew
and of the apparitions of him which they experienced after his death. It was only after two
disciples had walked with “the stranger” a significant distance on the road to Emmaus, after they
invited him into their home for a meal, and then only after he blessed the bread, broke it and
gave thanks, that the disciples recognized him as Jesus. Upon recognition, he vanished. Jesus is
reported then to have appeared to the original Disciples, minus Judas, who had hanged himself,
and minus Thomas, who was to become “Doubting Thomas,” as they were hiding in a reclusive
room for a meal. We are told that some of them experienced Jesus’ ghost while others
experienced the person of Jesus, but a different Jesus than they had known. This Jesus was not
constrained by physical barriers, such as walls and closed doors, for we are told in the account
that all access to the room in which he appeared to them was closed. Actual physical bodies,
whether alive or resurrected, do not walk through closed doors or walls. It was only after such
experiences that they were able to “put together” what Jesus had said during his life with
them. Once such meaning was identified and assigned, that became a faith statement of his
new role as the Christ, forfetold by the prophets. See, also, the Frontline article, From Jesus to
Christ, at
http://web.archive.org/web/20020603123523/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/rel
igion/.
It took some time for Christians to develop a body of writings that their spiritual
leaders considered to be authentic and authoritative. Those had been written, collected, and
canonized as the New Testament by the end of the First Century.
The first writing we have concerning Christian organizational matters is the Didache, dated
generally in the first part of the Second Century. It addressed the appointment of bishops and
deacons, and criteria for the discernment of true prophets from false prophets. About two
centuries later, Constantine adopted the symbol of the cross to lead his soldiers into battle,
transforming the prior meaning of the “power of the cross.” Perhaps, more as a talisman for his
own continued military and political success, Constantine recognized the church as the official
state religion. He then organized and presided over its Council at Nicaea. hen a political leader
of an empire organizes and presidesThat agreed upon a statement of beliefs that was intended to
unify Christians throughout the Roman Empire. That council laid the foundation for the
Church’s doctrinal development thereafter as a political tool to bolster and justify political
authority. Upon the collapse of the Roman Empire, the church assumed that military power in
the form of the Papal States.
Christianity would never be the same after Constantine. Its rituals and practices would also be
changed forever. But the social stability that the Church provided also allowed its music, art,
and architecture to flourish.
For an excellent article on early Christian art, see http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/earlychristian-art.html.
Debt of Christian Art and Architecture to Classical Forms
In the prior post, we had explored theological ideas in Christianity that appeared in prior pagan
traditions. Whether Christianity recognizes those prior pagan sources as contributory to Christian
ideology, mere coincidence or as some Christian Fathers claimed, the work of the Devil to confuse
feeble minds, ultimately, it is a matter of personal choice and faith. In the world of art and architecture,
on the other hand, experts are in agreement that early Christian art was greatly influenced by classical
forms (which were associated with pagan and Jewish sources), and that, in fact, Christian art adopted
those forms to its own purposes. We have no examples of Christian art until after 100 a.d. With the
construction of the catacombs, which were initially and substantially for full body burial (anticipating
bodily resurrection of the Faithful in a Roman society that preferred cremation) we have our first extant
Christian art.
Only later were the catacombs used for secret Christian meetings, and then use was quite limited. As
we can expect, the first arts to be adapted to Christian use were painting and sculpture. Until
Christianity was adopted as a State religion by Constantine there was little architectural imitation other
than to model small meeting houses after domestic architectural forms. See
http://www.answers.com/topic/early-christian-art-and-architecture. It was after Constantine that
classical forms were used in the construction of larger and more visible structures such as the
basilica. We will examine that later as we explore various churches, cathedrals and basilicas.
That artistic debt to classical forms is acknowledged and demonstrated in
http://www.oneonta.edu/faculty/farberas/arth/arth212/Early_Christian_art.html. From that source,
consider:
The beginnings of Christian art can be dated to the end of the second century or the early years of the
third century A.D. The appearance of a comparatively large body of material from this period is a good
testament to the dramatic growth of Christianity in this period. The newly won converts to Christianity
were products of the classical culture of the Ancient world. Rather than reject their cultural heritage, the
new Christians assimilated the classical culture into Christianity. Christian theology, literature, and art of
this period bears the unmistakable imprint of this mixing of Christian and classical. For example, the
Christian writer Clement of Alexandria, writing at the end of the second and the beginning of the third
century, infuses his texts with a strong knowledge of classical literature, mythology, and philosophy. This
is well illustrated by an excerpt from a text entitled The Protreptikos. Here we find references to Homer
and Plato along side Biblical citations. The image of Christ the Word as the logos and teacher is derived
from Greek philosophy. Christ and the Christian as a philosopher are important themes in Early Christian
art. For example, in a catacomb painting, Christ as the philosopher is flanked by his disciples much like a
representation of Socrates surrounded by his students:
Notice here how Christ is given authority by being represented with the gesture of authority while
holding onto a scroll. Even his dress, a toga, is the dress associated with authority. A fourth century
painting of St. Paul already has his characteristic pointed beard and dark hair with receding hairline:
Paul’s dress, the scroll in his hands, and the container with more scrolls at his feet, all identify Paul as a
philosopher. A third century sarcophagus or tomb now in the church of Sta. Maria Antiqua has at its
center a representation of a seated man holding a scroll and a standing woman:
This is clearly based on the Classical formula of the philosopher and his muse. A sixth manuscript made
in Constantinople known as the Vienna Dioscorides includes miniatures showing Dioscorides, a first
century Greek physician and compiler of this medical encylopedia, accompanied by muses:
http://www.essentialhumanities.net/s_art_ec.php describes this early Christian art as owing a great
debt to Roman art forms and providing transition from that to Medieval art:
The Early Christian period of Western art corresponds roughly with the Late Empire period of the Roman
Empire (ca. 180-476). During the Early Christian period, Roman art forms were harnessed for Christian
expression. Early Christian visual art embodies a transition away from realism to stylization, as artists
focused on conveying spiritual power rather than physical accuracy (see realism vs stylization).1 Early
Christian art thus served as the transitional phase from Roman art to medieval art, the latter of which is
highly stylized.
With the fall of Rome, the West became politically fragmented, and Western art splintered into various
regional styles (known as the “barbarian styles”).2 Unity in Western art was restored in the Romanesque
period. In the Eastern Empire (which did not fracture), Early Christian art served as the transition to the
Byzantine style.
Architecture of Christian Meeting Places
Pre- and Shortly Post-Constantine
Wikipedia is not a recognized source of scholarly research. However, I have a Wikipedia site
that has information that is consistent with legitimate sources available to me and is
comprehensive and organized better than any other source. See
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_architecture for that source, as follows:
The church building as we know it grew out of a number of features of the Ancient Roman
period:
The house church
The atrium
The basilica
The bema
The mausoleum – centrally-planned building
The cruciform ground plan – Latin or Greek cross
Atrium
When Early Christian Communities began to build churches they drew on one particular feature
of the houses that preceded them, the atrium, or courtyard with a colonnade surrounding it. Most
of these atriums have disappeared. A fine example remains at the Basilica of San Clemente in
Rome and another was built in the Romanesque period at Sant’Ambrogio, Milan. The
descendants of these atria may be seen in the large square cloisters that can be found beside
many cathedrals, and in the huge colonnaded squares or piazze at the Basilicas of St Peter’s in
Rome and St Mark’s in Venice and the Camposanto (Holy Field) at the Cathedral of Pisa.
Basilica
Early church architecture did not draw its form from Roman temples, as the latter did not have
large internal spaces where worshipping congregations could meet. It was the Roman basilica,
used for meetings, markets and courts of law that provided a model for the large Christian church
and that gave its name to the Christian basilica.
Both Roman basilicas and Roman bath houses had at their core a large vaulted building with a
high roof, braced on either side by a series of lower chambers or a wide arcaded passage. An
important feature of the Roman basilica was that at either end it had a projecting exedra, or apse,
a semicircular space roofed with a half-dome. This was where the magistrates sat to hold court. It
passed into the church architecture of the Roman world and was adapted in different ways as a
feature of cathedral architecture.[2]
The earliest large churches, such as the Cathedral of San Giovanni in Laterano in Rome,
consisted of a single-ended basilica with one aspidal end and a courtyard, or atrium, at the other
end. As Christian liturgy developed, processions became part of the proceedings. The
processional door was that which led from the furthest end of the building, while the door most
used by the public might be that central to one side of the building. This is the case in many
cathedrals and churches.[3]
Bema
As numbers of the clergy increased, the small apse which contained the altar, or table upon
which the sacramental bread and wine were offered in the rite of Holy Communion, was not
sufficient to accommodate them. A raised dais called a bema formed part of many large basilican
churches. In the case of St. Peter’s Basilica and San Paolo fuori le Mura (St Paul’s outside the
Walls) in Rome, this bema extended laterally beyond the main meeting hall, forming two arms
so that the building took on the shape of a T with a projecting apse. From this beginning, the plan
of the church developed into the so-called Latin Cross which is the shape of most Western
Cathedrals and large churches. The arms of the cross are called the transept.[4]
Fourth Century Christian Music
As a music student and teacher, I developed an interest in church history and music, particularly
as it developed into Gregorian Chant and then into polyphonic church music. We have already
seen in the art of Santa Pudenziana the influence of imperial Rome, or, more particularly,
Constantine, in embracing Christianity as its state religion by taking the catacomb image of Jesus
as the simple shepherd and teacher and transforming him into Ruler of Heaven who legitimatized
imperial Rome as His political representative on earth. The Roman adoption of the Church as its
servant also effected the Church’s music.
I have found an excellent essay on early church music that far exceeds my own knowledge of
it. I will outline some of its principle observations and encourage the reader of this blog to read
the actual writing. The source of the treatise is
http://jcsu.jesus.cam.ac.uk/~mma29/essays/dissertation/. The educational institution for which it
was written is the Jesus College at Cambridge, Massachusetts, whose web site is
http://www.jesus.cam.ac.uk/about-jesus-college/. I am unable to identify the author, but I am
greatly indebted to, and appreciative of, him or her.
The author organizes the Fourth Century attitudes toward music into several categories of
approval or disapproval: as born of the physical world which should be rejected by the Christian,
as transcendent experience drawing attention to Heaven; as raising and offering great value to
God; as “revealing to us the harmony of the cosmos, through which we may discover God.” The
conclusion drawn by the author of this essay expresses vividly the tension that has remained in
the Christian Church in all its forms, orientations and traditions from that time to the present:
“[A]ll sides were agreed that music was powerful – the question was whether that power could
be controlled and directed towards good ends.”
A similar question that has recurred through the ages from that time to now has been whether, if
music is to be allowed at all, instrumental music belongs in church or if it should be
only presented with the unaccompanied voice.
The author sets out his or her purpose for that essay:
There had always been Christian use of music, but it is in the fourth century that we find a new
debate about music. Music was now openly used as a medium for theological contention, by
figures as diverse as Arius and Augustine; in this context the old philosophical concerns about
music’s power over emotion gained a new relevance. In this essay I intend to explore the
historical development of fourth-century Christian attitudes to music, and to show how those
attitudes related to wider theological concerns.
It would appear that the principal congregational use of music in worship was to participate in
hynms and Psalms. This essay is highly recommended for all persons who have either an
interest in church music, per se, or the theological ideas associated with its use. I particularly
like the graphic image the author uses at the head of the essay: the experience of worshipful
music is worth a thousand words. Whoever the author is, that person is not only well-acquainted
with the history of sacred music but also with historical Church practices and church literature,
especially that relating to the development of its religious and theological ideas.
For an excellent description of early music and how it involved, see
http://www.liturgica.com/html/litEOLitEarly.jsp and its related sites. It also has some examples
of chant, particularly.
The Oldest Basilica Style Christian Church,
Santa Pudenziana, Rome
Built in the 4th century A.D., Santa Pudenziana is the oldest existing church in Rome.
See http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/santa-pudenziana-rome for the source and description
of the above photographs. Note in the description given there the imperial source of the halo
signifying a holy Christian figure. Further, the site comments on the mosaic, noting its
transformation of the Christ figure from the catacomb presentation as teacher to this postConstantine presentation as King of Heaven. Notice, also, the imperial influences in the
presentation:
The language of this passage shows the unmistakable influence of the Roman emphasis on
triumph. The Cross is characterized as a trophy or victory monument. Christ is conceived of as a
warrior king. The order of the heavenly realm is characterized as like the Roman army divided
up into legions. Both the text and mosaic reflect the transformation in the conception of Christ.
These document the merging of Christianity with Roman imperial authority.
It is this aura of imperial authority that distinguishes the Santa Pudenziana mosaic from the
painting of Christ and his disciples from the Catacomb of Domitilla, Christ in the catacomb
painting is simply a teacher, while in the mosaic Christ has been transformed into the ruler of
heaven. Even his long flowing beard and hair construct Christ as being like Zeus or Jupiter. The
mosaic makes clear that all authority comes from Christ. He delegates that authority to his
flanking apostles. It is significant that in the Santa Pudenziana mosaic the figure of Christ is
flanked by the figure of St. Paul on the left and the figure of St. Peter on the right. These are the
principal apostles.
See
http://www.paradoxplace.com/Perspectives/Rome%20&%20Central%20Italy/Rome/Rome_Chur
ches/Santa_Pudenziana/Santa_Pudenziana.htm for photographs of its exterior and interior:
See, also,
https://www.google.com/search?q=Santa+Pudenziana&hl=en&pwst=1&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch
&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=g8HGToaHDMf2QWP9vXcDw&ved=0CEcQsAQ&biw=1424&bih=775 for twenty-one pages of small pictures,
without description, of its exterior, interior and art works.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Pudenziana for some history of this basilica.
Sixth Century San Vitale, Ravenna, Italy and
its Mosaics
Following Constantine, Roman emperors viewed themselves as defenders of the Christian
faith. That included defending Christianity from heretical diversions such as Arianism. These
subsequent emperors saw themselves not only as defenders of the faith, but elected by God for
Roman Rule. It was also true of Justinian. He is known for codifying and clarifying Roman
Law.
The octagonal shape of San Vitale was understood to honor the martyrdom of St. Vitale. As is
typical of many of the early churches and cathedrals the art that adorned its walls and ceiling
were intended to convey to the common, illiterate Christian Biblical stories, interpretation, and
connections with their common lives. It was not unusual to portray some contemporary political
figure as participating in such stories. This teaching function of church architecture and
decoration continued in San Vitale. Indeed, San Vitale is a remarkable example of the
practice, displayed in the round, making it fully accessible from a single vantage point.
San Vitale Floor Plan
From early Christendom, there had been various church leaders who cautioned against taking all
Biblical stories literally. That caveat continued in the mosaics of San Vitale, as described at
http://employees.oneonta.edu/farberas/ARTH/arth212/san_vitale.html:
In order to “read” the mosaics and gain an understanding of the richness of their meaning, we
must have an understanding of the nature of Biblical interpretation. From Early Christianity,
Biblical interpretation played an integral role in religious experience. Biblical exgesis, or
interpretation, traditionally defines four different levels of meaning: 1) literal or historical; 2)
allegorical; 3) tropological or moral; 4) anagogical. Reading of the Bible is, thus, not limited to a
record of past events, but is seen as a key to an understanding of a universal plan of history.
Critical here is the relationship of the Old and New Testaments. The Old Testament is not seen
as just an account of events before the time of Christ, but the events of the Old Testament are
seen to “prefigure” or typologically connect to events of the New Testament. Saint Augustine of
Hippo (354-430), one of the Four Church Fathers, in his City of God (XVI. 26) states that “the
New Testament is hidden in the Old; the Old is clarified by the New.” Christ himself articulates
this relationship when he compares Jonah’s three days spent in the belly of the sea monster to the
three days he would spend in the tomb awaiting Resurection (Matt. 12:40). The story of Jonah
can also be seen to link to the sacrament of Baptism. In the ritual of Baptism, the immersion in
water is seen as a dying of the old self and a rebirth through Christ. In a more general sense, the
story of Jonah refers to the importance of faith and prayer as the way of salvation of the “elect”
from damnation. Because of his belief in God, Jonah was willing to have himself cast into the
sea in order to save his shipmates. This self-sacrifice by Jonah was regularly seen as an Old
Testament prefiguration of Christ’s Sacrifice on the Cross on behalf of humanity.
In your study of the mosaics, try to find the typological parallels and relationships between the
different parts of the mosaic program. From the perspective of our knowledge of later Christian
art, it is significant to acknowledge the absence in the mosaics of San Vitale of direct
representations of New Testament images, but they are typologically alluded to in the other
mosaics. Pay special attention to the importance of the figures of Christ and the Emperor
Justinian. Note the number of different figures represented in the mosaic program which can be
typologically related to Christ or Justinian.
San Vitale Interior
San Vitale Apse
http://www.oneonta.edu/faculty/farberas/arth/arth212/san_vitale.html
See the above-referenced site for pictures of the church and its mosaics and for
commentary. See http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/byzantine-justinian for a video
presentation and discussion of that art work.
Basilica of Santa Prassede, Rome
Eighth Century
The Basilica of Santa Prassed was commisioned in the eighth century by Pope Hadrian I.
Interior of Basilica of Santa Prassede, Rome
See
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/85/Interior_of_Basilica_di_Santa_Prassede%
2C_Rome.JPG for the source of the above photograph. See
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Prassede and http://rometour.org/church-chiesa-di-santaprassede-allesquilino.html for photographs and descripion in English of mosaic pictures in the
interior.
Sant Quirze de Pedret, Catalonia, Spain, 11th
and 12th Centuries
Located in the mountains of Spain, Sant Quirze de Pedret is an example of 11th and 12th
centuries Romanesque architecture. Romanesque architecture is characterized by the Roman
arch which, during that time, spread throughout the Roman Empire, including Europe. As there
were aqueducts built in Europe as far as France, Roman architectural features, such as the
arch, likewise were employed for ecclesiastical purposes.
First, some background: the Roman Empire is considered to have fallen in the fifth century A.D.
At that time the former Roman Empire, extended well into Europe; it was considered to have
entered the “Dark Ages.” As the name suggests, this was a time in which Roman civilization,
including all its arts and learning, was archived and preserved in reclusive monastic libraries.
When Charlemagne was crowned in 800 A.D. as Holy Roman Emperor, Europe is considered to
have taken its first steps, although haltingly, out of the Dark Ages, toward a rebirth of classical
civilization, imitating in many ways the Roman model some 600 years later. That laster time is
known as the Renaissance, which refers literally to a “rebirth of civilization. During that time,
Europe began to rediscover classical arts and learning.
Charlemagne, perhaps in an attempt to portray his allegiance to the Roman Catholic Church, a
political as well as an ecclesiastical force of the time which had to be dealt with in some
degree, began a building campaign utilizing Roman architectural features, notably the arch. That
architectural renaissance extended beyond the area now known as France, north into Britain.
Sant Quirze de Pedret is a church built shortly after Charlemagne’s reign but as an extension of
that architectural renaissance. Its arches represent the Romanesque style. Moreover, it
employed early church graphic arts to tell the Christ – story.
http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/Romanesque.html
Exterior of Sant Quirze de Pedret
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b2/Sant_quirze_pedret-exterior.jpg
Interior of Sant Quirze de Pedret
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/21/Sant_Quirze_de_Pedret__una_absidiola_lateral_al_MNAC.jpg
See http://professional.barcelonaturisme.com/files/8684-773-pdf/MNAC.ang.pdf for a sampling
of examples and discussion concerning Romanesque art, including a piece from Sant Quirze de
Pedret.
See http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/wise-and-foolish-virgins-sant-quirze-de-pedret for a
video exploration and expert discussion of the gospel story of the wise and foolish virgins.
See
https://www.google.com/search?q=Sant+Quirze+de+Pedret&hl=en&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tb
o=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=cETMTqy6GaOiAK9tInUCw&sqi=2&ved=0CDIQsAQ&biw=1096&bih=744 for pictures of art work and the
interior of Sant Quirze de Pedret.
From Monody to Polyphony with
contribution by Guido d’Arezzo
When we had previously discussed early church music, we mentioned the use of instruments
with singing. The vocal performances, however, were a single melody. These recognized
melodies by which the liturgy was sung were called Plainchant. The church excluded
instrumental music because of its association with pagan cellebrations and practices. In the late
sixth and early seventh centuries, Pope Gregory I codified the chants and liturgies that had
developed among the churches of Catholicism. The resultant officially recognized chant became
known as Gregorian chant.
Two treatises appeared in the 10th century, Musica enchiriadis and Schola enchiriadis. These
provide descriptions of how music can be ornamented, either by embellishing the melody or by
adding parallel parts at the octave, fourth or fifth, but they did not indicate the actual
pitches. These added lines had no particular interest in themselves. This style of ornamentation
was called origanum. The Winchester Troper, appearing in about 1000 A.D., is the earliest
sample of musical writing that specified the pitches and durations of the melodies.
In the 11th century, the Christian educator, Guido d’Arezzo, developed pedagogic tools for
singing. He found a song that had certain syllables on an assending scale. From those syllables,
we have today the basis of the solfeggio system of sight singing: ut (now do), re, mi, fa, sol, la
. He also developed a four line staff on which he could indicate precise pitches as well as
durations. He could combine several staves for different pitches of singing at the same time,
which he identified with clefs. To teach his system of sight singing, he developed what became
known as the Guidonian Hand. This system became the source of modern notation. It enabled
composers to notate different melodies to be sung simultaneously, which became known as
polyphony.
Guidonian Hand and Music Manuscript of the Eleventh Century
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.designwritingresearch.org/music/images/3.jp
g&imgrefurl=http://www.designwritingresearch.org/music/index.php%3Fid%3D8&h=274&w=4
00&sz=34&tbnid=Kx5DsIjIFGb1AM:&tbnh=90&tbnw=131&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dguidonian
%2Bhand%26tbm%3Disch%26tbo%3Du&zoom=1&q=guidonian+hand&docid=TolRsC2__yH
MpM&hl=en&sa=X&ei=4_NTuDGBK3E2QXhtZimDw&sqi=2&ved=0CDYQ9QEwBg&dur=3166f
For a demonstration of how the Guidonian Hand was used to aid sight singing, see
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlleweQuq14.
For an excellent synopsis of the development of polyphony and a scrap of music manuscript of
the greatest master of polyphony, J.S. Bach, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyphony .
For a sample of the music of Hildegard von Bingen, who succeeded d’Arezzo, go to
http://www.last.fm/listen/artist/Hildegard%2Bvon%2BBingen/similarartists.
Interpretations, Heresies, and the Seeds
of Orthodoxy
The Heretics
Once tolerant of new ideas, the Church thereafter became intolerant of those that deviated from
official Church doctrine as set by Church Council. The first such Council was led by
Constantine – so much for separation of Church and State . . .
Durant notes that oftentimes a Church heresy was associated with political rebellion. The
principal heresies of the fourth and fifth centuries were as follows: Arianism was strongly
associated with the barbarian invasion; it taught that Jesus was not literally the Son of God but of
similar being with God. Manicheism was associated with Persian dualism of God and Satan,
Good and Evil, Light and Darkness. The Donatists in Africa asserted that the sacraments would
have no benefit when administered by a clergyman in a state of sin. Pelagius argued against the
doctrine of original sin. We will discuss his ideas more in our discussion of St. Augustine.
Nestorius argued against the notion of the “Mother of God. When he refused to recant at the
Council at Rome in 430 A.D., he was deposed and excommunicated. Mopsuestia developed
principles textual analysis of scripture, predating the principles of Higher Criticism. When he
examined scripture with these principles, Mopsuestia concluded that the Book of Job was of
pagan origin. But, perhaps the claim that got him into the greatest trouble was that Mary was not
the mother of God but the mother of the human Jesus.
Nestorius retired to Antioch, but because he insisted that Mary was not the mother of God,
Emperor Theodosius II banished him to the Libyan desert. Here is where church matters become
entangled with political power and favor: the Byzantine court granted him an Imperial pardon.
His followers settled in eastern Syria translating the Bible and classics. Will Durant tells us that
they “played a vital part in acquainting the Muslims with Greek science, medicine, and
philosophy.” Further persecution caused this sect and its ideas to disburse into Persia, two areas
of India, China and throughout Asia. Their communities survive to this day and still reject
Mariolatery.
Eutyches taught that Jesus was not both human and divine, but only divine. The patriarch of
Constantinople called a local synod and condemned his “Monophysite” doctrine as heretical.
Eutyches appealed to Rome, and the church authorities there convinced Emperor Theodosius to
call the Council at Ephesus in 449 A.D.. Essentially, appealing to the Roman political authority
to take its fight with Constantinople with some clout, it held that religion was subordinated to
politics. Eutyches was exonerated and Flavian, the patriarch of Constantinople, was assailed with
such vitriol that he died. Upon Flavian’s last VS death there was no further need to support
Eutyches. The Roman church called to the Council at Chalcedon in 451 A.D., which
compliantly condemned Eutyches, reaffirming the nature of Christ as both human and divine.
The Church authorities in Syria continued to teach Eutyches’ Monophysistic doctrine, which
thereafter became adopted by the Christian church-states of Egypt and Abyssinia.
Durant at p.50 writes ”The bishops of Rome, in the fourth century, did not show the Church at
her best. . . . The conversion of the Western barbarians immensely extended the authority and
influence of the Roman see. As rich and aristocratic families abandoned paganism for
Christianity, the Roman church participated more and more in the wealth that came to the
Western capital.” With political infusion of wealth into the Church, by 400 A.D., the Roman
Catholic Church was able to build opulent churches.
The Saints
Approximately contemporaneous with heresy, were several persons who would be approved by
the Church as Saints. The first of these is St. Jerome. He was a passionate Christian. He founded
a monastic brotherhood at Acquileia, choosing to leave it to its unrelenting wickedness to move
in 374 A.D., to a monastic settlement in the desert near Antioch. He found the atmosphere
unhealthy fear and retreated to live as an anchorite in the desert. He had been trained in the Latin
classics, and while in the desert he studied those in addition to other subjects at least he did so
until he had a dream that he had died and, as Durant quotes him, he was “dragged before the
Judge’s judgment seat. I was asked to state my condition, and replied that I was a Christian. But
He who presided said, ‘Thou liest; thou art a Ciceronian, not a Christian. For where thy treasure
is, there will thy heart be also.’” Then, as so many other persons of enlightenment have felt
guilty for their thinking independent of the perceived authority, he felt the perceived scourge of
that authority and succumbed to it. In 379 A.D. he returned to Antioch, and was ordained a
priest. He became a secretary to Pope Dasmasus, who commissioned him to make a new Latin
translation of the New Testament. The extravagant atmosphere of the papal court seem to
conflict with his aesthetic vows. A Christian aristocrat couple admitted him to their home as
their spiritual advisor. However, others believed that his enjoyment of the company of women
contradicted his claimed commitment to celibacy. He satirically castigated the pagan Roman
society that criticized him. As Durant describe it at page 52, “He scolds a Roman lady in terms
that suggest an appreciative eye.” Again, as Durant describes it at page 53, “He is shocked to
find, concubinage even among Christians, and more shocked to find it covered by the pretense of
practicing chastity.” Durant concludes at page 54, “Jerome was a saint only in the sense that he
lived an ascetic life devoted to the church; he was hardly a saint in character or speech. It is sad
to find in so great a man so many violent outbursts of hatred, misrepresentations and
controversial ferocity. “
The next great saint of this era is St. Augustine ( 354 to 430 A.D.). Whereas St. Jerome was a
passionate Christian from early years, St. Augustine’s mother was a devout Christian, but
Augustine preferred the company of the most vile youth of his day. Durant quotes him at page 65
to say, despite his mother’s anxious pleas that he reject their life style and company,“ I ran
headlong with such blindness that I was ashamed among my equals to be guilty of less
impudency and . . . I heard [them] brag mightily of their naughtiness; . . . And I took pleasure to
do it, not for the pleasure of the act only, but for the praise of it also; . . . And when I lacked
opportunity to commit a wickedness that should make me as bad as the lost, I would feign myself
to have done what I never did.” It has been said that Augustine at some point in his early life,
prayed, “Lord, give me celibacy . . . but not yet.”
For nine years, Augustine accepted Manichaean dualism as a proper explanation of the existence
in the world of evil and good. His study of Plato and Plotinus influenced him
toward Neoplatonism, which was later to dominate Church theology and doctrine.
Like St. Jerome, St. Augustine had a visionary experience that led him to orthodoxy. One day, as
Augustine sat contemplating, he heard a voice that kept ringing in his ears; “Take up and read;
take up and read.” He picked up a Bible and read Paul: “Not in rioting and drunkenness, not in
clamouring and wantonness, not in strife and envying; but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and
make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof.”
He was moved by the sermons of St. Ambrose. On Easter Sunday, 387 A.D., St. Ambrose
baptized Augustine. Thereafter, Augustine and several of his friends who were baptized with him
went to Africa where St. Augustine established in 388 A.D. the Augustinian order. That is the
oldest monastic group in the Western church. He helped in administering a diocese, where he
also preached eloquently, with renown. Four years later, the Bishop of that diocese died and,
over his protests, Augustine was unanimously elected to fill that position.
With that ecclesiastical power, he undertook a long battle against the Donatists. Ultimately, the
Donatists were ordered to hold no further meetings and turn all of their church property over to
the Catholic Church. Previously, Augustine had held to the position that no person should be
coerced into the Christian faith. But now that he was Bishop, he urged the Church to chasten the
Donatists as a father might chastise an unruly son.
Augustine did have some concerns about the doctrines of the Church. He labored for many years
to reconcile its doctrines with classical philosophic principles, The Trinity, the problem of free
will of man with the foreknowledge of God, and the problem of damnation for those predestined
to do what they did, were really tough, but he managed to do so to his satisfaction.
Perhaps, considering his own youthful, morally rudderless indulgences, Augustine concluded
that humankind is born inclined to evil. That he attributed to Original Sin as inherited from
Adam. Being naturally inclined to evil, only the grace of God can turn man to good. “Through a
woman we were sent to destruction; through a woman’s salvation was it restored to us.” Durant
at page 69. St. Augustine was prone to extreme statements, even for his taste. At page 69,
Durant notes that, “At times he propounded the Calvinistic doctrine that God arbitrarily chose,
from all eternity, the “elect” to whom he would give his saving grace.” As to creation,
Augustine held that it was not necessary to believe that it occurred in six days.
The contemporary of Augustine, Pelagius, argued that mankind has freedom to choose evil or
good, and that, as Jesus taught in Matthew 25, good works could save. God leaves our fate to our
choosing. The theory of innate human depravity, he said, was a cowardly shifting to God of the
blame for man’s sins. Man feels, and therefore is, responsible: “if I ought, I can.” Durant at 69.
Pelagius moved to Rome about 400 A.D. to live with Christian families there, where he built a
reputation of being virtuous. Augustine attacked him as heretical. One must wonder if he had to
attack Pelagius to cover his own gilt for placing the blame for his youthful sinfulness on God by
the Doctrine of Original Sin, which Pelagius had attacked. Through a series of political
machinations, Pelogius was finally declared a heretic.
Two of Augustine’s literary works are among the world’s classic literature: the Confessions,
written about 400 A.D., is his autobiography, and City of God, is, in Durant’s words, a
philosophy in history. When Rome fell to the barbarians, it shook the faith of many Christians,
including that of Augustine. City of God was Augustine’s effort to provide a logical basis for
why God would allow such a disaster. Although the Church was an ally to the Roman State,
Augustine attempted to distance the church from this political debacle, arguing that it was not
reasonable to conclude that the defeat of Rome impugned Christianity. As Durant puts it,
“Augustine’s initial answer was Rome had been punished not for her new religion but for her
continued sins.” Perhaps influenced by that position, the barbarians ransacked the pagan shrines,
but they left the Christian churches untouched and available as a refuge for all that fled there. As
a result of the pagan option for Christianity, former pagan festivals were replaced by Christian
celebrations. “… The feast of the purification of Isis became the feast of the Nativity; the
Saturnalia were replaced by Christmas; the Floralia by Pentecost; the ancient festival of the dead
by All Souls Day; and the resurrection of Attis by the resurrection of Christ. See Durant page 75.
Whether incidentally or by influence, Augustine accepts the Persian notion of a world divided
between good and evil, lightness and darkness. That duality had its natural roots in
Neoplatonism, contrasting the actual on earth as a poor reflection upon the ideal, above the
earth, which it imitated. Augustine adapted that dualism to his own purposes: there are two
cities: the earthly city which worldly men, devoted to earthly affairs, enjoy; and the divine City
of the one true God, preserved for the elect. Not surprisingly, the Church has throughout its
history identified itself with the City of God.
The church, spared by the barbarians for whatever reasons, survived the fall of Rome to become
a repository of classical learning through the Dark Ages until the Renaissance was to rediscover
them. With the dissolution of the Roman Empire, the Church filled the political vacuum and
validated those feudal powers that played to its power.
The Dark Ages: Christian and Jewish
Cultures at Their Nadir as Islamic Culture
Reaches Its Zenith
It was the Italian poet, Petrarch, that characterized as “The Dark Ages” the period of European
history from the fall of Rome to his own time in the 14th century which realized the resurgence
of learning and the arts in Western culture. While Christian and Judaic cultures were indeed dark
during that time, Islamic culture, on the other hand, was brilliant during that same period of time,
as it rose to its zenith and gained a foothold in Europe through Spain.
The Islamic founding prophet, Mohammed (572 632 A.D.) was born and raised in Arabia. He
became familiar with Jewish and Christian Scriptures through a cousin, and he came to admire
the monotheism of the Jews and the morals of the Christians. He came to value of the Jewish and
Christian scriptures as a revelation from God. He was aghast at the tribal violence and petty
vengeance prevalent in his native Arabia, and he came to believe in the need of a new religion,
which might redeem and unify the tribes.
Mohammed had made a habit of going to the mountains to meditate. One day he heard a voice
from heaven tell him, “Read!” He answered, “I do not read.” Again the voice said, “Read,” and,
although illiterate, he read. [The account bears remarkable resemblance to the story of Moses
and the burning bush. It also echoes the command to Augustine which led to his conversion to
Christianity, described in the next prior post]. As Mohammed was descending the mountain, he
heard a voice again, say, “O Mohammed! Thou art the messenger of Allah, and I am Gabriel.”
He had many more such experiences in which he heard the word of Allah and transmitted it to
his family and his people, who recorded what he dictated, that becoming the Koran. From that
the Muslim religion sprang. Affirming his respect for Judaic and Christian Scriptures, he
considered Moses and Jesus to be prophets as was he. Unfortunately, the respect that he showed
for both Judaism and Christianity, was not returned in kind.
At a time when Western culture, and Judaic and Christian civilizations entered their dark,
uninspired, dark period, Islamic culture, recently born of the new Muslim religion, soared and
reached its zenith from 1057 two 1258 A.D., long predating advances in the Western culture of
science, math, and architecture. Islamic culture contributed the following to science: the first
treatise on trigonometry as a science; an historic account of physics, laws of the lever, tables of
specific gravity for various substances, a theory of gravity as an attractive force, a celestial globe,
geographers, an extension of Greek technological principles, and extensive ophthalmology,
treatises on medicine, advanced design and practices in hospitals, and even in insane asylums.
Not so different from ideological histories of Judaism or Christianity, there developed a rift in
Islam between a conservative and sometimes reactive segment of the Orthodox elements of its
faith and the progressiveness of its educated classes. Also, as can be seen in Christianity, the
Orthodox became suspicious of education, and, as in 20th and 21st century fundamentalist
Christians, the perceived a chasm between religion and science. One Orthodox Muslim, AlGhazali, placed the intellectuals into a general category of infidels, identified as theists who
believe in God and immortality but deny creation and the resurrection; the deists acknowledged
Allah, but, much like Newton, considered the world to be a mechanical object created by Allah,
wound up, and left to operate on its own; and the materialists, who went so far as to reject the
very notion of Allah.
Such high scientific and philosophic achievements were demonized in Muslim Spain as a result
of Orthodox fear that the People’s faith would be seriously harmed.
As Will Durant describes it at page 341,
The rise and decline of Islamic civilization is one of the major phenomena of history. For five
centuries, from 700 to 1200, Islam led the world in power, order, and extent of government, in
refinement of manners, in standards of living, in humane legislation and religious toleration, in
literature, scholarship, science, medicine, and philosophy.
Even the ribbed vault in Gothic architecture was predated in Islam. In general, Islamic cultural
achievements so much exceeded the Dark Ages of Western culture that it seems that the fate of
Europe could have been quite different had not Islamic culture fallen into decline toward the end
of that period.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_architecture or an excellent article and pictures of
Islamic architecture. You will note at least two features in these pictures and articles: 1.
the Roman arch as a principal structural feature, and 2 .decorations that are primarily geometric
with no features representing either human life or the divine. Of particular interest to me is
the Sheikh Lotf Allah Mosque which uses, as I would describe it, a honeycomb of large archical
roof structures, which may be seen at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sally_Port_of_Sheikh_Lotf_Allah_Mosque.JPG .
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_art for an excellent article on Islamic arts. See
http://www.cba.ua.edu/~grichey/coursework-index/international/turkey/photos/blue-mosque for
the source of the following photograph of the “Blue Mosque,” below:
See, also ,http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/orna/hd_orna.htmfor examples of Islamic artistic
production.
Finally, see http://www.colostate.edu/orgs/MSA/find_more/islart.html for an excellent essay on
the ideas and ideals exemplified in Islamic art.
For an excellent article on Jewish architecture, and of the influence on it of Islamic architecture,
see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synagogue_architecture . See, also,
http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/14161-synagogue-architecture .
The Crusades (1095 – 1291 A.D.)
The Dark Ages were indeed dark, decidedly unenlightened years of the Church. I wonder how a
Church which built cathedrals that used materials to build an edifice and decorate it to reflect
high values could have fomented such discord that it would evolve into a crusade that could lure
participants with promises of a glorious life thereafter for those who died defending their faith
(not so unlike the motivation of today’s terrorists). From my perspective the hatred so often
preached by certain “defenders of the faith,” be they Christian, Jew, Muslim, or any other faith
that disconnects spiritual values from human values, or who are preaching messages that are
contrary to reason and contrary to the core values of each of those great religions is indefensible;
the only difference is the particular justification given.
When the Turks took control of Jerusalem and its holy places in 1088 A.D., stories abounded
in European Christian communities of atrocities committed in Jerusalem by Turks against
Christians. Pope Urban took advantage of these stories to foment religious zealotry to oust the
“infidels.” He bid Christians to gather under the sign of the cross and wear signs of that
cross, and to take over possession of Jerusalem from the Turks. As an inducement, Crusaders
were offered indulgences, serfs were allowed freedom, death penalties were commuted and
prisoners were set free in exchange for participation. It’s no wonder they were such an unruly
mass on their way to and in the process of taking Jerusalem. After 9/11, the Western world has
been assailed as “infidels” by radical Muslims – not so different, considering what the
“Christians” did to the Muslims when they took Jerusalem. In his book, The Age of Faith, at 592,
Will Durant quotes “the priestly eyewitness Raymond of Agiles,” to write,
wonderful things were to be seen. Numbers of the Saracens were beheaded . . . others were shot
with arrows, or forced to jump from the towers; others were tortured for several days and then
burned in flames. In the streets were seen piles of heads and hands and feet. One rode about
everywhere amid the corpses of men and horses.
Durant reports at 592, “70,000 Muslims remaining in the city were slaughtered. The surviving
Jews were herded into a synagogue and burned alive.”
After Christians had “liberated” Jerusalem, the goal of the first Crusade was considered
accomplished, and many of the Crusaders returned home. Muslim refugees from the “Christian”
slaughter of Islamic and Jewish Jerusalem fled home to tell of the horrific actions of the
“Christians” in Jerusalem.
Six more Crusades would follow, each with its own details and ostensible triggers, but each
utterly contrary to the teaching of Jesus: “by their fruits you will know them.” Will Durant notes
in his account of the Crusades in the volume, The Age of Faith, that on several occasions,
Muslim leaders acted more humanely than did the Christians.
Stained-Glass Panel, ca.
1245–1248
France, Tours, Ambulatory of the Cathedral of Saint-Gatien
Pot-metal glass and vitreous paint
21 x 13 1/2 in. (53.3 x 34.3 cm)
The Cloisters Collection, 1937 (37.173.3)
King Louis IX of France (r. 1226–70), later Saint Louis, undertook two Crusades to the Holy
Land. He acquired relics of Christ’s passion” from his cousin, the Latin emperor of
Constantinople, Baldwin II, most notably a piece of the “True Cross” and also the “Crown of
Thorns.” He brought these relics to Paris and installed them in the Sainte-Chapelle, a church that
he had built to house them. According to a contemporary chronicle, on the way to Paris, Louis
stopped at Sens, where the Crown of Thorns was placed in the cathedral overnight. This panel
shows Louis at Sens with his brother and some courtiers. Clad in simple clothes, the crowned
King Louis carries the extraordinary relic atop a chalice.
See http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/37.173.3 for a photograph of the above
stained-glass panel, description and comment.
Armorial Gemellion, third quarter of 13th century
Limoges, France
Copper, engraved and gilded, champlevé enamel
Diam. 9 1/16 in. (23 cm)
Rogers Fund, 1949 (49.56.8)
This gemellion, or enamel basin, testifies to the dialogue between the crusader Kingdom of
Jerusalem and the Limousin region of France, renowned for its enamel production. The arms of
that kingdom, a large cross surrounded by small crosses, appear at the center of the bowl. Four
men armed with shields and clubs separated by three-towered castles surround the arms.
Originally part of a pair, the bowl was used to pour water over the hands from the small
“gargoyle” or animal-head spout set into the side.
See http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/49.56.8 for a photograph of the above
Armorial Gemellion, description and comment.
Tomb Effigy of Jean d’Alluye, mid-13th century
French; Made in Loire Valley
Limestone
83 1/2 x 34 1/4 in. (212.1 x 87 cm)
The Cloisters Collection, 1925 (25.120.201)
The tomb effigy is of Jean d’Alluye, a French knight of the thirteenth century. When he died in
1248, he was buried at the abbey which he had founded—La Clarté-Dieu near Tours in
northwestern France.
This type of effigy, showing the deceased lying atop his tomb, is known as a gisant. The knight
holds his hands in prayer, and his expression is one of deep contemplation. Medieval knights
combined Christian and military ideals and aspired to the virtues of piety, loyalty, and honor.
Jean d’Alluye wears the full regalia of knighthood before the development of steel-plate armor.
The hood of his long-sleeved chain-mail shirt is draped around his neck, and its mittens are
attached to the sleeves. His large triangular shield is at his side, and his feet rest on a lion. The
spurs on his ankles are a special kind worn only by knights. His sword, belt, and sheath are in the
same style as his uniform, but his sword is not like anything used by the knights of his day. We
know Jean d’Alluye journeyed to the Holy Land in 1241.
See http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/25.120.201 for the source of the above
photograph of the above Tomb Effigy, description and notes.
For an interesting article on the role of knights in the crusades, see Feudalism and Knights in
Medieval Europe at http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/feud/hd_feud.htm
In the early 1980′s I was asked to fill the pulpit of our pastor. I chose for my topic the notion that
we are not, as Christians, called to defend the faith: it needs no defense. It needs persons to live
it. In that sermon, I looked to the history of the Inquisition, which was not targeting those of
other faiths, but accused heretics among them. The purpose the Inquisition was to inflict
discomfort to extreme pain over an extended period of time to obtain recantation. Their
justification for such exquisite tortures was that it was not a punishment, which is why a quick
death as in hanging , or the sword, would not accomplish their intended purpose: to use torture
over time sufficient to obtain a confession and the promise not to repeat the heresy. Jesus did not
“defend the faith.” Rather, the gospel accounts report that he went about doing good. That is
consistent with his response when asked about people doing good but not in his name: “ Don’t
worry about it. By their fruits you will know them.” Jesus would have rejected a Cartesian
duality of spirit and matter. He asked people to show love to all as ” the Father” loves. James,
the author of the New Testament book named for him, got it right. No duality there.
How did the Crusades affect the church, its message, and its art? That will be the subject of my
next post.
The Early Inquisition (1000 – 1300)
Will Durant says on page 784, The Age of Faith, “intolerance is the natural concomitant of strong
faith; tolerance grows only when faith loses certainty; certainty is murderous.”
I must agree with Durant that certainty can be murderous. But to say that intolerance is the
natural concomitant of strong faith is to misunderstand faith. Faith is not certainty of ideas,
philosophies, theologies or beliefs. The great Seventeenth Century mathematician, scientist and
philosopher, Blaise Pascal, said, “Faith declares what the senses do not see, but not the contrary
of what they see.” The reason that ”faith” can become murderous is that such a faith too often
assumes a superiority over matter and reality, bearing bad fruits; Jesus would expose such
profession of faith with the practical test: “by their fruits you will know them.”
The Renaissance is named for the rebirth of the classical arts in society. As with all life, the
rebirth quired a period of gestation in preparation fothat rebirth. Part of that preparation for the
Renaissance was the rise of vernacular in the vrious regions of Europe, first in its spoken word
and then in it’s writing. About 1170 A.D., a rich merchant by the name of Peter Waldo
organized some scholars to tanslate the Bible into the vernacular of his own region in southern
France. Previously, any writing of scholarly significance would have been written in the formal
language of Latin. In this era, riches were beginning to be accumulated beyond the Church, the
lords, and generally the aristocracy. His following became known as the Waldenses. In a manner,
it would seem, that with the rise of the merchant class, old social structures began to
soften. Waldo gathered a group called the “poor man of Lyons,” who, for all purposes, except
formal training recognized by the church, were monks. Gradually, the group became critical of
the priesthood and of sinful priests who were administering the sacraments. In some ways, I see
it as an early version of modern fundamentalism, in which every one who can read the Bible
does so, taking it literally and thereby stripping it of its mystery which transcends mere
human experience, and maof Christian precepts an equation for “salvation.” The Church
responded to their anti-clerical and anti-Church positions by condemning this act in 1184. To
restrict Bible study outside of the guidance of an ordained priest, the Church in the Council of
Toulouse in 1229 prohibited lay persons from having Scripture, except, essentially, the Psalms
and that only in Latin, not in the low vernacular of the region.
Will Durant, in Volume, The Age of Faith, pages 770 - 771 speaks of the sects that arose in the
middle of the 13th century as “honeycombing” Western Europe, notand that: the most powerful
of the heretical sects was variously named Cathari from the Greek for “pure”; Bulgari, from the
Balkan provenance (whence, the abusive term bugger); and Albigenses, from the French town of
Albi, where they were especially numerous. It appears to me that it is by no accident that these
sects arose contemporaneous with the rise of the middle class in preparation for the Renaissance.
“There French medieval civilization had reached its height; the great religions mingled in urbane
amity, women were inperiously beautiful, morals were loose, troubadours spread gay ideas, and,
as in Frederick’s Italy, the Renaissance was ready to begin.”
Again, not unlike the often uniquely personalized fundamentalism of today, the theologies of the
late medieval sects reflected middle-class values. white contrary to the privileges of orthodoxy
associated with the Church. Indeed, not only were these sects returning to many early Christian
concepts, such as Arianism or Gnosticism, but many have been precursers, whether intentional or
not, for various fundamental Christian concepts of today. Will Durant, in The Age of Faith, at
page 771 notes, “The theology of the Cathari divided the cosmos Manichaeanly into Good, God,
Spirit, Heaven; and Evil, Satan, matter, the material universe. Cathari teachings further
conflicted with Catholic doctrine holdings that there was no hell or purgatory, and that every soul
would be saved. Will Durant at Ibid, page 772, concludes that this attack on the Church was the
sect’s undoing : “The Church might have allowed this sect to die of its own suicide had not the
Catheri criticized the Church. They denied that the Church was the church of Christ; St. Peter
had never come to Rome, had never founded the papacy; the popes were successors to the
emperors, not to the apostles. . . . The Roman Church, they were sure, was the Whore of
Babylon, the clergy were a synagogue of Satan, the Pope was Antichrist.”
It seems clear that not only was the rise of the middle class in the late medieval period a
necessary precursor to the Renaissance, but likewise it preparied the way for the Reformation.
Particularly, the Cathari sect was primarily located in southern France, where both secular and
sacred powers not only tolerated it, but even encouraged it by holding public debates between it
and Church authorities. Not only did the Cathari sect arise in a segment of society that was
gaining power among the rising merchant class as feudalism was waning, but the nobility,
jealous of the Church’s riches, including much land, found the sect to be an ideological ally and
an effective tool to challenge the Church’s power which too often curtailed their own. The
Church saw these heretical sects as a threat not only to there ecclesiastical authority, but also to
the state, its own ally . The rise of these sects may have, in addition to laying the foundation for
both the end of the Crusades and the beginning of the Renaissance, prepared European Society
for the Protestant Reformation.
No more than two months into Pope Inocent’s papacy in 1198 , he wrote to an archbishop,
We give you a strict command that, by whatever means you can, you destroy all these heresies,
and retell from your diocese all who are polluted by them. … If necessary, you may cause the
princes and the people to suppress them with the sword.
The churcReorientedhe powers of its Crusades from the Middle East to its own territory. With
similar inducements, the Crusaders attacked the town of Beziers, France and demanded that it
turn over all heretics. The town resisted, the Crusaders took the town and killed 20,000 men,
women, and children. Will Durant at page 775 reports a story that the papal legate was asked
who might be spared, there apparently being Catholics among the population. The legate
answered, “Kill them all, for God knows His own.”
Thus, the Inquisition saw the Church turn from focus on “infidels” abroad to “infidels” within.
Elsewhere, Will Durant notes that the Christian Church has, in its history, slaughtered more of its
own than it has those of other religions in other places. That hardly is comfort for Muslims,
Jews, and those of other religions who have experienced harassment, murder or otherwise been
harmed by nominal Christians, but perhaps it demonstrates the unfortunate truism that we tend to
reserve our greatest anger, rage and vengeance for those most like ourselves. For some reason,
we have the tendency and capacity to make the slightest fissure the greatest chasm. I have
elsewhere noted that the story of Abraham, Ishmael, and Isaac, can be interpreted to say that
Jews and Arabs are family, they ought to recognize that, and they ought to act as a loving family.
But as noted here, it often seems that the greatest hatred is often reserved for family.
For the purposes of understanding the setting of the arts produced during this time, the details of
Inquisitional torture and murder are not necessary and are available to any who wish to in
inquire. Will Durant at page 781 notes the general character of the tools of the Inquisition, which
is consistent with my earlier observation that the punishment was intended as torture for the
purpose of eliciting a confession as well as getting the message to its members that heresy has
dire consequence for the heretic. To that confession, Durant would add that the heretic name
other heretics.
It took the form of flogging, burning, the rack, or solitary imprisonment in dark and narrow
dungeons. The feet of the accused might be slowly roasted over burning coals; or he might be
bound upon a triangular frame, and have his arms and legs pulled by cords wound on a windlass.
The Gothic Flowering: Continental
Romanesque: 1066 – 1200
The Romanesque style took inspiration from Roman culture and arts. In architecture, it
incorporated the Roman arch and continued the Roman basilica form, with the nave and aisles
intersected by a transverse nave in the form of a Latin cross. The early Romanesque churches
had wooden ceilings which were prone to fire. By the 12th century the architects (who were
mostly monks), had developed sufficient architectural and engineering skills to build a very high
stone vaulted ceiling which was strengthened by ribs which transferred the weight of the ceiling
through the walls to exterior supports called flying buttresses, which, in turn, transferred that
weight to the ground. The effect this architectural style which culminated in the Gothic style was
intended to achieve was a heaven-ward experience through elegance of verticle line, both
exteriorly and interiorly. The exterior was richly and ornately decorated with elegant spires,
decorations, and sculptures from which the supports of the roof must not detract. The challenge
to the architect of such structures was how to support it so without distracting from its sense of
celestial elegance.
The interior was not only spacious, but, with its aisles, stained-glass windows, columns and
soaring vaulted ceilings, transported the serfs from their hard and monotonous existence outside
the cathedral to a spiritual experience within it through stained glass windows which shone in
sunlight with the rich and multicolored light of heaven upon murals and statues depicting the
Biblical faith stories to which these common folk clung through the week.
The experience within the cathedral must have been powerful, since the peasant –serfs, despite
their extreme poverty, insecure and demanding existence, gave liberally to the
Church. Such opulence could hardly have been obtained solely by the serfs’ extravagant giving,
as meager as it must have been. The feudal system was exceptionally effective to harness serf
labor for the financial gain of feudal lords at a minimum cost, which enabled the aristocracy also
to give liberally to the Church for additional “spiritual” benefits such as indulgences. Beyond
that, the Church, itself had large land holdings, in many cases, surpassing that of the kings,
lord’s, and nobles. As Will Durant put it in The Age of Faith, Chapter 32, The Gothic Flowering,
at page 863, “The population was small but it believed; it was poor but it gave.”
For the role of the peasant in the life of the church and medieval society, see
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/medieval_church.htm
For an article on medieval architecture, see
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/medieval_church_architecture.htm
For an excellent outline of elements of Gothic style and life, see
http://www.castles.me.uk/gothic-architecture.htm
For an excellent, readable, diagrammatically illustrated article on medieval architecture, see
http://www.essentialhumanities.net/arch3.php and
http://stacienaczelnik.hubpages.com/hub/Cathedral
For an excellent article on the necessary elements for building a cathedral, including social,
financial, and architectural engineering support see
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/medieval_cathedrals.htm
For an excellent summary of the pre-Gothic and Gothic periods, their arts and architecture, see
http://autocww.colorado.edu/~toldy3/E64ContentFiles/PeriodsAndStyles/Gothic.html
for an excellent skeletal presentation of medieval ecclesiastical, societal, and artistic life, and
other resources on the subjects and on medieval life, see
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/medieval_cathedrals.htm
For an excellent site dedicated to presenting medieval society and arts to kids, including both
information and games incorporating that information, see
http://medievaleurope.mrdonn.org/cathedrals.html,
http://www.yac-uk.org/timeline/medieval,
http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/medieval/architecture/cathedral.htm, and
http://middleages.pppst.com/church.html .
Medieval Music and Scholasticism
Medieval Music
Music strongly paralleled architectural styles as each moved through Romanesque into Gothic.
For architecture, that meant development from the basic Roman basilica form complex
architectural wonders to meet lofty Gothic demands; for music, it meant incorporating into the
single-line, unison Gregorian chant, often embellished with an accompanying part parallel to the
melody, or later with independent melodic lines that were both interesting in themselves and i
interplaying with the predominant melody. And then more independent melodic lines were
added to make a Gothic structure in sound that reverberated among the stone surfaces of the
cathedrals and soared to the ethereal heights to which the architecture not only pointed, but drew
the congregant.
As secular forms came to descend upon sacred sculpture, so did secular melodies affect church
music. With the rise of polyphony , i.e. , combining several independent melodies that would
weave a cloth in sound and together make pleasing combinations. Later those combinations
could be identified as chords and still later they could be combined in a progression that would
help the music to come alive and make a statement in sound supportive of its text , yet interesting
in its own right. As the skills of polyphony developed in church music, the enterprising
composer could play a game with both the common folk in the congregation and unsuspecting
clergy and ecclesiastical officials: often the polyphonic music was based upon a predominant
melody derived from Gregorian plain chant, but the skilled composer could weave into that
texture a melody familiar to the peasant – serfs, such as a drinking song, spicing their otherwise
rapturous interest while by no means distracting the eclesiastical authorities from the otherwise
worship experience.
The Orthodox Church (Byzantine) and the Western Church (Catholic ) developed along
different cultural and theological lines from the fourth century. That separation became
formalized in what has been known as the Great Schism in the 11th century. Their theologies
differed, and also their music. In the Catholic Church, instruments were not permitted , from
which tradition comes the name of unaccompanied singing called a cappella (as “in the
chapel”). Catholic chant was unaccompanied. This difference of Orthodox theology and music
is demonstrated in the website of the Orthodox Church , found at
http://www.orthodoxphotos.com/readings/SJK1/breath.shtml. There, you will find examples of
chant in various monasteries of the Orthodox Church, including some with
percussive accompaniment, with links that you can click on at the bottom of the far left side of
the page. These examples also demonstrate early polyphonic development.
Scholastic Philosophy and Theology
At this time of transition to Gothic architecture, requiring the development of scientific
principles of force transfer necessary to build their cathedrals, theologians of the church looked
to logic to seek rational justifications of their faith. For example, they asked whether the Trinity
was merely a representative name for three aspects of one God; or were they three distinct
deities? Of faith and reason, Anselm put faith at the fore: “I believe in order to
understand.” Thereby he inaugurated Scholastic philosophy. Anselm asked why it was necessary
that God become man to save man. His reasoning has been adopted by many a fundamentalist
Christian: because, he answered himself, Adam and Eve, the parents of all mankind, had sinned
against God, an infinite being. The offense was likewise infinite, requiring infinite atonement to
restore the moral balance between humanity and God.
Scholasticism emerged in the latter part of the Medieval Period and bloomed during the Gothic
period. As Durant describes it, scholasticism had two main branches that developed during this
time. The first was associated with the Franciscans, that of Platonic mysticism; the second was
associated with the Dominicans, that of Aristotelian intellectualism. These two branches each
had many varied interpretations and expressions making of them, together, a very colorful
spectical.
Bonaventura represented Christian Platonic mysticism in the 13th century. He was a theologian
that suspected rationalistic examination of the senses, claiming the goal of the Christian life to be
participation in the spiritual world of the soul through intuition. As Durant describes it in The
Age of Faith, at page 959, “God is not a philosophical conclusion but a living presence; it is
better to feel Him than to define Him. The good is higher than the true, and simple virtue
surpasses all the sciences.” When asked, as Jesus was asked, what one must do to “inherit eternal
life,” Bonaventura responded as Jesus did: love God!
The dialectic form of Scholastic philosophy derives from Aristotle. Thomas Aquinas
represented the branch of Aristotelian intellectualism. While developing a view of the spiritual
world as accessible through learning and logic, Aquinas held that the very fact that knowledge is
limited suggested a supernatural world, not accessible by direct experience, but through
revelations of the Scriptures. Thus was born another fundamentalist principle, asserting that
God’s revelation contradicts man’s reason and by that very contradiction elevates revealed faith
above sensual perceptions. Also, as many fundamentalist critics assert certain revelation to be
superior to uncertain human perceptions and logic, nonetheless, based upon a view of revealed
truth in the Scripture, Thomas models for them a complex system of metaphysics which, as
based upon that revelation, supersedes human learning and sensual experience of the world. At
the extreme, Scholasticism could assert rational argument to support such notoriously nebulous
propositions as, how many angels could fit on the head of a pin.
Heloise and Abelard: A Medieval Love Story
To the Middle Ages belongs the love story of Heloise and Abelard. Abelard was well-known
throughout Europe as a leading theologian of the day; Heloise had been raised as an orphan in a
convent. She became known there as an exceptionally bright girl. When she was 16 she met the
famous theologian. He must have been taken by her as much as she by him, for he was to write,
“Thus, utterly aflame with passion for this maiden, I sought to discover means whereby I might
have daily and familiar speech with her, thereby the more easily to win her consent. For this
purpose I persuaded the girl’s uncle … to take me into his household …in return for the payment
of a small sum.… The man’s simplicity was nothing short of astounding; I should not have been
more surprised if he had entrusted a tender lamb to the care of a ravenous wolf.… Durant, The
Age of Faith, Chapter 35, page 936. Shortly afterward, she told Abelard that she was with child.
Abelard proposed to the uncle that he marry Heloise on the condition that the uncle keep secret
their marriage. Heloise refused to marry him, believing that marriage would “rob the Church of
so shining a light.” She offered to remain his mistress, however, as such a relationship would not
be a bar to his advancement in the Church. Ultimately, they were married in secret, living
separately for public appearance. Abelard returned to his teaching and Heloise to live with her
uncle until Abelard took Heloise, much against her will, to a nunnery. The story gets more
complicated, if indeed it could, as Abelard continues to write, “they [her uncle and family] were
convinced that now I had completely played them false, and had rid myself forever of Heloise by
forcing her to become a nun. Violently incensed, they laid a plot against me; and one night,
while… I was asleep in a secret room in my lodgings, they broke in with the help of one of my
servants whom they had bribed. There they had vengeance upon me with a most cruel and
shameful punishment… For they cut off those parts of my body whereby I had done that which
was the cause of their sorrow.” Ibid. at page 937. Abelard finishes that part of the account by
noting that two of them were captured, and suffered the same injury done to him, and in addition
their eyes were taken.
Abelard sought refuge in the seclusion of a monk’s cell at a Benedictine priory, until a year later
he responded to the urging of his students and his Abbot to return to lecturing. Abelard spent the
last eleven years of his life in seclusion because of the ecclesiastical rejection of him and his
ideas, when he wrote two of his major works, Theologia Christiana and Theologia. Although
the spirit of these works maintained consonance with orthodoxy, on the issue of the wideness of
God’s love and mercy, he parted ways: he held that God’s love extended to all people of all time,
including Jews and the heathen. As disconcerting to the Church, was Abelard’s assertion that all
dogma be rationally supported; and, contrary to church doctrine and practice, he asserted that
faith contains no mysteries when fully understood. I note that, Pope Francis, shortly
after pontificate in 2013, boldly proclaimed similar beliefs concerning God’s wide mercy to
those who bear good fruits:
‘But, Father, this is not Catholic! He cannot do good.’ Yes, he can… “The Lord has redeemed all
of us, all of us, with the Blood of Christ: all of us, not just Catholics. Everyone! ‘Father, the
atheists?’ Even the atheists. Everyone!”.. We must meet one another doing good. ‘But I don’t
believe, Father, I am an atheist!’ But do good: we will meet one another there.”
See http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/22/pope-francis-good-atheists_n_3320757.html.
As Durant describes it at page 938, ”Truth cannot be contrary to truth, Abalard pleads; the truths
of Scripture must agree with the findings of reason, else the God who gave us both would be
deluding us with one or the other.” At Ibid, at page 939, Durant explains further,
Abelard did not question the authority of the Bible; but he argued that its language is meant for
unlettered people, and must be interpreted by reason; that the sacred text had sometimes been
corrupted by interpolation or careless copying; and that whereas scriptural or patristic passages
contradicted one another, reason must attempt their reconciliation.
Abelard wrote his autobiography circa 1133. Though Abelard retains in it his sharp wit, the
description of his tryst with Heloise is passionless, except, perhaps for shame, and that possibly
for his fall from grace. Perhaps because of its dispassion it is seen both as a confession and as a
defense. Tradition says that Heloise came upon a copy of it, to which she wrote a passionate and
heart-rending reply and sent it to Abelard. By that time, Heloise had achieved some significant
fame in her own right in her convent and beyond. Nonetheless, provided that her letter is
authentic, it is clear that despite her advance in ecclesiastical circles, she never got over her love
for Abelard, despite his inability to maintain a similar spark for her . Heloise concludes her
reply: “I deserved more from thee, having done all things for thee. . . I, who as a girl, was
allured to the asperity of monastic conversion . . . not by religious devotion, but by thy command
alone. . . .” The Age of Faith at 943. Being physically incapable of fervent reply in
kind, Abelard’s return letter that followed, being far from comforting, asserted a hollow and
stinging assurance that his love for her was only lust; he requested that upon his death she bury
him in the grounds of the Paraclete and stated that he looked forward to their meeting in heaven.
They exchanged more letters in which he struggles to express anything personal and she
becomes more resigned to her plight – at least that is the Tradition that has grown about the
thwarted lovers: Heloise remained committed in love to Abelard to his death . Upon his death in
1142, he was buried in the priory of St. Marcel near Chalons. When Heloise learned of his
death and burial, in obedience to Abelard’s request, she informed the Abbot, Peter The
Venerable, that Abelard wished to be interred at the Paraclete. The Abbott, himself, brought the
body to her and, as tradition also asserts, left her a letter of tenderness that her lover was
incapable, himself, of giving. Upon her own death in 1164, Heloise was interred beside him.
During a later time of revolution, the graves were desecrated. What were identified as their bones
were moved to Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris in 1817. People yet flock to their gravesite to
honor these tragically ill-fated lovers. Ibid. at 943-944. That is a fact.
For an excellent site which addresses not only the architecture and building of the cathedrals, but
also, the arts, religious reforms, and sculpture during that period up until 1400, see
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/mona/hd_mona.htm
For an excellent humanities-based discussion of the Middle Ages, including Christianity and
other religions, see http://www.becomingcloser.org/History/the_middle_ages.html.
Church of Santiago de Compostela:
Romanesque Transition from Medieval
to Gothic
Construction of the Church of Santiago de Compostela began in the 11th Century and continued
150 years until completed. (1075 to 1122) Will Durant claims that it contains the finest
Romanesque sculpture in Europe. It also became the ultimate goal of one of several Christian
pilgrimages, beginning in the arduous time of the first crusades.
The website at http://www3.telus.net/public/camojo/pilgrimage.html provides a most colorful
oral history of the Cathedral in a piece entitled, Santiago de Compostela: The Pilgrim’s Road:
Santiago de Compostela is named after James the Apostle. After preaching the gospel in Spain,
he returned to Palestine, where he was beheaded by Herod Agrippa in 44 AD. His followers stole
his body and moved it to an undisclosed location. In 813 AD, his body was found after a hermit
was said to have followed a star to it. A church was built on the site (now the cathedral), and the
town of Santiago de Compostela rose around it.
In 844, at the Battle of Clavijo, the Apostle is said to have appeared riding a horse. He led the
Christians armies to defeat the Moors and became “Santiago Matamoros” – St. James the Moor
Slayer, and Patron Saint of Spain.
See
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6c/Bas%C3%ADlica_de_Santiago_02.JPG
for the source of the following photograph of the cathedral:
See
https://www.google.com/search?q=Church+of+Santiago+de+Compostela&hl=en&prmd=imvns
&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=hs8gT9fiHqWU2AW_vM20CQ&sqi=2&ved=0CF
kQsAQ&biw=1071&bih=760 for pictures of the exterior, interior and treasures of this cathedral.
See
http://www.paradoxplace.com/Photo%20Pages/Spain/Camino_de_Santiago/Compostela/Cathedr
al/Compostela_Cathedral.htm for an excellent description of the cathedral’s history and
photographs of its exterior, interior, and art. Durant describes this cathedral as containing a great
wealth of Romanesque art.
Abbey of Ourscamp, France:
Twelfth Century
The Abbey of Ourscamp is particularly interesting to me because a large part of it harkens back
to the original structure in its damaged remains, including a part of the Abbey that continues in
use today.
See http://www.france-voyage.com/travel-guide/photo-ourscamp-abbey-580_2.htm the the
source of the following photograph of the Abbey:
A number of YouTube videos are available, including the following:
https://www.google.com/#hl=en&sugexp=pfwl&tok=veguJ7Z2BvqSMoBOA2nW0w&cp=17&g
s_id=m&xhr=t&q=Abbey+of+Ourscamp+france&pf=p&sclient=psyab&site=&source=hp&pbx=1&oq=Abbey+of+Ourscamp&aq=0v&aqi=g-
v1&aql=&gs_sm=&gs_upl=&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=64697a5fdd627a76&biw=112
7&bih=760
See http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xmra6e_ourscamp-abbey-france_travel for an additional
video taking the viewer through the ruins.
Gothic Architecture: Late Medieval And Early Renaissance
Gothic architecture is known for the height of its knaves, its rich ornamentation, and for its “upward
thrust” pulling the eye, both upon view of the exterior and the interior, to “heaven.”
The history of many of the cathedrals is that they often replaced prior structures, being built often on
the same sites, and even on the same foundations. Not only did the cathedrals oftentimes replaced
prior structures that had been dedicated to Christian worship, the cathedrals, themselves, took long
periods of time to build up to 500 years to build.. Many of them have, over the centuries, been
renovated, redecorated, and some made to appear even more Gothic than the original structure.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothic_architecture for an article describing the history of the
renovation of some of the cathedrals,with some excellent photographs.
NOTE: Wikipedia is a treasure house of pictures, and the substance of the written content, while
providing much greater detail and footnotes which I can check if I have concerns, is also generally
consonant with my accumulated knowledge of the subjects, as a music teacher, teacher of the
humanities, an attorney, a person well grounded in history, and some experience through reading,
teaching, discussion and performance. Moreover, it is not my purpose to critique Wikipedia. Rather, it
did more than adequately meet my needs to acquaint the reader with the subject through its substance
as well as its pictures (each of which I understand to be worth 1000 – or is it 10,000 words?). See
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_highest_church_naves for a comparison of the highest church
naves.
The Cathedral of Notre Dame, France:
Constructed 1163 – 1285
We must remind ourselves that these monumental structures, although they remain intensely
alive, are merely the skeleton’s of the cathedrals of medieval times. Compared with what it was
when first created, the cathedral, as we see it now, is like a venerable old lady whose noble
carriage barely suggests the striking belle she must have been in her youth. We should not only
recall the past splendor of the cathedral, most of whose external adornment is now lost, but also
attempt to understand what the cathedral was during the progress of its own creation; the role it
played at the heart of the city that saw its birth among the people whose stubborn or enthusiastic
will alone caused it skyward thrust.
—Zoe Oldenbourg, ‘With Stone and Faith’ http://www.elore.com/el04ho01.html
Nineteenth Century Engraving of Notre Dame from Southeast
See http://www.elore.com/el04ho01.html I have selected this particular view of Notre Dame
because it demonstrates so well the flying buttresses which allowed for the Gothic height in the
cathedral. You will note that they do not give the structure and appearance of additional weight,
but, as the name suggests, they give the external structure a sense of flight.
See the above site, also, for the cathedral’s place in history, its physical surroundings, various
views of the cathedral and views from it and writrings of it’s building and use.
Gothic architecture had a magnificent opportunity of development in the construction of the
great cathedrals, which, in France, were all built at the end of the Twelfth and beginning of the
Thirteenth centuries.
These were civil as well as ecclesiastical buildings; in fact, the distinction between the two
provinces was a thing unknown at the time, and is wholly a modern idea, which we never
probably would have had except for the differences in religious belief each arose among us at the
Reformation. The state is merely the community acting in combination for those purposes in
which combined action is more convenient than individual. . . But when religious belief was
uniform, as in the Middle Ages, state action included religion. The bishops and abbots were
feudal barons, with civil jurisdiction; and, on the other hand, all state action had some religious
character and sanction. . . .
—John J. Stevenson, Gothic Architecture; Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, 1876, at
http://www.elore.com/el04ho01.html.
Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, 1876
Dante
See http://heidenkind.blogspot.com/2009/05/short-history-of-dante-alighieri-and.html for the
source of the above painting of Giotto.
Dante’s engagement with philosophy cannot be studied apart from his vocation as a writer, in
which he sought to raise the level of public discourse by educating his countrymen and inspiring
them to pursue happiness in the contemplative life. He was one of the most learned Italian
laymen of his day, intimately familiar with Aristotelian logic and natural philosophy, theology
(he had a special affinity for the thought of Albert the Great and Thomas Aquinas), and classical
literature. His writings reflect this in its mingling of philosophical and theological language,
invoking Aristotle and the neo-Platonists side by side with the poet of the psalms. Like Aquinas,
Dante wished to summon his audience to the practice of philosophical wisdom, though by means
of truths embedded in his own poetry, rather than mysteriously embodied in scripture.
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/dante/. See the aforementioned site for an excellent review of
his contributions to the arts, learning, and critique of his works.
Giotto di Bondone, The Last Judgment, Cappella Scrovegni (Arena Chapel), Padua
See http://heidenkind.blogspot.com/2009/05/short-history-of-dante-alighieri-and.html for the
source of the picture of the above fresco and other photos and information.
Giotto di Bondone, The Last Judgment (detail), Cappella Scrovegni (Arena Chapel), Padua.
http://heidenkind.blogspot.com/2009/05/short-history-of-dante-alighieri-and.html for the
source of the picture of the above fresco and other photos and information.
See
For an excellent interactive site that explores not only Dante and his Divine Comedy, but also its
significance and the arts of that time as influenced by him, see http://www.worldofdante.org/ ,
which is self-described as a research tool in the study of Dante.
For an excellent article on Dante, his Divine Comedy, and artistic responses to him and his work
from his time to the present, see http://heidenkind.blogspot.com/2009/05/short-history-of-dantealighieri-and.html.
See http://ericmacknight.com/ibalit/2011/12/reflection-interactive-oral-inferno/ for an excellent
source of one writer’s research into the influence of Greek thought and philosophy upon
Dante’s Divine Comedy.
Dante
See http://heidenkind.blogspot.com/2009/05/short-history-of-dante-alighieri-and.html for the
source of the above painting of Giotto.
Dante’s engagement with philosophy cannot be studied apart from his vocation as a writer, in
which he sought to raise the level of public discourse by educating his countrymen and inspiring
them to pursue happiness in the contemplative life. He was one of the most learned Italian
laymen of his day, intimately familiar with Aristotelian logic and natural philosophy, theology
(he had a special affinity for the thought of Albert the Great and Thomas Aquinas), and classical
literature. His writings reflect this in its mingling of philosophical and theological language,
invoking Aristotle and the neo-Platonists side by side with the poet of the psalms. Like Aquinas,
Dante wished to summon his audience to the practice of philosophical wisdom, though by means
of truths embedded in his own poetry, rather than mysteriously embodied in scripture.
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/dante/. See the aforementioned site for an excellent review of
his contributions to the arts, learning, and critique of his works.
Giotto di Bondone, The Last Judgment, Cappella Scrovegni (Arena Chapel), Padua
See http://heidenkind.blogspot.com/2009/05/short-history-of-dante-alighieri-and.html for the
source of the picture of the above fresco and other photos and information.
Giotto di Bondone, The Last Judgment (detail), Cappella Scrovegni (Arena Chapel), Padua.
http://heidenkind.blogspot.com/2009/05/short-history-of-dante-alighieri-and.html for the
source of the picture of the above fresco and other photos and information.
See
For an excellent interactive site that explores not only Dante and his Divine Comedy, but also its
significance and the arts of that time as influenced by him, see http://www.worldofdante.org/ ,
which is self-described as a research tool in the study of Dante.
For an excellent article on Dante, his Divine Comedy, and artistic responses to him and his work
from his time to the present, see http://heidenkind.blogspot.com/2009/05/short-history-of-dantealighieri-and.html.
See http://ericmacknight.com/ibalit/2011/12/reflection-interactive-oral-inferno/ for an excellent
source of one writer’s research into the influence of Greek thought and philosophy upon
Dante’s Divine Comedy.
Hieronymus Bosch (1450- 1516): Pessimist,
Strict Moralist, and Visionary of
Surrealistic Symbolism
Before I have left Dante and his Divine Comedy too far behind, I want to explore what seems to
me it’s influence not only upon popular church conceptions of the Judgment, Purgatory and
Hell, but of its possible influence upon Hieronymus Bosch who painted approximately two
centuries later. I am unable to determine whether there exists any authority for such a
position. And yet, whether intentional or not, Dantes’ representation of The Last Judgment,
Purgatory and Hell, bears bizarre similarity, even connection, to Bosch’s artistic representations
of the same subject. For all of the unconventional subjects of his painting, some commentators
have noted that Bosch’s theology was conventional.
Hieronymus Bosch was born, lived, and worked in what is now the Netherlands. His style of
painting seems to bear no resemblance to the prevalent style of painting of his day, and his
symbolism is both rich and, it seems, anticipatorily Freudian. He was roughly contemporary with
Michelangelo, although they were located geographically, theologically, morally and
judgmentally “miles” apart.
We first were introduced to his art in our presentation of the creation through artists’ eyes in his
triptych entitled, Garden of Earthly Delights. That painting seems strangely otherworldly and
less than innocent, but his depiction of temptation and the Last Judgment is ritually bizarre, and,
for such a moralist as he was, frankly, delightful in its depiction of human depravity.
Hieronymus Bosch’s “The temptations of St. Anthony”
See http://iampetjack.wordpress.com/2011/02/16/10/ for the source of the above photograph of
the trip take and four one observer’s description and interpretation of the painting and its place in
art history.
The last Judgment by Bosch
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/47/Last_judgement_Bosch.jpg for the source
of the above photograph of Bosch’s triptych. See
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Judgment_(Bosch_triptych) for an excellent article
concerning the piece.
For a different take on the subject, see, also,
http://thinkingmakesitso.wordpress.com/tag/hieronymus-bosch/.
Compare a few paintings of the Twentieth Century Surrealistic painter, Salvador Dali:
The Persistence of Memory
Metamorphosis of Narcissus
The Hallucinogenic Toreador
The Rennaisance: Michelangelo and the
Sistine Chapel (1508 to 1512)
We have previously discussed the scientific, mathematical, architectural, artistic and political
achievements of medieval Islamic culture during what has been called the Dark Ages of Western
culture. We also have discussed how, in the decline of Spanish Islamic political power and of its
former cultural bloom, Christian cultures picked up the gauntlet, filled the vacuum, and carried
each of those Islam fields of achievement to yet greater heights. We have previously discussed
the development of artistic skills from medieval scholastic authority to Renaissance naturalistic
skills and visual representations on a two-dimensional plane suggesting a three-dimensional view
during the Renaissance. Da Vinci certainly made his contributions to mathematics, science, art,
and even to the arts of war. However, in terms of art in service to religion and sculpture,
generally, no one exceeds Michelangelo and the Sistine Chapel.
For an excellent, intelligent but quite accessible article addressing Renaissance humanism as
expressed both in the arts and the sciences, see
http://www.all-about-renaissance-faires.com/renaissance_info/renaissance_art_and_science.htm
An
Aerial view of the present exterior of the Chapel
For the source of the above photograph, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sistine_Chapel_ceiling
I suppose that everyone gets e-mails forwarding an interesting site. One such e-mails from a
friend to me is a virtual tour of the Sistine Chapel,the mosaic art of its floor, the architecture of
its interior structure and within that structure and upon its walls the art of Michelangelo. The
site is shown below. You may navigate through this virtual tour with your direction arrows –
oh, and if you want a close-up of any of the art, use the “+” sign to zoom and , or if you want
zoom out, use the “-” sign. This interactive, virtual tour of the Chapel interior and
its art demonstrates both the variety among its various parts as well as their unity as a
whole. To complete the experience, it is accompanied by an a cappella choir singing polyphonic
music of the Renaissance, likely some part of the mass, and possibly incorporates recognized
chant melodic material. Parenthetically, it may be worth noting that we commonly think of a
cappella music as that which is not accompanied with instruments. That is true, but it’s actual
origin and meaning refers to music in “the Chapel,” as in the Sistine Chapel. that is the reason
that it is unaccompanied, because the Catholic Church frowned upon the use of instruments in
worship. Here is your virtual tour:
ttp://www.vatican.va/various/cappelle/sistina_vr/index.html
For an excellent discussion of the details of Michelangelo’s art, see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sistine_Chapel_ceiling.
For excellent educational materials on essential qualities of Rennaisance art, see
http://media.wiley.com/product_data/excerpt/74/07645868/0764586874.pdf .
For more virtual 360 degree virtual tours of the Vatican grounds see
http://www.panoramicearth.com/tag/vatican and for those of many sites around the world, see
http://www.panoramicearth.com/. These are marvelous resources. I have never left North
America, likely never will under the circumstances, but I do expect to venture there virtually
with resources of this site.
St. Thomas Church, Leipzig: Luther, Bach
and Mendelssohn
See http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/54/Vxla-thomaskirsche-exerior.jpg for the
source of the above photograph of St. Thomas.
Several church structures have stood at the site of St. Thomas Church, or Thomaskirche, as it is
known in German. In the early 13th century, an Augustinian order was established there, known
as St. Thomas Monastery. It was at this present structure that Martin Luther preached on
Pentecost Sunday, 1539. Upon Reformation, the structure became a Lutheran church. Less than
200 years later Johan Sebastian Bach served as its cantor, its choir director and its organist. His
service there is honored by a statue of him on the premises, and his remains are located there.
In 1212, a choir was established at the church. It’s boys choir is one of the most famous in
Germany. The structure is served by two organs, one a creation of the Romantic era, and another
created and installed in about 2000, which is a model of that which Bach, himself, played.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Vxla-jsbach-at-thomaskirsche.jpg for the source of the
above photograph of the statue honoring JS Bach.
In St. Thomas, April 11, 1727, Bach first presented his St. Matthew Passion on Good Friday;
here Mozart played the organ in May 12, 1789; Napoleon used it as a munitions dump in 1806; it
was used as a military hospital in the battle where Napoleon was defeated (“met his Waterloo”).
It was here that the composer, Richard Wagner, was baptized and later studied piano and
composition with its cantor.
During his lifetime, Johann Sebastian Bach was not known as an innovator, but a master of the
old polyphonic style. If you are to compare his contemporaries, particularly in their instrumental
compositions, while they retain much of the Baroque rhythmic vitality, ornamentation, cycle of
fifths and yet prevailing Doctrine of Affections, the melodic lines have less individual character
apart from other lines and are becoming more representative of the coming homophonic style.
The polyphonic church music of the Renaissance had little harmonic direction to which the
Baroque era gave harmony chordal direction, most notably in the cycle of fifths which provided
a progressive variety of harmonic foci with a psychological effect of increased interest as it
explored attention on scale degrees other than the tonic (the first note of the dominant key), and
release upon return to the dominant key. Bach was not ready to leave the riches of polyphony;
he brings all the richness of polyphony (true individuality of each of the melodic lines) which yet
combine in a resultant harmonic progression. Although uniquely creative, he was not an
innovator of style, but a perfector of it. Not so unusual at the time, numerology was important
Bach and some music theoreticians, whether intended by Bach or not, are able to see importance
at certain mathematical units of the music that he wrote, oftentimes, even, asserting something
unique in the center. Although he was very much respected for his craft both as a composer and
as an organist, his music was not as well appreciated during his time later became.
Felix Mendelssohn rediscovered Bach in the mid-19th-century. He is largely responsible for
preserving Bach’s prodigious output in every medium of composition. Sometimes, it takes a
genius to recognize the genius in another. Mendelssohn, as well as Mozart, were geniuses; but I
know of no composer so prodigious and so ingenius in so broad an area, both choral and
instrumental, as was Bach. Not only was Bach well known in his time as an organist, but his
organ works are among the most demanding as well as the most familiar and popular yet today;
for a number of years, as I understand it, he wrote a cantata every week for performance at St.
Thomas; not only did he write sacred cantatas, but also secular cantata’s, such as the Coffee
Cantata; his instrumental works range from solo, unaccompanied violin and unaccompanied
cello works to the Brandenburg concertos, from single instrument concertos to two or more solo
harpsichord concertos (precursors of the piano in that the strings are plucked by a plectrum rather
than struck with a felt-covered hammer, first known as a pianoforte because of its capacity for a
wide range of volumes as compared to single levels of volume possible in the harpsichord); from
The Well Tempered Clavier which included Two Part Inventions, which were polyphonic pieces
for harpsichord, one for each of the keys to demonstrate how “well tempering” (which is slightly
out of pure, mathematical tuning for anyone key, so that each of the keys will sound good as
opposed to some keys sounding good but others sounding bad, a Baroque contribution that fit
well with its circle of fifths which, if progressed to its ultimate limit will yield a key on every
half-step of a chromatic octave. Parenthetically, this is why piano tuners that do not rely upon an
audio instrument to tell them when the pitches of various strings are in tune, but rather rely upon
their ears, play two pitches at the same time and listen for a certain number of “beats” per
interval of time, such beats resulting from some degree of conflict (out-of-tuneness or “Well
Tempering”) so that the scale based upon each half-step of the octave will sound equally good
(or, if you will, “equally bad”) to the Preludes and Fugues with more than two melodic parts,
also demonstrating the unique qualities of the tempered tuning; from teaching pieces for his
children and students, such as the various minuets to organ pieces for the most accomplished
organists and harpsichord suites for the most accomplished harpsichordist, including every dance
to be seen at a court social gathering. Some of my favorites are the unaccompanied violin and
cello sonatas: whereas we expect to have on a harpsichord or a piano several strings can be
struck at one time to constitute chords, we typically do not expect solo instruments to be capable
of suggesting similar chords and chord progressions. If one listens carefully to them, not only
can one hear double stops, as when the bow draws across two strings at the same time, but also
triple stops which, together, will constitute a cord, but also, Bach combines within melodic
structures harmonic progressions. I particularly enjoyed listening to Bach because, to me, it is
like listening to a fine conversation among articulate, well-educated friends. You will find
similar features with Handel’s and Telemann’s choral works, such as Messiah, but hints of it as
one might see a magnificent structure receding into the rearview mirror. The one problem with
that analogy is that in fact, Handel, Telemann, and especially Vivaldi, were moving far ahead of
Bach as he tarried to organize, sharpen and polish the ancient arts perhaps most exquisitely so in
The Musical Offering.
Why was Bach content refining the old arts? Although most composers of the Baroque era wrote
for religious settings and purposes, many of them, perhaps most, were patronized by some rich
member of the aristocracy, as heads of political units somewhat akin to Italian city states. Bach
did seek such patronage, the solicitation of which resulted for our benefit (though not to that of
Bach) in the Brandenburg Concertos. The St. Matthew Passion, likewise, although performed in
his church, may also have been written originally with a view to attracting patronage. Although
a brilliantly masterful piece, it is exceptionally long for a typical church service even of that day.
Although it is clear that Bach would have liked a patronage, it did not restrict his output, which
included a huge amount of secular music, at least music not specifically intended for a church
atmosphere. Nonetheless, he is known for his habit of inscribing upon his music manuscripts,
SDG–Soli Deo Gloria, loosely translated as” to the glory of God.” A similar phrase which is
attributed to him, is, in plain English, “to the glory of God and the edification of the
soul.” Whereas he sought comforts with the politically powerful, elite aristocracy, which could
also provide some support and comfort to his prodigious offspring, it is clear that he loved the art
of musical performance and composition and sought to elevate it to a level that had not before
been attained.
Today, we do not recognize the passé view of Bach’s compositions, as both his compositions and
that developed through the Rcoco to the Classical and later yet in the Romantic periods are all
pretty much equally relegated to antiquated status or to the romanticized past. Today, it is
perhaps easier to recognize the genius of Bach than it was for his contemporaries and even the
young composers of his day, including his popular sons, are now hardly recognized.
Baroque Transition from the Cathedral
Through Patronage to the Living Room
and Museum
I have struggled finding a way to proceed with a humanities presentation of Bible art after the
Baroque period largely because, although there was still art made for the Chapel and the
Cathedral, through patronage, and then through developing marketing and services, public
art, particularly the religious art, its production diminished in the Baroque to a more decorative
function rather than incorporation into public buildings and structures. Frankly, no one, certainly
not I, can say it more articulately, with more depth, or with greater graphic skills than Dr. Beth
Harris and Dr. Stephen Zucker in their video discussions on Smarthistory.
They provide a video discussion of the contrasting art styles and religious settings of two
Baroque painters in the area of the Netherlands which is dramatic and expressive; they also
address this transition from the cathedral, through patronage , to movable art to be hung in
patrons’ homes or even in a church, but not integrated into the structure and design of the
church. Finally, they discuss the Catholic orientation of Peter Paul Rubens’ painting of
Elevation of the Cross compared to the Protestant orientation of Rembrandt’s Anatomy Lesson
of Dr. Tulp . That is accessible at http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/1600-1700-theBaroque.html.
You will also see that the Smarthistory web page at http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/ is
organized by stylistic period, time, style, artist, and themes. They have, as we have seen, some
wonderful resources on materials that we have already discussed. I very much appreciate that in
this profit-oriented society people such as Sal Khan, Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Stephen Zucker,
and others associated with Khan Academy and Smarthistory, are so willing to share there
knowledge and their passion with any in the public who have the desire to learn and and
experience it.